What Men Want in a Woman: Personality Is More Important than Academic Record or Athleticism

Abstract

Two hundred and fifty eight male respondents with a mean age of 24.5 years were presented with sixteen hypothetical females which they were asked to rate for suitability as long term partners. The hypothetical females differed with respect to: academic record ability (high/average); athle-ticism (high/low) and two personality variables; Extraversion (introvert/extravert) and Neuro-ticism (stable/neurotic). Overall males preferred intelligent, athletic, extraverted, stable females as potential long term partners. Effect sizes showed that being Extravert was seen as being the most important characteristic and being athletic as the least important. However, there were also a number of significant two-and three-way interactions between the characteristics of the poten-tial dates. Limitations of the study are noted.