The role of interpersonal trust and romantic experiences in mate copying

Abstract

Mate copying occurs when individuals imitate the mate choice of other same-sex individuals. These effects can be influenced by factors related to the rater and the model. The present study explored the roles of raters' interpersonal trust and models' romantic experiences in the decision-making progress. Study 1 replicated mate copying effects and found the effect of interpersonal trust was nonsignificant. Study 2 further tested the interaction effect among interpersonal trust, model's romantic experiences, and model's mate choice decision. Results showed that change in targets' attractiveness varied with the model's romantic experiences under the model acceptance condition. The attractiveness of targets showed a greater increase when models had one or two romantic experiences than when they had no or multiple romantic experiences. A three-way interaction effect occurred as well. Under the condition of model acceptance, for raters with a low or medium level of interpersonal trust, change in attractiveness increased with the model's romantic experiences and the relationship was non-monotonic. For individuals with high levels of trust, models' romantic experiences did not have any effect. These results reveal that both rater's interpersonal trust and models' romantic experiences matter in individuals' willingness to copy other's mate preference.