Sex differences in relationship regret: The role of perceived mate characteristics

The current set of studies examined regret involving action and inaction in the realm of romantic relationships by testing whether such regret is associated with the characteristics of one's mate. In study 1, 394 participants reported on a previous casual sexual encounter, and in study 2, 358 participants reported on a previous romantic relationship. In both, instances of actual engagement and instances of passing up opportunities were studied. Study 3 was experimental and elicited reactions to hypothetical scenarios from 201 participants. Regret reported by men in both study 1 and study 2 varied as a function of the perceived attractiveness of the participants' actual and potential mate. Regret reported by women in study 2 varied as a function of the perceived stinginess of the participant's mate and perceived wealth of the participants' potential mate. Study 3 found that sex differences in type of regret (with men regretting inaction more than women) occurred only when the mate presented in the scenario was described in ways consistent with mate preferences. Together these findings suggest that regret differs between the sexes in ways consistent with sex differences in mate preferences.     

Sex differences in stipulated preferences and mate search by clients of a French marriage bureau

Using data from the file of a French matchmaking agency, this study confirmed some previous results on traditional male-female differences in stipulations by placers of advertisements: women seek features influencing financial resources, while men offer these characteristics and seek younger women. An interesting and original result is that the sampled women are older than the men, which partially explains why they spend relatively more money in professional matchmaking services as they age.     

The effects of a parenting prime on sex differences in mate selection criteria

This study tested an evolutionary hypothesis that the mere prospect of caring for a child will increase sex differences in human mate selection criteria. That is, women would adopt a stronger preference for socially dominant men when parenting had been primed and men would adopt a stronger preference for physically attractive women when parenting had been primed. Male and female university students were randomly assigned to be exposed to a parenting prime or a nonparenting prime. Following the priming procedure, participants rated the romantic appeal of a target person of the opposite sex. Exposure to the parenting prime, the target's social dominance, and the target's physical attractiveness were orthogonally manipulated. As predicted, women adopted a stronger mate preference for social dominance when parenting was at the forefront of the mind. Contrary to predictions, the parenting prime had no effect on men's mate preference for physical attractiveness.     

Sex differences when searching for a mate: A process‐tracing approach

Sex differences in the extent of mate search were investigated using two sequential choice processes. In Study 1, attribute search, prior to choosing a mate or rejecting two competing mates, for either a short‐ or long‐term relationship, was explored. Men (women) seeking short‐term relationships were the least (most) likely to reject both suitors. Men acquired a greater number of attributes prior to rejecting mates. The length of the relationship solely affected men's search behaviors. Study 2 utilized a nested sequential model namely participants decided how many suitors to sample prior to choosing a short‐term mate, and how many attributes to acquire on each sampled suitor. Women sampled a greater number of suitors prior to choosing a mate. Biological sex was found to be a greater moderator of mate search than were three personality traits linked to search. Across both studies less information was acquired prior to rejecting versus choosing a mate. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An empirical test of sex differences in the emphasis on physical attractiveness in mate selection

Within a context provided by social structural theory, social evolutionary theory, and physical attractiveness stereotyping, the importance of physical attractiveness in heterosexual mate selection was explored by presenting 50 male and 50 female psychology students (M age = 22.5 yr.) during a scheduled class with an opposite sex personals advertisement, wherein the advertiser was described as 'average' or 'good-looking'. Dependent variables consisted of a written paragraph and measures of evaluation (Semantic Differential), attraction, advertisement appeal, and success. An interaction for sex x looks on the qualitative measure showed no effect for men, but the good-looking female advertiser was evaluated more positively. However, for quantitative data, the advertisement was seen as more appealing and likely to be successful when the advertiser was good looking as opposed to average looking, irrespective of sex of advertiser. Findings are discussed in relation to theoretical perspectives.     

Sex differences in Nintendo Wii performance as expected from hunter-gatherer selection

To test the hunter-gatherer theory of cognitive sex differences, men and women each played four video games on a Wii console: two games simulating skills necessary for hunting (navigation and shooting) and two games simulating skills necessary for gathering (fine motor and visual search). Men outperformed women on the two hunting games, whereas there were no sex differences on the gathering skill games. The findings are discussed in terms of evolutionary psychology theory.     

