Physical Attractiveness and Resource Acquisition: Attentional Cues for Long-Term Mate Selection

Abstract

Evolutionary and sociocultural perspectives have sought to explain the process through which human mate preferences shape the current idealizations of the most desirable traits in a prospective mate. While both of these perspectives advance different logic regarding why particular mate preferences occur within a long-term context, the conclusion is the same: men prioritize a woman’s physical attractiveness while women prioritize a man’s current and future resource acquisition. Research has extensively focused on how men utilize physical attractiveness to select for mates with minimal research regarding how women use relevant cues when selecting for potential mates. The current study sought to expand the existing knowledge of the field to include an examination of how women use a combination of resource acquisition cues and physical attractiveness when selecting for long-term mates. A college-aged sample of male and female participants (N = 82) viewed an array of opposite-sex images while their brainwaves were recorded by an electroencephalogram (EEG) to track attention allocation to the images. The images were manipulated for physical attractiveness (high/moderate/low) and resource acquisition (high/low) to determine the cues men and women prioritize when evaluating long-term romantic interest in prospective partners. A main effect of attractiveness (p < .001) indicated both men and women prioritized their attention to the most highly attractive mates. Additional interaction effects suggested that men and women utilized resource acquisition cues in opposite ways when considering both physical attractiveness and resource acquisition in a prospective mate.