Cognitive processes underlying human mate choice:The relationship between self-perception andmate preference in Western societyPeter M. Buston* and Stephen T. EmlenDepartment of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853Communicated by Thomas Eisner, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, May 28, 2003 (received for review March 14, 2003)This study tested two hypotheses concerning the cognitive pro-cesses underlying human mate choice in Western society: (i) matepreference is conditional in that the selectivity of individuals’ matepreference is based on their perception of themselves as long-termpartners, and (ii) the decision rule governing such conditional matepreference is based on translating perception of oneself on a givenattribute into a comparable selectivity of preference for the sameattribute in a mate. Both hypotheses were supported. A two-partquestionnaire was completed by 978 heterosexual residents ofIthaca, New York, aged 18–24; they first rated the importance theyplaced on 10 attributes in a long-term partner and then rated theirperception of themselves on those same attributes. Both womenand men who rated themselves highly were significantly moreselective in their mate preference. When the 10 attributes weregrouped into four evolutionarily relevant categories (indicative ofwealth and status, family commitment, physical appearance, andsexual fidelity), the greatest amount of variation in the selectivityof mate preference in each category was explained by self-per-ception in the same category of attributes. We conclude that, inWestern society, humans use neither an ‘‘opposites-attract’’ nor a‘‘reproductive-potentials-attract’’ decision rule in their choice oflong-term partners but rather a ‘‘likes-attract’’ rule based on apreference for partners who are similar to themselves across anumber of characteristics.decision rules 兩 assortative mating 兩 marriage 兩 reproductivesuccess 兩 alternative hypothesesIn all human societies most men and women form long-termpair bonds that typically are formalized as marriages. Thesemarriages form as a result of specific mate-choice decisions madeby both male and female partners or by their parents and otherk insfolk. If we assume there is variation in reproductive suc cessamong different marriages, then the decision rules that lead tothe most reproductively successful marriages should be favoredby natural selection.In recent years there has been a surge of interest amongevolutionary biologists and psychologists in the topic of humanmate choice. Much of the current literature is founded onTrivers’ (1) theory of parental investment, which highlighted thefacts that females require only a few matings to fertilize all theireggs, whereas males have the potential to fertilize more eggs thana single female can produce. Because of this difference, repro-ductive suc cess of a female tends to be limited by access toresources to nourish each of her eggs, whereas reproductivesuc cess of a male tends to be limited by his access to female eggs.Thus the mating strategies of males and females are predicted todif fer, and many studies have sought and found dif ferencesbet ween the sexes in the relative importance they place onspecific traits in long-term partners.For example, it has been shown repeatedly that women exhibita stronger preference than men for attributes of ambition, socialst atus, and financial wealth in a partner as well as for a desire forchildren and a commitment to family, all of which are indicativeof the partner’s ability to obtain and w illingness to invest theresources necessary for the survival and suc cess of offspring(e.g., refs. 2–10). Similarly, men exhibit a stronger preferencethan women for features of youthfulness, health, and physicalattractiveness in a partner, all of which are indicative of highfecundit y and reproductive potential (e.g., refs. 2, 4–8, and10–12). Furthermore, men of ten exhibit a stronger preferencethan women for indicators of sexual fidelity, presumably becausemales suffer higher costs from being cuckolded than do females(5, 10, 13–14). A lthough researchers have focused on the dif-ferences in the mean level of preference expressed by the sexes,it should be emphasized that all studies have also reportedc onsiderable overlap in the distribution of preferences expressedby males and females (e.g., refs. 4 and 5).The reproductive potential of an individual’s partner, how-ever, may not be the only factor that contributes to the repro-ductive output of their partnership. The stability of the partner-ship may also influence its reproductive output (15). In sociallymonogamous societies, an individual with an open-ended matepreference (a preference for the most preferred partner avail-able) would only obtain a st able long-term partnership if she兾hewaited until the more preferred, same-sex members of thepopulation had paired. Individuals who did not wait would beprone to form partnerships with mates of very different qualitythan themselves, and such partnerships are expected to beunst able, because the higher-quality mate has many opportuni-ties for trading up in partner quality. A strategy more likely tolead to stable long-term pairings would be to assess one’s ownrelative quality as a mate, form a mate preference based on thisself-perception, and choose a partner of similar mate quality (10,16, 17). Such a strategy requires cognitive processes that enablean individual to assess both his or her own relative quality, andrelative quality of the potential mate, w ithin the local population.There is evidence to suggest that both self-perception andmate assessment are relativistic and may be influenced byex posure to different local populations. Self-perception as apotential mate is influenced by exposure to desirable same-sexmodels. Women lowered their self-assessment when exposed toprofiles of physically attractive females (18–20), whereas menlowered their self-assessment when exposed to profiles of sociallydominant males (20). Further, an individual’s assessment of theirmate is influenced by ex posure to desirable opposite-sex models.Women’s feelings about their current partner were affectedadversely by exposure to profiles of socially dominant men (21),whereas men’s feelings about their current partner were af fectedadversely by exposure to profiles of physically attractive women(21–23). For these cognitive processes to result in