ICPR Abstracts: Session 34

---

Session 34: Symposium

Attraction and Partner Preferences

Mate Selection Standards for Ideal and Less-than-
Ideal Partners as a Function of Gender and 
Relationship Context

Pamela C. Regan
Albion College

The characteristics that men and women seek in their 
romantic and sexual partners have long been of interest to 
researchers in the areas of mate selection and 
interpersonal attraction, perhaps because such preferences 
have implications for people's behavior and their 
relationships with actual and potential partners.  The 
present study extended previous research on mate 
selection:
     (1)  By exploring men's and women's conceptions of the 
ideal or perfect partner in both a short-term, sexual and a 
long-term, romantic context.
     (2)  By considering the full range of preferences that 
characterize mate selection processes (i.e., the limits that 
individuals use when evaluating another's suitability as a
potential partner).  Unlike previous studies, which have 
focused either upon ideal standards (e.g., Howard et al., 
1987) or upon minimum selection criteria (i.e., lowest 
standards; Kenrick, Sadalla, Groth, & Trost, 1990), the 
present study explored both ideal and absolute (minimum 
and maximum) selection standards and, in addition, 
examined the relationship between the two.
     (3)  By exploring whether gender and relationship 
context (i.e., short-term sexual vs. long-term romantic) 
moderate the extent to which individuals will compromise 
their ideal mate selection standards.
     Seventy two men and women received a set of 32 
characteristics adapted from earlier mate selection 
research. For each characteristic, participants used 
percentile scores to identify their ideal standard and the 
minimum and maximum values they would use in 
selecting a short-term, sexual partner and a long-term, 
romantic partner (counterbalanced).  This resulted in a 2 
(Participant Gender) x 2 (Relationship Context) mixed 
factorial design with Relationship Context as the within-
participants factor.
     Analyses on ideal partner ratings indicate that 
relationship context clearly affected participants' 
preferences.  Both men and women preferred that their 
ideal sexual partner score higher on attractiveness 
attributes, and lower on social status variables and 
extraversion/sociability variables, than their ideal romantic 
partner.  In addition, men and women also both wanted 
their ideal long-term mate to rank higher than their ideal 
short-term mate on agreeableness variables; however, 
women emphasized this composite more than men when 
considering a short-term partner.  These results suggest 
that men and women do indeed prefer different 
characteristics in their ideal sexual partners than in their 
ideal marriage partners.  Specifically, when considering 
what is desirable in someone with whom they intend to 
have a long-term, romantic relationship, participants were 
more concerned with personality attributes (e.g., 
agreeableness, extraversion) and social status; when sizing 
up a sexual partner, however, internal characteristics were 
downgraded in favor of such physical attributes as an 
attractive appearance and a clean bill of health.


Insiders' Perspectives on Reasons for Attraction in 
Close Relationships

Susan Sprecher
Illinois State University

Why does Person (P) come to like and want to develop a 
relationship or friendship with Other (O)?  A variety of 
methodological approaches have been used to address this 
question, including experiments, get-acquainted dates, and 
mate selection lists. Surprisingly, very little research has 
used retrospective reports and assessed the insiders' 
perspective to the attraction process in ongoing, close 
relationships.
     The purpose of this research is to extend our 
knowledge of the attraction process by examining:  (1) the 
relative importance of a variety of possible predictors of 
attraction, assessed based on insiders' retrospective 
reports; (2) the cognitive and emotional processes that 
might mediate the effect of predictors of attraction; (3) 
how the importance of predictors of attraction may vary for 
different types of close relationships (e.g., friends vs. 
romantic relationships) and for different types of attraction 
(e.g., liking vs. sexual attraction); and (4) how factors 
leading to initial attraction may differ from factors leading 
to the maintenance of attraction.
     In both Study 1 (N = 214) and Study 2 (N = 381) 
participants (college students) were asked to think of 
someone (e.g., friend, romantic partner) to whom they are 
close, and for each of several predictors of attraction (e.g., 
different types of similarity, proximity, physical 
attractiveness of partner), to indicate the level the factor is 
present in the relationship or in "O" and how important it 
was as a determinant of attraction.  They also responded to 
several items written to assess the internal reactions that 
may mediate the effect of the predictors and items on the 
types of attraction experienced.  All the participants in 
Study 1 and one-half of the participants in Study 2 were 
asked about factors leading to their initial attraction for 
this other person. The other one-half of the subjects in 
Study 2 were asked the same questions about the 
maintenance of their attraction.      Several interesting 
results are presented, including that some types of 
similarity (e.g., similarity in interests) are more important 
determinants of attraction than other types of similarity 
and that many of the factors found to be important 
determinants of initial attraction are also important 
determinants of the maintenance of attraction.


