Objective

Mates high in physical attractiveness are in short supply, which means that not all people are able to find mates who are sufficiently attractive. Threshold models of mate preferences suggest that when physical attractiveness minimums are not reached, other traits possessed by a potential partner may play a lesser role in mate choice. However, few studies have sought to understand mating decisions when those minimums are not met.

Methods

In this experiment (N = 186), participants rated images of (pre-rated) unattractive opposite-sex others for long-term and short-term relationships after learning dealbreaker or dealmaker information.

Results

While participants did not find targets highly desirable or physically attractive (as a stimulus check), men were more willing than women to have casual sex, and that men and women reported similar desirability ratings towards long-term partners. Learning dealbreakers was associated with less desire for the targets than dealmakers, but women’s lack of interest was insensitive to mating context, whereas men found the target especially undesirable in the long-term context. Additionally, men were willing to consider a long-term relationship with a physically unattractive partner who possessed dealmakers, but not one who possessed dealbreakers.

Conclusions

Our discussion focuses on men and women’s mating decisions when potential partners fail to meet minimum thresholds for physical attractiveness. Future research is needed to explore the magnitude of the effect of meeting or failing to meet one’s minimum thresholds for physical attractiveness.

中文翻译：

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缺乏身体吸引力时的交配决定

客观的

身体吸引力高的伴侣短缺，这意味着并非所有人都能找到具有足够吸引力的伴侣。伴侣偏好的阈值模型表明，如果没有达到最低的身体吸引力，则潜在伴侣拥有的其他特征在伴侣选择中的作用可能会较小。但是，很少有研究试图了解不满足这些最低要求的情况。

方法

在该实验中（N  = 186），参与者在学习了破坏交易者或交易者的信息后，通过长期或短期的关系，对（未评级的）没有吸引力的异性他人的图像进行了评级。

结果

尽管参与者没有发现目标非常理想或对身体没有吸引力（作为刺激检查），但男性比女性更愿意进行随意性行为，并且男性和女性对长期伴侣的渴望程度相似。与交易达成者相比，学习突破者对目标的渴望更少，但是女性的缺乏兴趣对交配环境不敏感，而男性则认为长期目标尤其令人讨厌。此外，男人愿意与拥有交易者的身体上没有吸引力的伴侣建立长期关系，但不拥有拥有交易破坏者的伴侣。

结论

我们的讨论着重于当潜在伴侣未能达到最低的身体吸引力阈值时，男性和女性的交配决定。需要进行进一步的研究，以探索达到或不达到人体吸引力的最低阈值所产生的影响的大小。