Rapid Communication

Sexual Strategies Theory and Internet Personal Advertisements

BRYAN LEIGHTON DAWSON, B.S. and WILLIAM D. MCINTOSH, Ph.D.

ABSTRACT

Sexual Strategies Theory supposes that certain characteristics—namely, physical attractive-ness in women and dominance and the ability to provide material resources in men—arehighly desirable to potential mates because they are evolutionarily advantageous. However,socially based characteristics (e.g., positive personality traits, common interests) are also de-sirable in potential mates. It was predicted that people who are weaker on evolutionarily ad-vantageous traits (i.e., less attractive women, less wealthy men) would emphasize alternative,socially desirable traits to compensate for these perceived deficiencies. One hundred fifty-one Internet personal advertisements were analyzed for attractiveness, income, mention ofphysical attributes, and mention of other positive personal characteristics. Results were gen-erally consistent with predictions. In males, both wealth and attractiveness were related todecreased emphasis on other positive personal characteristics, while in women, emphasis onphysical attributes (but not objectively rated physical attractiveness) was negatively relatedto emphasis on other positive personal characteristics.

614

INTRODUCTION

ON MATCH.COM, the largest of many Internet dat-ing sites, there are millions of different per-

sonal profiles of prospective dates posted at anygiven time. Not everyone who frequents an Inter-net dating site posts a profile (many people chooseto contact others who have posted profiles ratherthan allow people to contact them), so this figureunderestimates the number of people using thisone Internet site to search for a romantic partner.

Dating through personal ads is not new, ofcourse. Before the development of the Internet,people advertised through newspaper personalads. But these ads restrict the amount of personalinformation people can present, and often they do

not contain pictures. Internet dating sites allowmore room for descriptive content, and allow usersto contact potential mates instantly. Users may alsosearch through advertisements using keywordsand qualifiers (e.g., search only for people whohave no children or only age 30–39) to narrow theirsearch. These qualifiers also help narrow compo-nents of attraction, such as proximity, self-presenta-tion, similarity, reciprocity, and expectations andidealizations.1

One prominent theory that predicts how peoplepresent themselves as potential mates is the SexualStrategies Theory, by Buss and colleagues.2 SexualStrategies Theory supposes that patterns in matingbehavior exist because they are evolutionarily ad-vantageous, and consequently permit people to

CYBERPSYCHOLOGY & BEHAVIORVolume 9, Number 5, 2006© Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

Psychology Department, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia.

14337c15.pgs 9/29/06 4:29 PM Page 614

produce more offspring that survive.3,4 Evolution-ary psychologists have theorized that because oftheir obligatory parental investment, womenchoose mates based at least in part on qualities ofmen that signal the ability and willingness to investresources (i.e., time, attention, food, protection, andeconomical goods) in the woman and their chil-dren,5 because these qualities increase the likeli-hood that the children will survive to reproductiveage. Women, then, must identify men who have theability to acquire resources, and are willing to com-mit to a long-term relationship.6

However, fertility in women and resources inmen are not the only characteristics that humansfind desirable in mates. When asked about idealcharacteristics in a long-term relationship, bothmen and women also report desiring a mate whohas positive personal and interpersonal character-istics, such as kindness, dependability, friendliness,emotional stability, and intelligence.7 When seek-ing a long-term mate, these characteristics are asimportant to men and women as are those of theSexual Strategies Theory.

It should also be noted that wealth and domi-nance in men, and youth and beauty in women arenot necessary for reproductive success. Men withno money or social status, and women who are notyoung and beautiful do have children. Perhapspeople who are not strong on these more primor-dial, evolution-driven characteristics compensateby placing more emphasis on other important char-acteristics—namely, their positive personal and in-terpersonal traits. Internet personal advertisementswould be the perfect place to make such strategiccompensations, because of the overt nature of theappeal. In face-to-face mate selection situations,people cannot say “I may be poor, but I’m honest,dependable, and emotionally stable.” But they canexpress exactly that sentiment in an Internet per-sonal ad.

The purpose of this research is to examine Inter-net personal advertisements to assess the applica-bility and limits of Sexual Strategies Theory. Wehypothesize that less attractive women will devotemore self-descriptive text to promoting aspects ofself deemed important by both sexes in a long-termrelationship (e.g., trust, loyalty, caring, worldly,having many interests). It is further predicted thatmen who have fewer financial resources will alsoemphasize these ideal characteristics. Thus, a nega-tive correlation between the attractiveness levels ofwomen and their promotion of positive personalcharacteristics is predicted, along with a negativecorrelation between the wealth of men and theirpromotion of these characteristics.

