Information about the mate preferences study published
in the April 2007 issue of the Archives of Sexual Behavior
The complete reference for the article is:
Lippa, R. A. (2007). The preferred traits of mates in a cross-national study of heterosexual and homosexual men and women: An examination of biological and cultural influences. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36, 193-208.
Abstract:
BBC Internet survey participants (119,733 men and 98,462 women) chose from a list of 23 traits those they considered first, second, and third most important in a relationship partner. Across all participants, the traits ranked most important were: intelligence, humor, honesty, kindness, overall good looks, face attractiveness, values, communication skills, and dependability. On average, men ranked good looks and facial attractiveness more important than women did (d = 0.55 and 0.36, respectively), whereas women ranked honesty, humor, kindness, and dependability more important than men did (ds = 0.23, 0.22, 0.18, and 0.15). Sexual orientation differences were smaller than sex differences in trait rankings, but some were meaningful; for example, heterosexual more than homosexual participants assigned importance to religion, fondness for children, and parenting abilities. Multidimensional scaling analyses showed that trait preference profiles clustered by participant sex, not by sexual orientation, and by sex more than by nationality. Sex-by-nation ANOVAs of individuals’ trait rankings showed that sex differences in rankings of attractiveness, but not of character traits, were extremely consistent across 53 nations and that nation main effects and sex-by-nation interactions were stronger for character traits than for physical attractiveness. United Nations indices of gender equality correlated, across nations, with men’s and women’s rankings of character traits but not with their rankings of physical attractiveness. These results suggest that cultural factors had a relatively greater impact on men’s and women’s rankings of character traits, whereas biological factors had a relatively greater impact on men’s and women’s rankings of physical attractiveness.
A brief description of the study:
Do men and women seek out different traits in a mate?
The answer is yes, at least to some degree. In a new study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, California State University psychologist Richard Lippa analyzed data from over 200,000 men and women who completed a survey posted on the BBC Science and Nature website.
Some of the major findings:
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When asked to rank the importance of 23 traits, men and women agreed on the top nine traits to seek in a mate: Intelligence, humor, honesty, kindness, good looks, facial attractiveness, values, communication skills, and dependability. However, men ranked good looks and facial attractiveness higher than women did, whereas women ranked honesty, humor, kindness, and dependability higher than men did. |
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Differences between men and women were stronger than differences between heterosexual and homosexual individuals. Heterosexuals assigned more importance to a mate’s religion, fondness for children, and parenting abilities than gay men and lesbian women did. However, in many ways heterosexual men and gay men were similar in their preferences—both ranked a mate’s looks to be quite important. Similarly, in many ways heterosexual women and lesbian women were similar in their preferences—both ranked character traits to be more important than men did. |
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Differences in the importance men and women assigned to a mate’s looks were extremely consistent across 53 nations, suggesting an evolved, biological component to this difference. In contrast, differences in men’s and women’s rankings of a mate’s honesty, humor, and kindness varied across nations, suggesting that these differences depended more on cultural factors. |
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Residents of economically developed nations assigned more importance to a mate’s niceness than residents of economically undeveloped nations did. Thus, seeking a “nice” mate with pleasant personal qualities may be a luxury available to people in affluent countries more than to people in poorer nations. |
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In richer nations, men tended to value a mate’s intelligence more than women did, but the reverse was true in poorer nations. Lippa hypothesized, “Perhaps in societies where women ‘bring home the bacon’ as well as men, men come to value an intelligent mate, but in societies where women tend to stay sequestered at home, men don’t place as high a premium on a mate’s intelligence.” |
Some results from the BBC Internet survey were presented in the 2005 BBC documentary, Secrets of the Sexes. Data from the BBC survey are continuing to be analyzed by social scientists who participated in the BBC research project.
A more detailed report of Lippa’s findings can be found in: Lippa, R. A. (2007). The preferred traits of mates in a cross-national study of heterosexual and homosexual men and women: An examination of biological and cultural influences. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36, xx-xx.
Richard Lippa is a professor of psychology at California State University, Fullerton.
This article appeared in a special section of the April 2007 issue of the Archives of Sexual Behavior, guest edited by Richard Lippa, devoted to studies that analyzed data from the 2005 BBC Internet survey. Results from this survey were presented in the BBC One documentary, Secrets of the Sexes. About a quarter of a million people across the world responded to the BBC survey, which investigated psychological sex differences--how men and women differ in their cognitive abilities, personality traits, sexual attitudes and behavior, mate preferences, and attitudes. For further information about the BBC studies and their results, see the BBC Science and Nature website.
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