Mate Value Research Articles

Observed Aspects of Mate Value and Sociosexuality Account for Mate Preferences: Data from a Large, Representative Study from Czechia.

While there is substantial research on what people want in their romantic and sexual partners, much of this work focuses on WEIRD, youthful samples, fails to consider the role of undesirable characteristics (i.e., things people do not want in partners) at all, or in conjunction with desirable characteristics (i.e., things people do want in partners), and may be overly reliant on psychometric approaches to pivotal variables in mating psychology like mate value and sociosexuality. In a nationally representative (online) sample of 2280 people from Czechia (aged between 18 and 50 years old), we examined linear and quadratic age, education, and self-perceived mate value (desirability) effects on the desired levels in mate choice of eight undesirable and seven desirable characteristics in men and women in relation to ostensible metrics of mate value. Self-perceived mate value alone explained little variance (men 1%, women 2%), while all mate value and mating strategy indicators together explained little variance of mate preferences and aversions (men 3%, women 5%). Desirable characteristics were better explained by mate value than undesirable ones. Our results are in line with evolutionary predictions suggesting that women are more demanding. Also, more qualities to offer correlate with more expectations in a partner.

Some for a Good Time, Some for a Long Time: Women’s Ratings of the Mate Value of Men with Different Addictions – An Experimental Study

Background: The present study aimed to explore women’s perception of men with different addictions in terms of their short- and long-term mate value. Objectives: 2,525 women (age range: 18–40, M = 28.35, SD = 6.39) were randomized to six conditions in a vignette-based experiment where a male of otherwise high mating value was described as suffering from either gambling, gaming, cannabis, anabolic androgenic steroid, and alcohol addiction or as not suffering from addiction (control). Results: Regarding long-term mate value of the target, the control target was rated higher than each of the targets. The gaming target was rated higher than the alcohol, cannabis, and gambling targets. Finally, the AAS target was rated as higher on long-term mate value than the alcohol and gambling addiction targets. Conclusions: Overall, women seem to perceive risk-taking in the face of uncertainty, reflected by gambling addiction, as an attractive behavioral tendency in men in terms of short-term mating. In contrast, potential long-term mates with gaming or chemical addictions are viewed more negatively, probably because it signals inadequate time and resources to be invested in a relationship.

Revisiting the Five Finger Discount: Shoplifting as a Reproductive Strategy for Increasing Mate Value [Conference Presentation Abstract

Revisiting the Five Finger Discount: Shoplifting as a Reproductive Strategy for Increasing Mate Value [Conference Presentation Abstract

Mate value moderates the influence of perceived sex ratio on mental health outcomes.

Mate value moderates the influence of perceived sex ratio on mental health outcomes.

A Multi-Method Study Examining the Role of Swiping on Dating Apps: Mate Value Preferences, Sexual Satisfaction, and Need Satisfaction with Matches in Emerging Adults.

Intrinsic (i.e., personality traits) and extrinsic mate value (i.e., resources, physical attractiveness) preferences play a crucial role in (online) relationship formation. The role of mate values in dating applications was unclear and was addressed in a multi-method study. A first content analytical study examined the prevalence of mate values (MVs) on Tinder profiles (Study 1) and two subsequent cross-sectional studies explored the relationships between dating app use, various swiping behaviors, sexual satisfaction (Studies 2-3), need satisfaction with matches (Study 3), having a committed relationship versus casual sex motivation for using dating apps and users' gender. The content analysis of 307 Tinder profiles indicated that resources and physical attractiveness were most salient in biographies and pictures, respectively. The first cross-sectional study (nfullsample = 325, ndating app users = 133) revealed no significant relationships between dating app frequency/swiping frequency, intrinsic and extrinsic MV preferences, and sexual satisfaction. The second cross-sectional study (n = 323) showed no significant relationships between picture-based or biography-based swiping, intrinsic and extrinsic MV preferences, and need satisfaction with matches. Gender differences emerged in the presentation of MVs on Tinder (Study 1) and general MV preferences (Study 2-3), but not in the relationships between different types of dating app use/swiping and MV preferences (Study 2-3). A committed relationship and a casual sex motivation played a role in the relationships between different types of swiping behaviors and MV preferences, and between MV preferences, and sexual satisfaction/need satisfaction with matches.