Attachment, Caregiving, and Partner Choice:
Support for the Responsive Caregiving Hypothesis

Kelley D. Chappell, Columbia College
Keith E. Davis, University of South Carolina

An experiment was conducted to examine the relationship 
between attachment, caregiving, and romantic partner 
choice. In the first phase, subjects (282 college students) 
responded to a questionnaire designed to assess their 
attachment style, caregiving behavior, history with 
parental caregivers, and the caregiving behavior of their 
current romantic partner.  In the second phase, subjects 
read a scenario that described a relationship with an 
opposite-sex partner who displayed one of three caregiving 
styles: 1) responsive, 2) inconsistent, or 3) rejecting, and 
rated their emotional reactions to the imaginary 
relationship.  These caregiving styles were developed 
based on Kunce and Shaver's (1994) work on caregiving in 
adult relationships.  A manipulation check showed that 
subjects perceived these scenarios exactly as intended. As 
expected, these findings supported the "responsive 
caregiving hypothesis", such that subjects responded most 
favorably toward the responsive partner, next favorably 
toward the inconsistent partner, and least favorably toward 
the rejecting partner.  Results also indicated that subjects 
who were responsive caregivers were more likely to be 
paired with real romantic partners who were responsive 
caregivers, and that subjects who had previously 
experienced inconsistent or rejecting parental caregiving 
rated unresponsive potential partners more favorably than 
subjects who had experienced responsive parental 
caregiving.  In addition, results replicated Kunce and 
Shaver's (1994) findings that adult attachment styles were 
related to adult caregiving behavior, and results linked 
adult attachment and caregiving behavior with parental 
caregiving.  This research provided support for and 
extended the "attachment security hypothesis" (Chappell 
& Davis, 1995) which suggests that people are seeking to 
form relationships with secure, responsive partners. This 
research has implications for understanding the process of 
romantic partner choice and understanding the influence 
that family relationships have on romantic partner choice.  
A longitudinal follow-up is currently being planned to 
further explore the relationship between attachment, 
caregiving, partner choice, and parental caregiving.


The Role of Attachment Style and Relationship 
Context in Evaluating Romantic Partners

Linda K. Acitelli, University of Houston
Amy M. Young, University of Michigan

Intimate relationships can influence evaluations of 
partners because such relationships are characterized by 
emotional involvement and close attachment between 
members of the dyad.  We examine the idea that attraction 
or positive feelings toward one's partner may be a function 
of attachment style and relationship context.  Thus, 
attachment theory and research can shed light on the study 
of person perception or partner evaluations within intimate 
relationships.  As part of a larger survey, 65 unmarried 
couples and 106 married couples were interviewed 
individually in their homes.  From this survey, we 
examined the questions relating to perceptions of partner 
and attachment style.   Our goal was to test the hypothesis 
that attachment style and marital status would predict 
respondents' appraisals of their relationship partners. The 
interaction between attachment style and relationship 
context was significantly related to respondents' appraisals 
of their partners.  Preoccupied dating individuals rated 
their partners more positively than did dating individuals 
with other attachment styles. However, the preoccupied 
married individuals rated their partners less positively 
than did married individuals with other attachment styles.  
Our discussion will highlight the implication that the 
differences in ratings of partners are influenced by the 
initial expectations of the partner, indicative of the
perceiver's attachment style, and the degree of public 
commitment (marital status) to the relationship.  These 
findings highlight the need for more studies comparing 
unmarried and married couples with regard to attachment 
styles and perceptions of partners.


