EVOLVED GENDER DIFFERENCES IN MATE PREFERENCES - EVIDENCE FROM PERSONAL ADVERTISEMENTS

Evolutionary theorists have posited that contemporary men and women ma y differ in their specific psychological mechanisms having to do with mate selection because different strategies would have benefitted men versus women in our distant ancestral past. From these theorized gende r differences in mating strategies, several hypotheses were generated and subsequently tested in the current study using a large sample of p ersonal advertisements (N = 1111). The results were generally supporti ve of evolutionary predictions: men were more likely than women to off er financial resources and honesty/sincerity, and to seek attractivene ss, appealing body shape, and a photograph in selecting a potential ma te; women were more likely than men to offer an appealing body shape a nd to seek financial resources, qualities likely to lead to resource a cquisition, and honesty/sincerity in potential mates. Women were also more likely than men to seek male friendship and/or companionship and to offer greater involvement only after the establishment of such frie ndship, whereas men more frequently than women made explicit requests for a sexual relationship. In general, men sought potential mates who were younger than themselves, a trend which became more pronounced amo ng older advertisers. Women generally sought mates who were older than themselves, a trend which decreased slightly with the age of the adve rtiser. Results are discussed with regard to implications for hypothes ized gender differences in evolved psychological mechanisms.