Examining Ecological Harshness, Sociosexuality, and Mate Value in Women’s Preferences for Men’s Height and Shoulder-to-Hip Ratio

Examining Ecological Harshness, Sociosexuality, and Mate Value in Women’s Preferences for Men’s Height and Shoulder-to-Hip Ratio

Mate value discrepancies and mate retention behaviors: A cubic response surface analysis

AbstractThis study used cubic polynomial regression with response surface analysis to examine the associations that mate value discrepancies (i.e., the difference between an individual's self‐reported mate value and their perceptions of their partner's mate value) had with mate retention behaviors performed by the individual and their perceptions of the mate retention behaviors performed by their partner. The sample included 1083 undergraduates, and the results revealed a congruence effect such that participants who perceived themselves and their romantic partners to have similarly low levels of mate value reported high levels of cost‐inflicting behaviors by themselves and their partners. There was also a curvilinear association that emerged for mate value discrepancies such that individuals who perceived themselves to have higher levels of mate value than their partners reported higher levels of cost‐inflicting behaviors by themselves and their romantic partners. These results demonstrate how cubic response surface analysis can allow for a better understanding of the connections that mate value discrepancies have with outcomes in romantic relationships.

Effects of Mate Value and Mate Value Discrepancy on Perceived Marital Quality: A Dyadic Approach

The main aim of this study was to investigate the effects of mate value assessment and mate value discrepancy on perceived marital quality, using an assessment of personal and partner mate value obtained by both partners. The sample included 442 heterosexual couples that have lived together for at least a year. The Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) was used to investigate the effects of personal and partner mate value assessment on the evaluation of marital quality. In addition, two interaction effects were added to the model to examine the effect of mate value discrepancy on perceived marital quality. The APIM model showed significant actor and partner effects of the partner's mate value assessment on the evaluation of both husbands' and wives' marital quality. The model also showed a significant effect of personal mate value assessed by wives on husbands' marital quality assessment. However, the current evidence does not confirm the assumption of a possible combination of partners' mate value promoting marital quality above and beyond the contribution of both partners' mate value.

Deceptive Affection is Strategically Expressed Under Relational Threat—But Not Towards Partners with Low Mate Value

Individuals sometimes express affection that they do not feel. This describes deceptive affectionate messages and occurs when communicators express affectionate messages that are not consistent with their internal feelings of affection in the moment. They are commonly expressed in romantic relationships (about 3 times per week) and are argued to function as relational maintenance and retention. The present work ( N = 1993) demonstrated that deceptive affectionate messages are the behavioral output of an evolved psychological system that strategically operates to maintain significant pair bonds (i.e., high mate value partners) but not non-significant pair bonds (i.e., low mate value partners). This system is uniquely and nonrandomly designed to increasingly generate deceptive affectionate messages when the individual’s highly valued partnership is perceived to be under relational threat and decreasingly deploy deceptive affectionate messages when the highly valued partnership is not under threat, but the system does not apply this relational strategy in low-valued partnerships. This supports evolutionary psychological reasoning that affectionate communication should be predicated on a cost–benefit ratio, such that deceptive affectionate messages are expressed to high value mates because the substantial costs of losing a highly valued partner outweigh the smaller risks of enacting them (e.g., discovered deception, temporary relational conflict). By establishing that deceptive affection is predicated on a cost–benefit ratio, the present work better solidifies deceptive affection, and affection exchange theory more broadly, in the human evolutionary sciences.

Self-perceived Mate Value is Predicted by Biological and self-reported Indices of Health in Young Adults.

Immunocompetence can influence an organism's reproductive fitness, and thus presumably their desirability as a mate (i.e., mate value). In humans, the link between immunocompetence and mate value has found circumstantial support by way of both expressed mate preferences for healthy partners, and via preferences for attractive phenotypes that are ostensibly linked to immune functioning. We examined whether a biological marker of immunocompetence, salivary immunoglobulin A (sIgA), along with self-reported frequency and severity of symptoms of poor health predicted individuals' reported mate value and mating behavior in a sample of 691 young adults. Our measures of immunocompetence (sIgA and symptoms of poor health) correlated significantly with one another, suggesting sIgA is a viable marker of general immune function in young adults. We then examined the independent contributions of these variables to mate value, controlling for age, sex, and body mass index (BMI). Results showed that sIgA (positively)and poor health (negatively) predicted mate value, but not lifetime number of sex partners or current romantic relationship status. These findings suggest that those with better health and immune function report being more desirable as mating partners but support past research showing null links to reported mating behavior. Together, these findings suggest that more comprehensive work on links between immunocompetence and mating is required.