"Be Careful What you Wish For...":
A Quantitative and Qualitative Investigation of 
"Fatal Attractions"

Diane Felmlee
University of California at Davis

According to previous research (Felmlee, 1995), qualities 
that initially attract an individual to a romantic partner are 
often the same, or very similar to, those considered to be 
flaws and weaknesses after a breakup, i.e., "fatal 
attractions".  We still do not know, however, when such a 
pattern of disenchantment is most likely to transpire.  The 
purpose of the present research, then, is to examine  
hypotheses regarding the conditions under which fatal 
attractions are expected to occur. The methodology is two-
pronged. First, in a quantitative
analysis of the hypotheses, I use logistic regression 
analysis to examine questionnaire data from a sample of 
301 individuals reporting on terminated, romantic 
relationships.  Second, I provide in-depth illustrations of 
the proposed determinants of fatal attractions in a more 
qualitative study of the open-ended responses of several 
participants.
     The findings from the logistic analysis indicate that, as 
expected, fatal attractions are significantly more likely 
when an individual is drawn to partner characteristics seen 
either as "different" from her or his own, or as "extreme" 
in nature.  When these characteristics are viewed as 
"similar", disenchantment is less likely.  Fatal attractions 
are neither more, nor less, probable, however, when 
partner qualities contradict gender stereotypes.  
Illustrations of these relationship patterns from the 
qualitative data provide additional evidence for the
hypotheses.   For example, one woman responded that she 
was attracted to a man because he was "extremely funny 
and spontaneous so being around him was fun no matter 
where we were...".  On the other hand, the qualities she 
"least liked" about her boyfriend were that "he would often 
embarrass me in public by throwing himself on the floor or 
exhibiting really STRANGE behavior.."  In other words, 
this is a case where an attractor described as extreme in 
nature (i.e., extremely funny) was later judged negatively.  
The implications of these findings for theories of 
attraction, mate selection, and relationship dissolution are 
discussed.


Evolved Modular Mechanisms and Mate Selection
by Homosexuals and Heterosexuals

Douglas T. Kenrick, Richard C. Keefe, Angela Bryan,
Alicia Barr, and Stephanie Brown
Arizona State University

Homosexuality poses something of a puzzle for 
biologically based theories of sexual relationships, but 
may actually elucidate mechanisms of heterosexual mate 
choice.  Recent
findings gathered by ourselves and others suggest support 
for an explanation of mate preference in terms of evolved 
modular mechanisms, as opposed to simple general 
mechanisms posited by earlier theories.  Contrary to norms 
of attraction among heterosexual females, for instance, 
male homosexuals are attracted to youthfulness and 
attractiveness but not to status in their partners.  Such 
abundant parallels are inconsistent with a number of ideas, 
e.g., of conscious desire to find fertility in heterosexual 
males (who make similar choices), of graceful aging in 
males versus females, of age choices as reflecting sex 
ratios in the marketplace, and so on.  They do fit, however, 
with recent evolutionary models positing that mate 
selection consists of a number of potentially isolable 
mechanisms, which may not seem "rational" operating in 
isolation.
     In the present study, we compared age preferences 
expressed by homosexuals (297, 53% male) and 
heterosexuals (486, 57% male) in 783 singles ads.  The 
study design was a 2 (sex of
participant) x 2 (sexual orientation) x 4 (decade of 
participant's age) factorial.  Analyses indicated that, for 
men, there is very little difference based on sexual 
orientation. Specifically, both homosexual and 
heterosexual men prefer progressively younger partners as 
they age.  For women, the pattern shown by homosexuals 
was slightly different from that shown by heterosexuals.  
Older partners are acceptable at all ages; however, 
homosexual women, unlike heterosexual women, show a 
tendency toward the same age- linked downward trend 
exhibited by men.  These results combine with previous 
findings to suggest that homosexual mate choice is more 
complex than a simple and general reversal of 
heterosexual roles. These data also reflect on possible 
general mechanisms for mate selection, and on emerging 
notions that psychological mechanisms evolve in a 
modular form.