LONELY HEARTS ADVERTISEMENTS REFLECT SEXUALLY DIMORPHIC MATING STRATEGIES

Lonely hearts personal advertisements (1,HPA) became popular during th e 1980s and now appear in nearly every major newspaper. They appear to reflect common male and female reproductive themes. Our analyses of 4 9 advertisements written by males and 49 advertisements written by fem ales indicate that males offer resources to females and ask for youth and attractiveness, and that females offer youth and attractiveness an d ask for resources. When subjects judge these advertisements on a 5-p oint scale, advertisements are easily grouped into three levels of att ractiveness. The attributes of preferred advertisements are defined by those things offered not those things sought. Words or phrases extrac ted from these advertisements are readily categorized by subjects alon g a 5-point dimension of desirability. Males and females generally agr ee on the degree of preference for these 105 words or phrases (r = 0.9 4), yet differ in degree of preference on 39. Words or phrases preferr ed by females focus on commitment (e.g., ''loving'' ''monogamous,'' '' unattached''). Those preferred by males focus on sexual qualities (e.g ., ''good figure,'' ''sexy,'' ''young''). Individuals of both sexes wh o indicate a high level of self-confidence prefer words or phrases ind icating adventuresome and outgoing qualities. Lack of self-confidence is related to preference for inward-directed qualities. When advertise ments are artificially constructed from these words or short phrases, the rating of the advertisements corresponds to the desirability of th e individual words. A factor analysis of the words reveals three major factors: (1) words that males prefer; (2) words that females prefer; (3) words that neither males nor females prefer. More highly rated wor ds appear in Factors 1 and 2 than in Factor 3. A survey of 91 lonely h earts advertisement writers demonstrate the same sex differences in wh at individuals seek and what they offer. Males seek attractivity and o ffer resources; females seek resources and offer attractivity. After t he numerous responses are categorized, only about eight categories for solicitations and eight categories of offers are evident. Interests i n resources and attractivity prevail and show sexual dimorphism. Inter ests in the six remaining categories are nearly identical for the two sexes. Males receive fewer responses to their advertisements than do f emales. Lengthy advertisements do better for males and shorter ones do better for females. LHPA appear to reflect sexual differences in repr oductive concerns. They offer an obvious entry into the motivational s ystems underlying sexual interactions.