Prioritization of Potential Mates' History of Sexual Fidelity During a Conjoint Ranking Task

Authors

Justin K. Mogilski
T. Joel Wade, Bucknell UniversityFollow
Lisa L.M. Welling

Publication Date

2014

Description

This series of studies is the first to use conjoint analysis to examine how individuals make trade-offs during mate selection when provided information about a partner's history of sexual infidelity. Across three studies, participants ranked profiles of potential mates, with each profile varying across five attributes: financial stability, physical attractiveness, sexual fidelity, emotional investment, and similarity. They also rated each attribute separately for importance in an ideal mate. Overall, we found that for a long-term mate, participants prioritized a potential partner's history of sexual fidelity over other attributes when profiles were ranked conjointly. For a short-term mate, sexual fidelity, physical attractiveness, and financial stability were equally important, and each was more important than emotional investment and similarity. These patterns contrast with participants' self-reported importance ratings of each individual attribute. Our results are interpreted within the context of previous literature examining how making trade-offs affect mate selection.

Journal

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Volume

40

Issue

7

First Page

884

Last Page

897

Department

Psychology

Link to Published Version

dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167214529798

DOI

10.1177/0146167214529798

Recommended Citation

Mogilski, Justin K.; Wade, T. Joel; and Welling, Lisa L.M.. "Prioritization of Potential Mates' History of Sexual Fidelity During a Conjoint Ranking Task." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (2014) : 884-897.