Functionally Calibrating Life Satisfaction: The Case of Mating Motives and Self-Perceived Mate Value

Extending the growing literature on adaptive functionality of inner experiential states, we take the approach that life satisfaction functions as a part of a psychological system that monitors current and potential achievement on important goals. From this perspective, life satisfaction is sensitively calibrated to how well one is moving toward success on important goals, thereby providing useful information for, and potentially motivating, subsequent goal-facilitating action. Focusing on mating goals, we investigated whether currently active and important mating goals shape the extent to which life satisfaction is sensitively and selectively calibrated by goal-specific cues of potential mating success—self-perceived mate value. As hypothesized, because most individuals (eventually) seek long-term committed relationships, self-perceived long-term mate value predicted life satisfaction for men and women regardless of relationship status. In contrast, and also as hypothesized, self-perceived short-term mate value predicted life satisfaction only for individuals with short-term casual mating goals—single uncommitted men (Studies 1, 2 A, and 2B), individuals dispositionally motivated toward short-term relationships (Studies 2 A and 2B), and single uncommitted women for whom short-term mating motivation was experimentally engaged, enabling causal inference (Study 3). Results support a functional conceptualization of life satisfaction, showing that currently active mating goals can shape the extent to which goal-specific self-perceived mate value predicts life satisfaction.

Sexual Desire Mediates the Relationship-Promoting Effects of Perceived Partner Mate Value.

Although sexual desire for one's partner is theorized to serve as a gut-level indicator of partner mate value that motivates investment in valued partners, there is scant empirical evidence to support this hypothesis. Five studies addressed this possibility, examining whether experiencing sexual desire encouraged the enactment of relationship-promoting behaviors and whether perceptions of partner mate value motivated this proposed process. In a pilot study and Study 1, participants relived an activity they experienced with their partner, which was either sexual or non-sexual. Then, participants rated their desire to engage in sex and other non-sexual relationship-promoting activities with their partner (pilot study) and their partner's responsiveness to personal disclosures. Participants' enacted responsiveness was also evaluated by judges (Study 1). Results showed that experiences of desire enhanced relationship-promoting tendencies. Using experimental, daily experiences, and longitudinal methods, Studies 2-4 extended these findings, indicating that both manipulated and perceived partner mate value predicted desire, which, in turn, was associated with engagement in relationship-promoting behaviors. These findings demonstrate that sexual desire functions as a mechanism encouraging investment in partners who are perceived to be worth pursuing and retaining.

Dependents as Signals of Mate Value: Long-term Mating Strategy Predicts Displays on Online Dating Profiles for Men.

Sexual strategies theory indicates women prefer mates who show the ability and willingness to invest in a long-term mate due to asymmetries in obligate parental care of children. Consequently, women’s potential mates must show they can provide investment – especially when women are seeking a long-term mate. Investment may be exhibited through financial and social status, and the ability to care for a mate and any resulting offspring. Men who care for children and pets (hereafter “dependents”) are perceived as high-quality mates, given that dependents signal an ability to invest; however, no studies have examined how dependents are associated with short-term and long-term mating strategies. Here, online dating profiles were used to test the predictions that an interactive effect between sex and mating strategy will predict displays of dependents, with long-term mating strategy predicting for men but not women. Moreover, this pattern should hold for all dependent types and, due to relative asymmetries in required investment, differences will be strongest regarding displays of children and least in non-canine pets. As expected, men seeking long-term mates displayed dependents more than men seeking short-term mates, but both men and women seeking long-term mates displayed dependents similarly. This pattern was driven mostly by canines. These findings indicate that men adopting a long-term mating strategy display their investment capabilities more compared to those seeking short-term mates, which may be used to signal their mate value.

Exploring the Impact of Mate Value & Desire for Commitment on Changing Mate Preferences in Indian Youth

Mate preferences is an uncharted area in India with few studies (such as Prakash & Singh, 2014) laying rudimentary foundations about characteristics that individuals prefer in potential partners. The impact of moderator variables such as desire for commitment in relationships & mate value have been predominantly studied in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich & Democratic) cultures alone. This paper aimed to 1) explore underlying dimensions of mate preferences within an Indian sample 2) identify gender differences in mate preferences, 3) identify the impact of desire for commitment on mate preferences and 4) study the moderating effects of mate value and desire for commitment on mate preferences. From responses of 200 Indian participants from Bangalore urban, 5 underlying dimensions (Physical Attractiveness & Compatibility, Dependability & Emotional Warmth, Social Status & Resources, Sociability, Ambitiousness) were identified through exploratory factor analysis. Females were found to prefer Social Status & Resources and Ambitiousness characteristics more than men. While desire for commitment alone had no impact on mate preferences, along with mate value as a moderator it was found to significantly affect preferences. The paper further discusses implications of findings in a larger cultural context and proposes research to untangle the complex moderating effect of mate value on mate preferences.

