A worldwide test of the predictive validity of ideal partner preference matching.

• Autores: Paul W. Eastwick, Jehan Sparks, Eli J. Finkel, Eva M. Meza, Matúš Adamkovič, Peter Adu, Ting Ai, Aderonke A. Akintola, Laith Al-Shawaf, Denisa Apriliawati, Patrícia Arriaga, Benjamin Aubert Teillaud, Gabriel Baník, Krystian Barzykowski, Carlota Batres, Katherine J. W. Baucom, Elizabeth Z. Beaulieu, Maciej Behnke, Natalie Butcher, Deborah Y. Charles, Jane Minyan Chen, Jeong Eun Cheon, Phakkanun Chittham, Patrycja Chwiłkowska, Chin Wen Cong, Lee T. Copping, Nadia Saraí Corral Frías, Vera Ćubela Adorić, Mikaela Dizon, Hongfei Du, Michael I. Ehinmowo, Daniela A. Escribano, Natalia M. Espinosa, Francisca Expósito, Gilad Feldman, Raquel Freitag, Martha Frías Armenta, Albina Gallyamova, Omri Gillath, Biljana Gjoneska, Theofilos Gkinopoulos, Franca Grafe, Dmitry Grigoryev, Agata Groyecka Bernard, Gul Gunaydin, Ruby Ilustrisimo, Emily A. Impett, Pavol Kačmár, Young-Hoon Kim, Mirosław Kocur, María Kowal, Maatangi Krishna, Paul Danielle Labor, Jackson G. Lu, Marc Y. Lucas, Wojciech P. Małecki, Klara Malinakova, Sofia Meißner, Zdeněk Meier, Michal Misiak, Amy Muise, Lukasz Nowak, Jiaqing O, Asil A. Özdoğru, Haeyoung Gideon Park, Mariola Paruzel-Czachura, Zoran Pavlovic, Marcell Püski, Gianni Ribeiro, S. Craig Roberts, Jan P. Röer, Ivan Ropovik, Robert M. Ross, Ezgi Sakman, Cristina E. Salvador, Emre Selcuk, Shayna Skakoon Sparling, Agnieszka Smrokowska Reichmann, Piotr Sorokowski, Ognen Spasovski, Sarah C. E. Stanton, Suzanne L. K. Stewart, Viren Swami, Barnabas Szaszi, Kaito Takashima, Peter Tavel, Julián Tejada Herrera, Eric Tu, Jarno Tuominen, David Vaidis, Zahir Vally, Leigh Ann Vaughn, Laura Villanueva Moya, Dian Wisnuwardhani, Yuki Yamada, Fumiya Yonemitsu, Radka Žídková, Kristýna Živná, Nicholas A. Coles
• Localización: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, ISSN 0022-3514, ISSN-e 1939-1315, Vol. 128, Nº. 1, 2025, págs. 123-146
• Idioma: inglés
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  • Ideal partner preferences (i.e., ratings of the desirability of attributes like attractiveness or intelligence) are the source of numerous foundational findings in the interdisciplinary literature on human mating. Recently, research on the predictive validity of ideal partner preference matching (i.e., Do people positively evaluate partners who match vs. mismatch their ideals?) has become mired in several problems. First, articles exhibit discrepant analytic and reporting practices. Second, different findings emerge across laboratories worldwide, perhaps because they sample different relationship contexts and/or populations. This registered report—partnered with the Psychological Science Accelerator—uses a highly powered design (N = 10,358) across 43 countries and 22 languages to estimate preference-matching effect sizes. The most rigorous tests revealed significant preference-matching effects in the whole sample and for partnered and single participants separately. The “corrected pattern metric” that collapses across 35 traits revealed a zero-order effect of β = .19 and an effect of β = .11 when included alongside a normative preference-matching metric. Specific traits in the “level metric” (interaction) tests revealed very small (average β = .04) effects. Effect sizes were similar for partnered participants who reported ideals before entering a relationship, and there was no consistent evidence that individual differences moderated any effects. Comparisons between stated and revealed preferences shed light on gender differences and similarities: For attractiveness, men’s and (especially) women’s stated preferences underestimated revealed preferences (i.e., they thought attractiveness was less important than it actually was). For earning potential, men’s stated preferences underestimated—and women’s stated preferences overestimated—revealed preferences. Implications for the literature on human mating are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)