The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Romantic Relationships 299

and men such as a good sense of humor,

honesty, and caring.

Evidence. In general, men and women

have similar reasons for entering romantic

relationships. Support and companionship

are the primary motivating factors. Women

and men desire partners who are honest,

warm, affectionate, kind, and share their

interests. However, some sex differences in

desires also appear that are consistent with

stereotypes. As indicated in the personal ads,

men desire physical attractiveness in a part-

ner, whereas women desire intelligence or

occupational status.

In a meta-analysis conducted 20 years

ago that compared the characteristics that

women and men desired in a mate, results

showed that females were substantially more

likely than males to emphasize socioeconomic

status (d=-.69) and ambition (d=-.67), but

only somewhat more likely to emphasize in-

telligence (d=-.30) and character (d=-.35;

Feingold, 1992). There was no sex differ-

ence in the value attached to personality. In

a meta-analysis that was focused only on the

importance of a mate’s physical attractiveness,

men emphasized physical attractiveness in a

mate more than women with the size of the

difference being larger in self-report studies

(dsinthe+.50 range) than observational stud-

ies (dsinthe+.30 range; Feingold, 1990).

However, these meta-analyses were

conducted a long time ago. Do these sex dif-

ferences still hold? A more recent review of

the literature showed that the differences not

only still exist but are consistent across a vari-

ety of cultures (Shackelford, Schmitt, & Buss,

2005). Women are more likely than men to

prefer a mate who has money, ambition, and

high social status in 27 of the 37 cultures ex-

amined, including the United States, whereas

men are more likely than women to prefer

a physically attractive mate in 30 of the 37

cultures, also including the United States. A

study of single men and women, one-third

of whom were Asian and half of whom were

European, showed that men were more likely

than women to value physical attractive-

ness in selecting a long-term mate, whereas

women were more likely to value intelligence

(Furnham, 2009).

Because it is more socially acceptable

for men than women to emphasize the phys-

ical appearance of a potential mate, demand

characteristics that may be exaggerating

these differences. A study using fMRI meth-

odology avoided the problems of self-report

by having young adult community mem-

bers rate a series of other-sex faces while in

a scanner (Cloutier et al., 2008). More attrac-

tive faces were associated with the activation

of areas in the brain associated with reward

for both men and women. However, one of

these areas in particular—the orbitofrontal

cortex—was particularly active in response

to attractive faces for men. The authors con-

cluded that physical attractiveness has more

reward value for men than women.

Women and men are well aware of the

fact that they have some different prefer-

ences. When college students in the United

States, the Netherlands, and Korea were

asked how distressed they would be if their

partner became interested in someone else

who outperformed them on a number of

dimensions, males said they would be more

distressed than females at rivals who outper-

formed them in terms of job prospects, phys-

ical strength, and financial prospects (Buss

et al., 2000). By contrast, females said they

would be more distressed than males at rivals

who were physically more attractive. These

findings held across the three countries.

All of these studies seem to accentuate

differences and overlook similarities. Studies

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