Long-term Mating Contexts Research Articles

Sexual Orientation and Shifts in Preferences for a Partner's Body Attributes in Short-Term versus Long-Term Mating Contexts

This study assessed the effects of short- and long-term mating contexts on preferences for body characteristics of potential relationship partners in lesbians and heterosexual women. Lesbians (n = 41) rated figure drawings and computer-generated images of women that varied in body fat, waist-to-hip ratio, and breast size; heterosexual women (n = 95) rated computer-generated images of men that varied in muscularity and body fat. Both lesbians and heterosexual women showed a shift in preferences toward more physically attractive partners for shortterm relationships. All body aspects were affected, except that heterosexual women did not show a preference shift for male body fat. The results were interpreted in terms of a mating trade-off strategy in which mate preferences are the consequence of cost/benefit analyses and suggest that preferences for physical attributes of sexual partners may be shared by members of the same sex regardless of sexual orientation.

Intrasexual competition among women: Vocal femininity affects perceptions of attractiveness and flirtatiousness

Cognitive mechanisms for recognizing high quality sexual rivals should facilitate the economical allocation of mating effort. Women compete to attract male investment, and previous studies have shown that feminine voices are attractive to men. Here, we manipulated two sexually dimorphic acoustic parameters in women’s voices, fundamental frequency and formant dispersion, by the same perceptual amounts and explored the effects on attractiveness to heterosexual men in short- and long-term mating contexts. Femininity in both acoustic parameters was more attractive to men, especially in short-term mating contexts, and formant dispersion had a larger effect than did fundamental frequency. We then explored the effects of these manipulations on women’s perceptions of other women’s flirtatiousness and attractiveness to men. Feminine voices were perceived as more flirtatious and more attractive to men, and women were most sensitive to formant dispersion, the acoustic parameter that had the stronger effect on men’s preferences. These results support the interpretation that women use vocal femininity to track the threat potential of competitors.

Sex Differences in Post-Coital Behaviors in Long- and Short-Term Mating: An Evolutionary Perspective

Few empirical studies have been devoted to exploring behaviors occurring immediately following sexual intercourse. Therefore, this study conducts an exploratory investigation of various post-coital behaviors that the authors propose may reflect the divergent adaptive reproductive strategies of each sex as understood from an evolutionary perspective. An online questionnaire was administered to 170 individuals examining sex differences in post-coital compared to pre-coital activities related to pair-bonding with long-term mates, as well as a variety of common post-coital activities comparing short- and long-term mating contexts. It was found that females were more likely than males to initiate and place greater importance on several behaviors related to intimacy and bonding following sex with long-term partners. Males were more likely to initiate kissing before sex, and females after sex. Intimate talk and kissing were rated by both sexes as more important before intercourse with a long-term partner, whereas cuddling and professing one's love was rated more important after sex. In a second set of more specific post-coital behaviors, females were more likely to engage in post-coital behaviors related to bonding with both short- and long-term partners, whereas males were more likely to engage in ones that were extrinsically rewarding or increased the likelihood of further coital acts.

More than just a pretty face: men's priority shifts toward bodily attractiveness in short-term versus long-term mating contexts

Studies of physical attractiveness have long emphasized the constituent features that make faces and bodies attractive, such as symmetry, skin texture, and waist-to-hip ratio. Few studies, however, have examined the reproductively relevant cues conveyed by faces and bodies as whole units. Based on the premise that fertility cues are more readily assessed from a woman's body than her face, the present study tested the hypothesis that men evaluating a potential short-term mate would give higher priority to information gleaned from her body, relative to her face, than men evaluating a potential long-term mate. Male and female participants ( N=375) were instructed to consider dating an opposite sex individual, whose face was occluded by a “face box” and whose body was occluded by a “body box,” as a short-term or long-term mate. With the instruction that only one box could be removed to make their decision about their willingness to engage in the designated relationship with the occluded individual, significantly more men assigned to the short-term, compared to the long-term, mating condition removed the body box. Women's face versus body information choice, in contrast, was unaffected by the temporal dimension of the mating condition. These results suggest that men, but not women, have a condition-dependent adaptive proclivity to prioritize facial cues in long-term mating contexts, but shift their priorities toward bodily cues in short-term mating contexts.

