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Unpredictable love? How uncertainty influences partner preferences
Author(s) -
Horen Femke,
Millet Kobe
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2854
Subject(s) - certainty , generalizability theory , psychology , preference , social psychology , covid-19 , developmental psychology , economics , microeconomics , medicine , philosophy , disease , epistemology , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Do uncertain events (such as COVID‐19) influence the types of partners that males and females feel attracted to in (online) dating? Four studies show that partner preferences are not fixed but dynamic and depend on people's temporary psychological state of uncertainty. Specifically, we show that when facing uncertainty, women are more attracted to men with tougher versus more tender facial features, whereas men are more attracted to women with more tender versus tougher facial features. This effect attenuates under certainty. We show furthermore that uncertainty (but not certainty) increases the preference of stereotypical partner types (caring vs. strong), which can be inferred from these facial features. These results are replicated with different facial stimuli and when uncertainty is activated due to COVID‐19, pointing to the timeliness and generalizability of the findings. These findings have implications for our understanding of how and why partner preferences are influenced by uncertainty.