Gender differences in mate selection preferences: a test of the parental investment model.

Evolutionary-related hypotheses about gender differences in mate selection preferences were derived from Triver's parental investment model, which contends that women are more likely than men to seek a mate who possesses nonphysical characteristics that maximize the survival or reproductive prospects of their offspring, and were examined in a meta-analysis of mate selection research (questionnaire studies, analyses of personal advertisements). As predicted, women accorded more weight than men to socioeconomic status, ambitiousness, character, and intelligence, and the largest gender differences were observed for cues to resource acquisition (status, ambitiousness). Also as predicted, gender differences were not found in preferences for characteristics unrelated to progeny survival (sense of humor, "personality"). Where valid comparisons could be made, the findings were generally invariant across generations, cultures, and research paradigms.     

Sex differences in retention of verbal and spatial characteristics of stimuli

Males and females from Grades 3, 6, and college viewed sets of five or seven letters in a 4 × 4 matrix, and remembered either (a) names of the letters, (b) positions of the letters within the matrix, or (c) both letters and positions. At all grade levels females remembered letters more accurately than positions, while males remembered letters and positions equally well. However, there was also evidence that verbal and spatial information was processed independently by both males and females. Results are discussed in terms of neurological development and sex differences in specific abilities.     

择偶策略的影响因素

进化心理学旨在以进化的观点,如适应、自然选择,来解释人类的心理和行为,是当前时兴的一门科学。择偶对于人类生存繁衍的重要作用不容忽视,为目前进化心理学的研究热点。本文集中探讨择偶的相关影响因素,包括择偶标准在异性、不等收入人群中的差异,时间、早期经验及择偶自感价值、文化等对择偶策略的影响。     

Some evidence about character and mate selection

The authors conducted four studies (total N = 292) about character and mate desirability. In Study 1, undergraduates judged stimuli for attractiveness-physically and as a casual or longterm date. The target was described as faithful, having cheated but stayed with mates, or having cheated and left. Contrary to the hypothesis, men and women were equally affected by both kinds of cheaters. Study 2 replicated Study 1 with nonstudent adults. In Study 3, undergraduates rated a stimulus on the same attractiveness variables. This target had $14 million from winning a lottery or selling a dot-com company. Women, but not men, found the dot-com creator to be more physically attractive than the lottery winner. In Study 4, undergraduates rated someone who sold a cookie-making company or profited from a lucky real estate transaction. Both men and women preferred the cookie-company seller on all three measures of attractiveness.     

An empirical assessment of generational differences in basic human values

This study assessed generational differences in human values as measured by the Schwartz Value Survey. It was proposed that the two most recent generations, Millennials and Generation Xers, would value Self-enhancement and Openness to Change more than the two older generations, Baby Boomers and Matures, while the two older generations would value Self-transcendence and Conservation more. The hypotheses were tested with a combined sample of Canadian knowledge workers and undergraduate business students (N = 1,194). Two hypotheses were largely supported, although an unexpectedly large difference was observed between Millennials and Generation Xers with respect to Openness to Change and Self-enhancement. The findings suggest that generation is a useful variable in examining differences in social values.     

Sex differences in cognition

Sex differences in cognitive skills, grouped into three areas — motor, spatial, and linguistic — are assessed in the context of current notions of cerebral lateralization (Buffery and Gray, 1972). There are few convincing sex differences, either overall, or in interactions with (putative) functional localization. There are several qualifying criteria (nature of further interactions with age, birth order, culture, sex of experimenter, sex role pressure) which would have to be met, but these are as yet inadequately documented. Serious caution is urged on the proliferating number of researchers in this area.     

Sex differences in depression

The role of housewife has been hypothesized as the source of excess mental illness among married women as compared with married men. The present study found both housewives and working wives significantly more depressed than working husbands. Although working wives report that they do more housework than husbands, this factor was not significantly related to depression for either wives or husbands. It is suggested that the risk factors for depression, including marriage for women, may be better understood in the context of clinical theories of depression, especially the learned helplessness model.     