Individuals High on the Dark Triad Traits are More Jealous if they are Also High on Mate Value and Restricted in Sociosexuality

Individuals High on the Dark Triad Traits are More Jealous if they are Also High on Mate Value and Restricted in Sociosexuality

Curvilinear Sexism and Its Links to Men's Perceived Mate Value.

We tested the novel hypothesis that men lower in status-linked variables-that is, subjective social status and perceived mate value-are relatively disinclined to offset their high hostile sexism with high benevolent sexism. Findings revealed that mate value, but not social status, moderates the hostile-benevolent sexism link among men: Whereas men high in perceived mate value endorse hostile and benevolent sexism linearly across the attitude range, men low in mate value show curvilinear sexism, characterized by declining benevolence as hostility increases above the midpoint. Study 1 (N = 15,205) establishes the curvilinear sexism effect and shows that it is stronger among men than women. Studies 2 (N = 328) and 3 (N = 471) show that the curve is stronger among men low versus high in perceived mate value, and especially if they lack a serious relationship partner (Study 3). Discussion considers the relevance of these findings for understanding misogyny.

Sexual fetishes: sensations, perceptions, and correlates

ABSTRACT Most literature on sexual fetishes focuses on maldevelopment, abnormality, and stigma. Benefits and psychosocial aspects of practising fetishes are seldom documented. We aimed to explore the sensations, perceptions, and socioemotional experiences involved in practicing fetishes. We recruited 316 participants from various websites and social media platforms geared specifically for people with fetishes. Participants completed our online anonymous questionnaire which yielded both quantitative and qualitative data. When asked what they wanted the world to know about their fetish, content analysis showed that those who engage in fetishes gave responses that fell into the categories of what fetishes are not, what fetishes are, about the practice itself, and about negative aspects. Participants had typical Satisfaction with Life scores. Participants had lower than typical Mate Value Scale scores (a gauge of one’s own perceived desirability) with some exception. Results suggest generally positive experiences and attitudes among those who practice fetishes and support the notion that fetishes are not inherently pathological.

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

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)

Commitment, Dominance, and Mate Value: Power Bases in Long-Term Heterosexual Couples.

We assessed the relative contribution of economic, personal, and affective power bases to perceived relationship power. Based on evolutionary studies, we predicted that personality dominance and mate value should represent alternative personal power bases. Our sample was comprised of 84 Czech heterosexual couples. We measured the economic power base using self-report scales assessing education, income and work status. Personal power bases were assessed using self-report measures of personality dominance (International Personality Item Pool Dominance and Assertiveness subscale from NEO Personality Inventory-Revised Extraversion scale), and partner-report measures of mate value (Trait-Specific Dependence Inventory, factors 2–6). The first factor of Trait-Specific Dependence Inventory, which measures agreeableness/commitment was used to assess the affective power base. Our results show that perceived relationship power is associated with a perception of partner’s high agreeableness/commitment. Moreover, women’s personality dominance and mate value are also linked with perceived relationship power, which supports our evolutionary prediction of dominance and mate value working as power bases for women. The stronger effect of women’s than men’s power bases may be due to gender differences in investment into relationships and/or due to transition to more equal relationships currently sought by women in the Czech Republic.

Mate value, intrasexual competition and sociosexual desire drive Brazilian women's well-being.

Well-being (vs. ill-being) might function as an internal guide for approaching (vs. avoiding) situations, strategies, and achievements that ancestrally led to higher (vs. lower) reproductive success. Indeed, coupled individuals report higher well-being than singles, while depressive individuals report lower mate value and higher sociosexuality. Here we investigate associations between well-being, depression and evolutionary reproduction-related aspects (mate value, intrasexual competition, age, and sociosexuality). Overall, 1,173 predominantly heterosexual Brazilian women (mean = 31.89; standard deviation = 11.10) responded to online instruments measuring self-perceived happiness, life-satisfaction, depression, mate value, intrasexual competition, age, and sociosexuality. Multiple regression models indicated that higher well-being was positively predicted by mate value and negatively by intrasexual competition and sociosexual desire, while the opposite was true for depression. Although intrasexual competition and unrestricted sociosexuality can, under some circumstances, increase individual reproductive success, they are risky and suboptimally effective strategies, thus leading to feelings of ill-being. Contrarily, affective long-term bonds, higher mate-value, and lower intrasexual competition might increase feelings of well-being, because this would lead to a safer route towards ancestral reproductive advantages.