Different cognitive processes underlie human mate choices and mate preferences.
Based on undergraduates' self-reports of mate preferences for various traits and self-perceptions of their own levels on those traits, Buston and Emlen [Buston PM, Emlen ST (2003) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:8805-8810] concluded that modern human mate choices do not reflect predictions of tradeoffs from evolutionary theory but instead follow a "likes-attract" pattern, where people choose mates who match their self-perceptions. However, reported preferences need not correspond to actual mate choices, which are more relevant from an evolutionary perspective. In a study of 46 adults participating in a speed-dating event, we were largely able to replicate Buston and Emlen's self-report results in a pre-event questionnaire, but we found that the stated preferences did not predict actual choices made during the speed-dates. Instead, men chose women based on their physical attractiveness, whereas women, who were generally much more discriminating than men, chose men whose overall desirability as a mate matched the women's self-perceived physical attractiveness. Unlike the cognitive processes that Buston and Emlen inferred from self-reports, this pattern of results from actual mate choices is very much in line with the evolutionary predictions of parental investment theory.
Todd
Peter M
PM
Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition and International Max Planck Research School LIFE, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallee 94, 14195 Berlin, Germany. pmtodd@indiana.edu
Penke
Lars
L
Fasolo
Barbara
B
Lenton
Alison P
AP
D000328:Adult; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003380:Courtship; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology*; D012945:Social Values; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires