Contrasting Computational Models of Mate Preference Integration Across 45 Countries

TLDR

Humans hold diverse ideal mate preferences, and across cultures people seek partners who are intelligent, healthy, kind, attractive, wealthy, and more, requiring a system to integrate these dimensions into an overall mate value. The study investigates the computational design of mate preference integration using a large cross‑cultural sample of 14,487 participants from 45 countries. The authors employ agent‑based modeling to compare eight hypothesized models of human mating markets against the cross‑cultural data. Across cultures, individuals with higher mate value enjoy greater choice power and tend to pair with higher mate value partners, a pattern best explained by a Euclidean model of preference integration.

Abstract

Abstract Humans express a wide array of ideal mate preferences. Around the world, people desire romantic partners who are intelligent, healthy, kind, physically attractive, wealthy, and more. In order for these ideal preferences to guide the choice of actual romantic partners, human mating psychology must possess a means to integrate information across these many preference dimensions into summaries of the overall mate value of their potential mates. Here we explore the computational design of this mate preference integration process using a large sample of n = 14,487 people from 45 countries around the world. We combine this large cross-cultural sample with agent-based models to compare eight hypothesized models of human mating markets. Across cultures, people higher in mate value appear to experience greater power of choice on the mating market in that they set higher ideal standards, better fulfill their preferences in choice, and pair with higher mate value partners. Furthermore, we find that this cross-culturally universal pattern of mate choice is most consistent with a Euclidean model of mate preference integration.