As an important step towards making up a family, mate choice has been a serious matter about which one can never be too cautious. Living in a busy society where we are all “islands,” we expect to find an appropriate life partner with whom we are most satisfied from various aspects to ensure a sound relationship.
What is the most valuable characteristic when a woman chooses a mate?
But what does “appropriate” mean when a woman chooses a potential partner? Is the man respectful, trustworthy, and honest? Or is he friendly, dependable, and mature? How about pleasing disposition, ambition, and intelligence? Is that enough?
A study in Springer’s journal Evolutionary Psychological Science analyzes the importance of physical attractiveness to the mate choices of women and their mothers. It shows 2 things:
- physical attractiveness has a strong influence on how women and their mothers evaluate the potential life partners and
- that the men with the most desirable personality profiles would be rated more favorably only when they were at least moderately attractive.
In a word, physical attractiveness takes priority over other characteristics; they basically decide whether girls would like to say yes to the first date.
Is that the right choice to make?
A partner that is delightful to watch never loses his/her attraction. But when we are talking about a stable relationship which lasts as long as the rest of our life, more factors come into sight.
Mate choice is a two-way matching process based on your orientation and anticipation. It’s basically what you expect toward future life. From this point on, financially stable men with a good job and higher social status are preferred by a large majority of women.
Besides, other factors including manners, emotional maturity, education backgrounds, beliefs, and common values are appreciated by more and more women as they say something about internal compatibility and kind of stand as a guarantee of a continuously positive relationship.
In this sense, it is recommended for every one of us to consciously break the “physical attractiveness decides everything” rule. As you are open to more possibilities based on your careful consideration, you are offering yourself more chances to find your Mr. Right.
