302 Chapter 9TABLE 9.2 EXPLANATIONS FOR SEX DIFFERENCES IN MATE PREFERENCES
Supporting Evidence Counter-Evidence
Evolutionary
Theory- cross-cultural evidence men rate
attractiveness as more important than
women - cross-cultural evidence women rate status as
more important than men - men’s preference for physical attractiveness
in a mate is not affected by the gender
traditionality of the culture or by time- attractive women are
not paired with high
status men - cross-cultural evidence
that men rate domestic
skills as more important
than women
- attractive women are
Social Role Theory • cross-cultural evidence that women rate
status as more important than men- cross-cultural evidence that men rate domestic
skills as more important than women - greater sex differences in mate preferences in
cultures with distinct female and male roles - sex differences in mate preferences
reduced when men and women have less
traditional gender-role attitudes - sex differences in mate preferences
reduced over time as women’s and men’s
roles have become more similar- cross-cultural evidence
men rate attractiveness
as more important than
women
- cross-cultural evidence
Social Construction
Theory- cultural differences in mate preferences
- greater sex differences in mate preferences
in cultures with distinct male and female
roles
attribute in a mate. When examining who
people actually end up with as mates, there
also does not appear to be any support for
the potentials-attract hypothesis. A study of
129 newlywed couples showed no evidence
that physically attractive women were more
likely than physically unattractive women
to be paired with a financially well-off mate
(Stevens, Owens, & Schaefer, 1990). Instead,
there was strong support that mates matched
on physical attractiveness and education.
Eagly and Wood (1999) have argued
thatsocial role theoryprovides a better
explanation than evolutionary theory for
sex differences in mate selection. They sug-
gest that a society’s emphasis on a distinctdivision of labor between the sexes will be
directly linked to sex differences in mate se-
lection. In other words, females will value a
mate with high earning capacity and males
will value a mate with domestic skills in so-
cieties where men’s role is to work outside
the home and women’s role is to work in-
side the home. Eagly and Wood tested this
hypothesis by linking the gender equality of
a culture to the size of the sex difference in
mate preferences. They reanalyzed the data
that Buss and colleagues (1990) had col-
lected on mate selection preferences from
37 cultures around the world. First, they
confirmed Buss and colleagues’ finding that
women were more likely than men to valueM09_HELG0185_04_SE_C09.indd 302 6/21/11 12:40 PM