Performance in video games affects self-perceived mate value and mate preferences.

Abstract

Mate value is tied to appearance and age in women, and social status and wealth in men. Theory surrounding self-perceived mate value suggests that mate value shows relatively little situational plasticity. Here we challenge this concept by asking participants to compete in video games to test (a) whether self-perceived and actual performance affects subjective mate value, and (b) whether subjective mate value affects mate preferences. By randomly allocating participants to play either a violent or nonviolent game in three separate experiments, we show that both men and women who played a violent game had significantly lower self-perceived performance, and as a result, reported a lower self-perceived mate value. We also demonstrate that this effect led to different preferences for short-term mating partners, mainly among women. Our results strongly suggest that mate value in humans is situationally dynamic and responds to recent contest experiences, as it does in nonhumans. We discuss our results with reference to online multiplayer digital gaming experiences and how variation in self-perceived mate value affects mating market dynamics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) Public Significance Statement—People’s perceptions of their own quality as romantic partners (i.e., their mate value) often depends on physical attractiveness for women or social status for men. Here we show that self-perceived mate value is not a fixed trait but varies according to subjective performance in a competitive video game. Compared with people who played nonviolent video games, the men and women that played a violent video game believed they performed more poorly and rated themselves as having a relatively lower mate value. These experiments provide evidence that people’s perception of their quality as romantic partners varies according to the social experiences they have and their performance in online contests. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)