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Trait/Financial Information of Potential Male Mate Eliminates Mate-Choice Copying by Women: Trade-Off Between Social Information and Personal Information in Mate Selection

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Abstract

Mate-choice copying occurs when people rely on the mate choices of others (social information) to inform their own mate decisions. The present study investigated women’s strategic trade-off between such social learning and using the personal information of a potential mate. We conducted two experiments to investigate how mate-choice copying was affected by the personal information (e.g., trait/financial information, negative/positive valence of this information, and attractiveness) of a potential male mate in short-/long-term mate selection. The results demonstrated that when women had no trait/financial information other than photos of potential mates, they showed mate-choice copying, but when women obtained personality trait or financial situation information (no matter negative or positive) of a potential mate, their mate-choice copying disappeared; this effect was only observed for low-attractiveness and long-term potential partners. These results demonstrated human social learning strategies in mate selection through a trade-off between social information and personal information.

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Availability of Data and Material

The raw data of Experiments 1 and 2 are available at https://osf.io/fn6qs.

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Funding

This work has been supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (31771208, 32071048) to the last author.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

      Xinge Liu, Cuihu Zhang, Xinlei Wang, Xinran Feng, Junhao Pan & Guomei Zhou

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    1. Xinge Liu
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    2. Cuihu Zhang
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    3. Xinlei Wang
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    4. Xinran Feng
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    5. Junhao Pan
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    6. Guomei Zhou
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    Contributions

    Xinge Liu, Cuihu Zhang, Xinlei Wang, and Xinran Feng have contributed equally to this work. Study conception were performed by Guomei Zhou and Xinge Liu. Material preparation, program, and data collection of Experiment 1 were performed by Xinlei Wang. Material preparation, program, and data collection of Experiment 2 were performed by Cuihu Zhang. Multilevel analysis was performed and the supplementary materials were drafted by Xinge Liu and Junhao Pan. TOST analysis was performed by Xinge Liu, Junhao Pan, and Guomei Zhou. ANOVA and MANOVA were performed by Guomei Zhou. The first draft of the manuscript was written and figures were plotted by Xinran Feng, Xinge Liu, and Cuihu Zhang. Guomei Zhou made critical revisions on the manuscript and figures. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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    Correspondence to Guomei Zhou.

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    Appendices

    Appendix

    Appendix 1: Trait Information

    Positive

    Negative

    Generous (大方), large-minded (心胸宽阔)

    Uncommunicative (沉默寡言), selfish (自私)

    Active (活跃), determined (有决心)

    Negligent (粗心), impatient (没耐心)

    Enterprising (有进取心), calm (冷静)

    Dilatory (拖延), inhospitable (感情冷淡)

    Affectionate (重感情), honest (诚信)

    Edgy (急躁), disagreeable (难相处)

    Decisive (果断), patient (有耐心)

    Indecisive (优柔寡断), listless (无精打采)

    Self-possessed (镇静), confident (自信)

    Phlegmatic (冷漠), apprehensive (焦虑不安)

    Appendix 2: Financial Information

    1,000 CNY ≈ 145 USD in 2016.

    The average salary per month in nonprivate enterprises was 7344.67 CNY in Guangzhou, 2016. (http://www.gzstats.gov.cn/tjgb/qtgb/201706/t20170623_26472.html).

    Experiments 1 and 2 were run mainly in 2016.

    Positive

    Negative

    20,000 CNY income per month, various investment strategies

    4,000 CNY income per month, finance management limited to savings contributions

    19,000 CNY income per month, various investment strategies

    3,900 CNY income per month, finance management limited to savings contributions

    18,000 CNY income per month,

    various investment strategies

    3,800 CNY income per month, finance management limited to savings contributions

    17,000 CNY income per month, various investment strategies

    3,700 CNY income per month, finance management limited to savings contributions

    16,000 CNY income per month, various investment strategies

    3,600 CNY income per month, finance management limited to savings contributions

    15,000 CNY income per month, various investment strategies

    3,500 CNY income per month, finance management limited to savings contributions

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    Liu, X., Zhang, C., Wang, X. et al. Trait/Financial Information of Potential Male Mate Eliminates Mate-Choice Copying by Women: Trade-Off Between Social Information and Personal Information in Mate Selection. Arch Sex Behav 50, 3757–3776 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02044-2

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