Human Mate Preferences

Determining Human Mate Preferences: Uncovering the Complementary Roles of
Evolutionary and Socio-Cultural Perspectives
Psychologists have long attempted to determine human mate preferences. Many believe evolutionary, and socio-cultural explanations are constantly conflicting. However, evolutionary and socio-cultural explanations are often logically compatible with one another (Lewis, Al-Shawaf, Conroy-Beam, Asao & Buss, 2017). There are several advantages to combining social psychological and evolutionary perspectives, with both standpoints contributing unique benefits to research and understanding, while effectively compensating for the lack in the other. According to Lewis et al. (2017), evolutionary explanations provide answers about the

In an experiment by Beach and Moreland (1992) four women of similar appearance posed as students and attended class sessions without interaction. Results showed that mere exposure had substantial effects on attraction and similarity, with women who attended more class sessions being perceived as significantly more attractive, despite their similar appearances and lack of interaction with other students. Experiments conducted by Saegert, Swap, and Zajonc (1973) mirrored this sentiment, concluding that despite positive and negative contextual differences, propinquity alone was sufficient to increase interpersonal attraction among people.
Interestingly, humans also appear to choose mates who look like themselves, a pattern which can be explained and understood through the concept of repeated exposure. Through repeated exposure to their face and genetically similar others, people unconsciously select mates that they resemble themselves, developing an attraction towards the facial feature combinations characteristic of their own. Hinsz (1989) study which found facial similarity in both engaged and married couples, regardless of age, also providing strong support for the repeated exposure