Sex differences in pain

Are there sex differences in pain? For experimentally delivered somatic stimuli, females have lower thresholds, greater ability to discriminate, higher pain ratings, and less tolerance of noxious stimuli than males. These differences, however, are small, exist only for certain forms of stimulation and are affected by many situational variables such as presence of disease, experimental setting, and even nutritive status. For endogenous pains, women report more multiple pains in more body regions than men. With no obvious underlying rationale, some painful diseases are more prevalent among females, others among males and, for many diseases, symptoms differ between females and males. Sex differences in attitudes exist that affect not only reporting, coping, and responses to treatment, but also measurement and treatment. So many variables are operative, however, that the most striking feature of sex differences in reported pain experience is the apparent overall lack of them. On the other hand, deduction from known biological sex differences suggests that these are powerful sex differences in the operation of pain mechanisms. First, the vaginal canal provides an additional route in women for internal trauma and invasion by pathological agents that puts them at greater risk for developing hyperalgesia in multiple body regions. Second, sex differences in temporal patterns are likely to give rise to sex differences in how pain is "learned" and stimuli are interpreted, a situation that could lead to a greater variability and wider range of pains without obvious peripheral pathology among females. Third, sex differences in the actions of sex hormones suggest pain-relevant differences in the operation of many neuroactive agents, opiate and nonopiate systems, nerve growth factor, and the sympathetic system. Thus, while inductive analysis of existing data demonstrate more similarities than differences in pain experience between females and males, deductive analysis suggests important operational sex differences in its production.     

Sex differences in self-silencing

The construct of self-silencing was proposed to account for women's greater vulnerability to developing depression. This study of 1,117 students (795 women and 322 men) explored possible explanations for the empirical finding that men self-silence to the same or greater extent than women. Analysis showed that men reported more self-silencing than women. A factor analysis confirmed the subscale structure of the Silencing the Self Scale for women and men, with relatively few departures from the originally proposed subscales. Depression and self-silencing scores were correlated positively for both men and women. The results of two multiple regressions, performed separately for men and women, showed that depressive symptomatology accounted for a significant percentage of the variance in self-silencing but that social desirability did not account for a significant increment in the variance accounted for in silencing the self. The scores on the Care as Self-sacrifice and the Divided Self subscales were intercorrelated for women, but not for men, indicating that there may be a sex difference in perception of self-silencing behavior.     

Sex and cultural differences in lefthandedness

Sex differences are presented for the students of architecture and music, and the distribution of sex in the tested sample, and the population is discussed. The results are related to other studies in Scandinavia, which give comparable results. A genetic/cultural model is used to discuss the differences between results from Scandinavia, USA, and other parts of the world.     

Sex differences in the jealousy‐evoking effect of rival characteristics

Four studies examined sex differences in the jealousy‐evoking nature of rival characteristics. Study 1, among 130 undergraduates, made an inventory of all relevant rival characteristics that were spontaneously mentioned when asked about a rival to whom one's partner might feel attracted. On the basis of these findings, in Study 2, among 240 undergraduates, a questionnaire was constructed, containing 56 rival characteristics. A factor analysis distinguished five dimensions of rival characteristics, i.e. Social Dominance, Physical Attractiveness, Seductive Behaviors, Physical Dominance, and Social Status. In line with the predictions, men reported more jealousy when a rival was high in Social Dominance, Physical Dominance, and Social Status, whereas women reported more jealousy when a rival was high in Physical Attractiveness. Study 3 largely replicated these findings in a community sample of 144 heterosexuals. Study 4 showed that gay men (n = 80) reported more jealousy than lesbian women (n = 73) when the rival was high in Physical Dominance, and more jealousy than heterosexual men when the rival was high in Social Dominance. Lesbian women reported more jealousy than heterosexual women when the rival was high in Physical Attractiveness. In Studies 2–4, favorable rival characteristics evoked more jealousy among those high in Social Comparison Orientation, particularly among women. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.