Although much of the research on human mate preference assumes that mate preference and partner choice will be related to some extent, evidence for correlations between mate preference and mate choice is mixed. Inspired by biological market theories of mate choice, which propose that individuals with greater market value will be better placed to translate their preference into choice, we investigated whether participants' own attractiveness modulated the relationship between their preference and choice. Multilevel modeling showed that experimentally assessed preferences for healthy-looking other-sex faces predicted third-party ratings of partner's facial health better among women whose faces were rated as more attractive by third parties. This pattern of results was not seen for men. These results suggest that the relationship between mate preference and mate choice may be more complex than was assumed in previous research, at least among women. Our results also highlight the utility of biological market theories for understanding the links between mate preference and partner choice.
Models of human mate choice derived from theories of sexual selection (e.g., (Gangestad and Scheyd, 2005, Gangestad and Simpson, 2000, Jennions and Petrie, 1997, Kokko et al., 2003 and Thornhill and Gangestad, 1996) are frequently tested and supported by studies that measure self-reported or experimentally assessed preferences for physical traits (Fink and Penton-Voak, 2002, Little et al., 2011, Miller and Todd, 1998 and Thornhill and Gangestad, 1999). A key assumption of these studies is that preferences obtained through self-report or by judging the attractiveness of unfamiliar individuals will, to some extent, reflect actual partner choice. However, since mate choice in humans is mutual (Roberts and Havlíček, 2013 and Stewart-Williams and Thomas, 2013) and constrained by the availability of potential partners (Perrett et al., 2002 and Pollet and Nettle, 2009), preference for certain characteristics in laboratory studies may not necessarily predict choice of a real-life partner with those characteristics.
Evidence for a correlation between mate preference and mate choice in humans is mixed. For example, in a study that assessed mate choice using a speed-dating paradigm, Li et al. (2013) found that self-reported preferences for physically attractive partners predicted the attractiveness of the partners people actually chose. By contrast, another speed-dating study found no relationship between self-reported preferences for physical attractiveness and actual partner choices (Todd, Penke, Fasolo, & Lenton, 2007). The different results in these studies could reflect methodological differences; for example, Li et al. (2013) assessed partner choice following online interactions, while Todd et al. (2007) assessed partner choice following face-to-face interactions.
