Importance of physical attractiveness and social assertiveness skills in male homosexual dating behavior and partner selection.
It was proposed that a homosexual male would most often expect to date, try to date, and like a partner of physical attractiveness greater than his own. One hundred homosexual men were matched in dyads based on objective physical attractiveness ratings made of their appearance by confederates and by their scores on a social assertiveness questionnaire. The subjects were matched in pairs so that all possible combinations of high and low physical attractiveness and social assertiveness were represented. Each pair of 50 dyads experienced an actual "computer date" through an "afternoon tea dance" arranged by the experimenter. Regardless of the subject's own physical attractiveness and social assertiveness level, the largest determinant of how much he liked his partner and how much he wished to date him again was the partner's physical attractiveness. Neither the physical attractiveness nor social assertiveness of a partner, however, influenced how often a subject subsequently asked the partner out. The results suggest that in such institutions as bars and discos, male homosexuals judge prospective partners on the partner's physical attractiveness. However, other variables besides attractiveness and assertiveness work to produce long-term attraction and relationship formation.
D000328:Adult; D001242:Assertiveness; D004954:Esthetics; D006716:Homosexuality; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires