Personality and Mate Preferences: Five Factors In Mate Selection and Marital Satisfaction

ABSTRACT Although personality characteristics figure prominently in what people want in a mate, little is known about precisely which personality characteristics are most important, whether men and women differ in their personality preferences, whether individual women or men differ in what they want, and whether individuals actually get what they want. To explore these issues, two parallel studies were conducted, one using a sample of dating couples (N= 118) and one using a sample of married couples (N= 216). The five-factor model, operationalized in adjectival form, was used to assess personality characteristics via three data sources—self-report, partner report, and independent interviewer reports. Participants evaluated on a parallel 40-item instrument their preferences for the ideal personality characteristics of their mates. Results were consistent across both studies. Women expressed a greater preference than men for a wide array of socially desirable personality traits. Individuals differed in which characteristics they desired, preferring mates who were similar to themselves and actually obtaining mates who embodied what they desired. Finally, the personality characteristics of one's partner significantly predicted marital and sexual dissatisfaction, most notably when the partner was lower on Agreeableness, Emotional Stability, and Intellect-Openness than desired.     

Cohabitation,marriage, and murder: Woman‐killing by male romantic partners

Using a national‐level US homicide database that includes more than 400,000 homicides committed from 1976‐1994, I calculated rates of uxoricide (the murder of a woman by her romantic partner) by type of relationship (cohabiting or marital), ages of the partners, and age difference between partners. Women in cohabiting relationships are about nine times more likely to be killed by their partner than are women in marital relationships. Within marital relationships, the risk of uxoricide decreases with a woman’s age. Within cohabiting relationships, in contrast, middle‐aged women are at greatest risk of uxoricide. Paralleling the uxoricide victimization rates, uxoricide perpetration rates are highest for young married men and for middle‐aged cohabiting men. Uxoricide risk generally increases with greater age difference between partners. These findings provide the first national‐level replication of uxoricide risk patterns reported for a national‐level Canadian sample. Discussion highlights future research directions, including identifying why women in cohabiting relationships incur greater risk of uxoricide than do women in marital relationships. Aggr. Behav. 27:284–291, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Absence makes the adaptations grow fonder: proportion of time apart from partner, male sexual psychology, and sperm competition in humans (Homo sapiens)

Sperm competition occurs when the sperm of multiple males concurrently occupy the reproductive tract of a female and compete to fertilize an egg. We used a questionnaire to investigate psychological responses to the risk of sperm competition for 237 men in committed, sexual relationships. As predicted, a man who spends a greater (relative to a man who spends a lesser) proportion of time apart from his partner since the couple's last copulation reported (a) greater sexual interest in his partner, (b) greater distress in response to his partner's sexual rejection, and (c) greater sexual persistence in response to his partner's sexual rejection. All effects were independent of total time since the couple's last copulation and the man's relationship satisfaction. Discussion addresses limitations of the current research and situates the current results within the broader comparative literature on adaptation to sperm competition.     

Oral sex as infidelity-detection

An evolutionary history of human female infidelity and consequent sperm competition may have caused the evolution of male counter-adaptations. The infidelity-detection hypothesis for oral sex proposes that men perform oral sex to gather information about their partner’s recent sexual history. We tested this hypothesis with data secured from 231 men in committed, sexual, heterosexual relationships. We found support for two derivative predictions: men at a greater recurrent risk of sperm competition expressed greater interest in, and spent more time performing, oral sex on their partner, even after controlling statistically for relationship length, relationship satisfaction, and sexual intercourse duration. The discussion addresses limitations of this research and highlights directions for future research, including distinguishing empirically the infidelity-detection hypothesis from alternative hypotheses for oral sex.     

Are human bodies represented differently from other objects? Experience shapes object representations

This study investigated the cognitive organization of the human body representation and its relationship to other object representations. It addressed whether (1) all objects and their parts were organized similarly, (2) animate objects and their parts were organized differently from inanimate objects and their parts, and (3) the human body was organized differently from all other objects. The relations among the parts of three exemplar objects (human body, bear, and bicycle) were examined. Participants performed a series of sorting tasks using stimulus cards illustrating various part and part combinations of these objects; the cards were constructed so that the same strategies could be used to categorize all three objects. Dissimilarity data were analysed using multidimensional scaling techniques. Results indicated that the human body was organized differently from the other objects, and that categorization did not follow the animate–inanimate distinction. Although animate objects were represented more on their visual characteristics and inanimate objects were represented more on functional characteristics, the human body was represented on its ability to perform actions. Representations of the other objects suggested that their organization was embodied in that they appear to be shaped by how the human body interacts, or doesn't interact, with the object.     

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,Sensory Integration,and Aquatic Therapy: A Scoping Review

The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) continues to increase. Symptomology of PTSD include sensory deficits much like those displayed in children with sensory integration (SI) disorder. The aim of this scoping review is to review symptoms of PTSD and SI, and make a case of how aquatic therapy may be an effective modality in treating clients with PTSD. Eighteen articles were selected for review. From this review, it is suggested that aquatic therapy can be an effective modality in reducing symptoms of PTSD; however, future research is essential in determining its effectiveness.     

Perceived risk of female infidelity moderates the relationship between objective risk of female infidelity and sexual coercion in humans (Homo sapiens)

Female extrapair copulation (EPC) can be costly to a woman's long-term romantic partner. If a woman has copulated recently with a man other than her long-term partner, her reproductive tract may contain the sperm of both men, initiating sperm competition (whereby sperm from multiple males compete to fertilize an egg). Should the woman become pregnant, her long-term partner is at risk of cuckoldry-investing unwittingly in offspring to whom he is not genetically related. Previous research in humans (Homo sapiens) and in nonhuman animals suggests that males have evolved tactics such as partner-directed sexual coercion that reduce the risk of cuckoldry. The current research provides preliminary evidence that mated men (n = 223) at greater risk of partner EPC, measured as having spent a greater proportion of time apart from their partner since the couple's last in-pair copulation, more frequently perform partner-directed sexually coercive behaviors. This relationship is moderated, however, by men's perceived risk of partner EPC, such that the correlation between the proportion of time spent apart since last in-pair copulation and sexually coercive behaviors remains significant only for those men who perceive themselves to be at some risk of partner EPC. Discussion addresses limitations of this research and highlights directions for future research investigating the relationship between female EPC and men's partner-directed sexual coercion.     

Me, myself, and lie: The role of self-awareness in deception

Deception has been studied extensively but still little is known about individual differences in deception ability. We investigated the relationship between self-awareness and deception ability. We enlisted novice actors to portray varying levels of deception. Forty-two undergraduates viewed the videotaped portrayals and rated the actors’ believability. Actors with high private self-awareness were more effective deceivers, suggesting that high self-monitors are more effective at deceiving. Self-awareness may lead to knowledge of another’s mental state (i.e., Theory of Mind), which may improve an individual’s deception ability.     

Recycling, evolution and the structure of human personality

Concomitant with the recent surge in environmental awareness of the industrialized world, social scientists have begun searching for the determinants of recycling behavior. Although the efforts of these scientists – most notably, environmental psychologists – are commendable, they have as yet not isolated the strategies by which long-term recycling can be effectively encouraged. In this article, I comment that by giving proper attention to the evolved structure of human personality, the emerging paradigm of evolutionary psychology may have something to offer those wishing to encourage durable and generalizable recycling behavior.