I'ts a date: evaluation of individual differences in a speed-dating
Mate Market; mate choice; personality; self-esteem; mate value
Reproduction is necessary to pass the genes to the next generation. All the living beings have evolved behavioral and physiological mechanisms to maximise the benefits and minimise the costs of reproduction, one of them is mate choice. In humans ancestors this choice could represent also the choice for cooperation partners, this may favor some preferences to be selected over others. Over the years many studies analysed the human preferences. But most of them do not evaluate the preferences of non-heterosexual individuals and use romantic partner idealisation. The aim of our study is investigate the differences in preferences for individual characteristics, as personality and attractiveness, between sex and sexual orientation. For this, we applied questionnaires and realized an experiment of speed-dating. In the first empirical article, we aimed to analyze the use of different methodologies in the assessment of partner choice and show the relation between them and the profile of speed-dating participants. Our results show that speed-daterers consider themselves more attractive and with more resourceful than individuals who do not participate in speed-dating. The second article evaluated the individual characteristics such as attractiveness and self-assessment as a romantic partner the relationship between them and their influence on the idealization and choice of a romantic partner. Our results showed that self-perception influences individuals' self-esteem; in addition, this self-perception influences idealization and choice, but with differences between genders. In our third article we assessed the importance of attractiveness and personality in the choices for different relationship contexts Our results show that attractiveness appears to play a more important role for the long-term than personality traits, but only for women. This study shows that there are several relationships between different individual characteristics in the process of choosing a partner, and that these relationships seem to differ according to the sex and sexual orientation of individuals, in addition to being context dependent. In this way, more studies that aim to evaluate the choice closest to the real are necessary, being able to use the speed-dating method.