Narcissism and attractiveness

Is narcissism related to observer-rated attractiveness? Two views imply that narcissism is unrelated to attractiveness: positive illusions theory and Feingold’s (1992) attractiveness theory (i.e., attractiveness is unrelated to personality in general). In contrast, two other views imply that narcissism is positively related to attractiveness: an evolutionary perspective on narcissism (i.e., selection pressures in short-term mating contexts shaped the evolution of narcissism, including greater selection for attractiveness in short-term versus long-term mating contexts) and, secondly, the self-regulatory processing model of narcissism (narcissists groom themselves to bolster grandiose self-images). A meta-analysis ( N > 1000) reveals a small but reliable positive narcissism–attractiveness correlation that approaches the largest known personality–attractiveness correlations. The finding supports the evolutionary and self-regulatory views of narcissism.

Attractiveness in flux: Female preferences for male facial motion depend on mating context and non-additive cues to prosociality and proceptivity

Like facial structure, facial motion is a rich source of information for potential mates, but its relevance may vary across contexts. Perceived flirtatiousness (i.e. proceptivity) may offer information to females about various benefits offered by males, both direct and indirect, and may be weighted more heavily in a short-term mating context. However, proceptivity may interact with other desirable qualities. Prosocial tendencies (i.e. kindness) may offer direct benefits to potential mates and may effectively supersede proceptivity in a long-term mating context. We showed women wire-frame animations of shape-standardized male faces purportedly reporting statements that were either prosocial or antisocial. We asked participants to rate the animated faces for attractiveness in both long- and short-term mating contexts. We also asked a separate group of women to rate the perceived flirtatiousness of the animations. As expected, women prefer stimuli paired with prosocial statements. The weight placed on proceptive properties of the stimuli varied across conditions. Proceptivity predicted participants’ ratings more strongly for short-term judgments and when paired with antisocial statements, but proceptivity did not predict attractiveness when paired with prosocial statements. The results indicate that the information value of proceptive content is context-dependent and combines non-additively with other mating relevant information.

Waist-to-hip ratio and female physical attractiveness: The moderating role of power motivation and the mating context

The purpose of the present investigation was to extend the validity of Singh’s (1993) hypothesis of the effect of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) on judgments of female attractiveness, using a motivational perspective which builds on motives and incentives. It is argued that the well-documented preference for normal weight females with a WHR of .7 is moderated by the power motive and by short-term vs. long-term mating contexts. A total of 133 participants (58 male, 75 female) were recruited to rate 12 line drawings varying in weight and WHR. Participants had to rate females’ attractiveness judged from the perspective of a person who is looking for a partner in a short-term, long-term, and work-partner relationship. Furthermore, individual differences in power motivation were examined. On the basis of evolutionary psychological considerations, it was expected and found that the preference for the .7 WHR and normal-weight category was moderated by individual differences as well as by situational contexts; with a stronger preference profile for individuals high in power motivation and for individuals who are looking for a partner in a short-term relationship. Results are interpreted in an evolutionary context which describes variable mating strategies as conditional on dispositional (motive) and situational (incentive) factors.

Minimum Mate Selection Standards as a Function of Perceived Mate Value, Relationship Context, and Gender

Abstract The present study explored minimum mate selection standards (i.e., the lowest levels of various characteristics that an individual must possess in order to be considered a potential partner) and the extent to which gender, self-perceived mate value, and relationship context moderate minimum standards. Men and women were more selective (expressed higher minimum standards) as the mating context shifted from short- to long-term, for a number of partner attributes. As expected, gender moderated these effects; women were more selective than men when considering a potential short-term (but not long-term) mate. Men's self-perceived mate value largely was unassociated with their selection standards; however, women's mate value correlated positively with their minimum criteria, across a variety of characteristics and for a short-term sex and a long-term romantic partner. As expected, gender differences in the strength of these correlations were greater in the short-term than in the long-term mating context.

Sexual strategies theory: an evolutionary perspective on human mating.

This article proposes a contextual-evolutionary theory of human mating strategies. Both men and women are hypothesized to have evolved distinct psychological mechanisms that underlie short-term and long-term strategies. Men and women confront different adaptive problems in short-term as opposed to long-term mating contexts. Consequently, different mate preferences become activated from their strategic repertoires. Nine key hypotheses and 22 predictions from Sexual Strategies Theory are outlined and tested empirically. Adaptive problems sensitive to context include sexual accessibility, fertility assessment, commitment seeking and avoidance, immediate and enduring resource procurement, paternity certainty, assessment of mate value, and parental investment. Discussion summarizes 6 additional sources of behavioral data, outlines adaptive problems common to both sexes, and suggests additional contexts likely to cause shifts in mating strategy.