Mate Value and Self-Esteem: Evidence from Eight Cultural Groups

Marshall, Tara C.; Fülöp, Márta; Adonu, Joseph; Śpiewak, Sławomir; Neto, Félix; Plaza, Sonia

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0036106

Cited by 39 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…For Penke and Denissen, changes in self-esteem regulate optimal mating tactics, thus creating intra-sex variation in male reproductive behavior. The association between self-esteem and mate value seems to be a widespread phenomenon that appears in various cultural groups (Goodwin et al, 2012). Furthermore, the findings also aligned with the study of Zeigler-Hill, Campe, and Myers (2009) that showed that high self-esteem was associated with lower minimal standards for relationships among men and, with research by Landolt et al (1995), in which male selection of reproductive tactics was affected by their perceived mating success.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Intra-sex Variation in Human Mating Strategies: Different People, Different Tactics

2015

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Several studies have demonstrated that men and women exhibit different romantic preferences, which align with the patterns predicted by sexual strategies theory. It is also assumed that the mate's value is a central factor in determining an individual's sexual strategy. Thus, the current study was developed to investigate whether intra-sex variation exists in the ideal romantic preferences of both genders and whether these preferences are associated with self-perception. To investigate these questions, cluster analyses were performed on the descriptions of ideal mates for short- and long-term relationships given by 366 Brazilian undergraduates (145 men and 221 women). Subsequently, comparisons were made between the lists of self-perceived attributes related to reproduction generated by the resulting groups. The results suggest that males and females use different mating tactics for short-term mating and that males use different tactics for long-term mating. Among men, the mating tactics observed seem to be related to male mate value and their tactics changed when they described ideal short- and long-term partners. Women's results showed different preference patterns in short-term assessments but minor differences were observed between them in terms of female mate value. For long-term relationships, female patterns were less distinct, indicating a single preference pattern. These findings indicate that a number of different tactics may be clustered together in investigations that address ideal preferences, and that studies of mate preferences must consider individual self-perceptions.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Intra-sex Variation in Human Mating Strategies: Different People, Different Tactics

2015

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“…This research found that although self-rated physical attractiveness was related to self-esteem in women of high socioeconomic status, in women of low socioeconomic status, self-esteem was related to both physical attractiveness and including traits related to their social status. Usually, characteristics related to financial status are typically associated with self-esteem in men (Goodwin et al 2012;Mafra and Lopes 2014), but this work showed that, in fact, different characteristics influence selfesteem in women of low socioeconomic status compared to women of high socioeconomic status, lending additional support to the importance of further research comparing population of lower and higher socioeconomic status.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

“…Based on this theory, other researchers investigated the relationship between self-perception and self-esteem. Goodwin et al (2012), Mafra and Lopes (2014), and Penke and Denissen (2008) found a positive relationship between self-perception and self-esteem and, thus, also a perceived mate value, which can be translated into actual behavior, and social and mating interactions. Penke and Denissen (2008) went further and found a greater correlation between men's self-esteem and self-perception as romantic partners due to the greater desire for short-term relationships and, thus, higher sensitivity to potential partners' rejections.…”

mentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Each sex tends to assign greater importance to self-perception as romantic partner (how an individual perceives him/herself as a romantic partner) according to what they perceive the opposite sex values in a potential mate (Fisher et al 2008;Goodwin et al 2012). In this sense, women give more importance to characteristics that are related to physical attractiveness when evaluating themselves as romantic partners, whereas men give greater importance to characteristics related to their financial status (Mafra and Lopes 2014).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investment in Beauty, Exercise, and Self-esteem: Are They Related to Self-perception as a Romantic Partner?

Mafra

Castro

Lopes

2015

Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Men and women prefer certain characteristics that are interpreted as clues to the reproductive quality of potential partners. Physical appearance, for example, is an important characteristic for both sexes because it can signal youth and fertility in females and capacity for protection, dominance, competitive ability, and high social status in males. Therefore, we predicted that people would put significant effort into improving their physical attractiveness in order to compete in the mating market, and this relationship would be influenced by self-perception and socioeconomic status. In order to investigate whether investment in beauty and exercise are related to self-perception as romantic partners and self-esteem, this study was conducted with 205 men and women of lower socioeconomic status from Brazil. They were asked about their self-esteem (Rosenberg self-esteem scale), socioeconomic status, investment in beauty, time exercising, and self-perception as a romantic partner. Although no significant relationship between self-perception as a romantic partner and exercise was found, our results suggest that female investment in beauty is related to their financial condition, whereas male investment in beauty is related to greater evaluation in handsome face, beautiful body, sociability, and agreeableness, being correlation stronger when controlled by participants' self-esteem. The results support Leary and Baumeister's sociometer theory (2000 cited in Bale and Archer Evolutionary Psychology, 11, 68-84, 2013) and Penke and Denissen's (Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 1123Personality, 42, -1129Personality, 42, , 2008 findings, in which men would associate more characteristics of their self-perception in a mate market with their self-esteem.

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“…Moreover, some personality traits (e.g. self-esteem, narcissism) may affect both self-perception of mate value and sociosexuality (Brase and Guy 2004;Goodwin et al 2012;Jonason et al 2012;Penke and Denissen 2008), but they were not controlled in our study and should be included in further studies concerning this topic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-perceived sociosexuality and mate value asymmetry in heterosexual romantic relationships

Gomuła¹,

Nowak‐Szczepanska²,

Danel³

2014

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Previous works have shown that sociosexuality may affect mate choice and correspond to partners' mate value (MV). However, there is a lack of studies that directly show how a difference between both partners' mate values (MVD) relates to reproductive strategies. In this study we investigated a possible link between self-reported measures of individual differences in human mating strategies (SOI-R) and self-perceived mate value asymmetry (difference between partners' MV) in heterosexual romantic relationships. Two hundred forty-nine heterosexual participants (all in romantic relationships) completed an online questionnaire. Their sociosexuality was measured using Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI-R) (Penke and Asendorpf 2008). The assessment of the participant's and his/her partner's MVs were obtained using the MV measure by Graham-Kevan and Archer (2009). MVD was calculated by deducting the assessment of partner's MV and MV self-assessment. Our results revealed that in men, with the increase of the discrepancy in mate value in favor of their female partners, male global sociosexuality and sociosexual desire decreased. In contrast, in women no significant correlations were found. We propose several possible explanations, based on evolutionary psychology, discussing our results within the context of potential benefits for reproductive success in both sexes due to the lower male sociosexuality.

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Mate Value and Self-Esteem: Evidence from Eight Cultural Groups

Cited by 39 publications

References 44 publications

Intra-sex Variation in Human Mating Strategies: Different People, Different Tactics

Intra-sex Variation in Human Mating Strategies: Different People, Different Tactics

Investment in Beauty, Exercise, and Self-esteem: Are They Related to Self-perception as a Romantic Partner?

Self-perceived sociosexuality and mate value asymmetry in heterosexual romantic relationships

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