Is Traditional Gender Ideology Associated with Sex-Typed Mate Preferences? A Test in Nine Nations - 2006
As expected, these data replicated well-known sex differences in mate preferences: In general, women preferred
a mate older than themselves, men preferred a mate younger than themselves, women placed greater importance
on financial prospects in a mate, and men placed greater importance on good cook and housekeeper qualities in a
mate. Also, even with this small sample of nations, these cross-national data replicated the finding that the sex
difference in the preferred age of one’s mate decreased with increasing gender equality (Eagly & Wood, 1999).
At the participant level of analysis, these data confirmed our predictions about the relationship between traditional
gender ideology and mate preferences. First, for preferred age difference in a mate, all four forms of traditional gender ideology were associated with sex-typed preferences: Women with traditional attitudes preferred an older mate than did women with less traditional attitudes, whereas men with traditional attitudes preferred a younger mate than did men with less traditional attitudes. These men’s and women’s associations were significantly different from one another. Second, although traditional gender ideology was positively associated with the importance of good financial prospects in a mate for both men and women, for three of the four ideology measures it was a stronger predictor of women’s preferences. Third, although traditional gender ideology was positively associated with the importance of good cook and housekeeper qualities in a mate for both men and women, for three of the four ideology measures it was a stronger predictor of men’s preferences. In addition, an ipsative analysis revealed results consistent with the social role logic: To the extent that participants held traditional gender ideologies, women preferred good financial prospects in a mate more than other characteristics and men preferred a good cook and housekeeper more than other characteristics. These findings lend support to the hypothesis that traditional attitudes toward the roles of men and women serve to guide mate choice by fostering sex-typed mate preferences.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Sex differences in mate preferences
Something from the "That doesn't really surprise me department":
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Or indeed the findings could "lend support" to the exact alernative hypothesis that attraction has little to do with traditional attitudes and much to do with evolutionary biology...
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to wonder if psychologists could do with lessons in concepts like "logic" and "scientific method". Years of research are spent on studies that "could support a hypothesis" or equally might not...
Ridiculous
Na na na, don't be so harsh :)
ReplyDeleteThere are often many ways to look at an issue. Also they talked about evolutionary biology in their piece. It is just a part I did not quote. So, just for you (copy and pasted but not edited):
Evolutionary Psychology as a Theory of Mate Selection
One influential theory of mate selection does not assume a
relationship between preferences for certain qualities in a
mate and gender ideology. Specifically, evolutionary psychologists
have contended that these sex differences in
mate preferences reflect the unique adaptive problems
experienced by men and women as they evolved (e.g.,
Buss, 1989; Kenrick, Trost, & Sundie, 2004). The sexes
presumably developed different strategies to ensure their
survival and to maximize their reproductive success. Buss
and his colleagues interpreted the results of the 37 cultures
study (Buss, 1989) as providing evidence that sex differences
in preferred mate characteristics are universal and
therefore reflect evolved tendencies that are general to the
human species. However, demonstrations of systematic
cross-cultural variation in the magnitude of sex differences
have raised questions about this interpretation (Eagly &
Wood, 1999; Kasser & Sharma, 1999).
Evolutionary psychologists have given some attention to
within-sex individual differences in preferences and behavior,
although they have not acknowledged the importance of
gender ideology or other predictors derived from social role
theory (but see Schmitt, 2005). In general, they have
conceptualized individual differences in terms of “conditional
universals” that reflect contingent evolved dispositions,
with alternative forms of a disposition triggered by
particular environments and developmental experiences
(e.g., Gangestad & Simpson, 2000; Geary, 2000). Given
that the environments of our respondents differ considerably
across the nine nations of our sample, perhaps a
contingency explanation could be crafted for betweennations
differences in mating preferences, but it is doubtful
that such an explanation would also account for individual
differences within nations in samples composed largely of
university students.
In critiques of role predictors, evolutionary psychologists
have noted that women’s preferences for resources in mates
are unrelated to their own economic resources (e.g., Kenrick
& Keefe, 1992; Townsend, 1989). For example, Wiederman
and Allgeier (1992) found that women who themselves
anticipated a high income still valued financial resources in
their mates. However, given strong tendencies for people to
marry within their own socioeconomic group—that is,
homogamy in relation to education, occupation, and social
class—men as well as women who themselves have higher
income generally select partners from their own higher
socioeconomic group (e.g., Kalmijn, 1994, 1998; Mare,
1991). Moreover, women’s economic prospects have become
a positive predictor of their marriage prospects in the
United States in recent decades, with men and women
demonstrating similar positive relations between their
earnings and marriage (Sweeney, 2002). Some greater
importance of earnings to men’s marital prospects remains,
however, probably because, consistent with gender role
expectations, many women even in industrialized nations
still regard themselves as secondary wage earners within
their families.
I am beginning to concern if psychologists can do with courses in concepts such as "logic" and also "scientific method". Many years of research tend to be utilized on tests that "can assistance a hypothesis" or perhaps similarly may well not...
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