METHODS

Participants

A total of 151 participants were chosen by using arandom number table to generate zip codes, thenselecting the first profile on Yahoo Personals thatmet specific criteria. To be chosen, profiles had tohave a picture, at least five sentences of personaldescription, and state their yearly income. Onehundred men and one hundred women were ini-tially selected in this manner.

Procedure

In order to rate physical attractiveness, twomembers of the opposite sex rated each photo,without access to the other information in the pro-files, on a Likert scale of 1–10. The raters’ scoreswere averaged to determine the overall physical at-tractiveness of each participant. The reliability ofthese ratings was alpha = 0.90.

To rate the extent to which people emphasizedtheir physical attractiveness, the number of wordsand phrases used to describe or insinuate theirphysical attributes or physical prowess wascounted. For example, words such as “athletic,”“attractive,” or “sexy” were each counted as one in-stance, as was a participant citing involvementwith sports or outdoor activities (e.g., “I’m an avidkayaker” counts as one instance) and overt men-tion of physical characteristics (e.g., “blonde,”“pretty eyes”).

Personal characteristics were measured in a man-ner similar to emphasis on physical attractiveness.Each mention of a personality characteristic (e.g.,“confident,” “honest,” “great sense of humor”) wascounted as one instance, as were specific mentionsof personal interests/hobbies (e.g., “I like tobrowse in antique shops,” “I’m a gourmet cook”).We chose not to count a specific list of statementsthat were vague and extremely common, as theseappeared to serve more as filler than as descrip-tions of people’s positive qualities. (e.g., “I love toread,” “I like all kinds of music,” “I like walks onthe beach,” and “I like going out to restaurants”).Descriptions of qualities sought in a mate (e.g.,“My ideal mate would be attractive, love movies”)were not counted.

Statistical analysis

Pearsons correlations were performed on all ap-plicable variables.

SEXUAL STRATEGIES THEORY AND INTERNET ADS 615

14337c15.pgs 9/29/06 4:29 PM Page 615

RESULTS

Seventy-one females’ and 80 males’ advertise-ments were used in the analyses. Since Yahoo Per-sonals allow users to alter their advertisements,some participants were dropped because they re-moved their photos from their profiles between thetime initial sampling was conducted and the timeset up for raters to rate the attractiveness of thephotos.

There was a significant negative correlation be-tween males’ emphasis on personal characteristicsand their income (r = �0.25, p < 0.05), indicatingthat the lower the yearly income for male partici-pants, the more they cited other positive personalcharacteristics. There was also a significant nega-tive correlation between males’ attractiveness andtheir emphasis on personal characteristics (r =�0.23, p < 0.05), indicating that the less attractivethe male participant, the more he emphasized posi-tive personal and characteristics in his advertise-ment. There was no relationship between males’attractiveness from ratings of their photos and theextent to which they emphasized their attractive-ness in their written profile.

Females’ emphasis on attractiveness was nega-tively related to an emphasis on personal charac-teristics (r = �0.22, p < 0.05), indicating that themore a female emphasized her looks, the less shepresented positive personal and interpersonalcharacteristics in her ad. There was, however, norelationship between females’ actual rated attrac-tiveness and the extent to which they emphasizedpositive personal characteristics (r = �0.07, n.s.).There was also no relationship between females’income and emphasis on positive personal charac-teristics (r = �0.08, n.s.)

DISCUSSION

The results provided moderate support for ourhypothesis, that participants’ ability to offer evolu-tionarily desirable characteristics would be relatedto their likelihood to emphasize alternative posi-tive qualities.

Males were indeed more likely to emphasizeother positive qualities if they did not have impres-sive financial resources to offer, although they werealso more likely to emphasize other positive quali-ties if they were less attractive. The relationship be-tween males’ attractiveness and their likelihood toemphasize desirable personal characteristics wasnot predicted, but is not surprising. Whilewealth/dominance has been found to be the crucial

factor in male desirability,2,8 attractiveness is clearlya highly desirable characteristic in males as well asfemales, and, from an evolutionary perspective, at-tractiveness in males is theoretically perceived byfemales as conveying that there is a high likelihoodthat the male is fertile.

Contrary to expectations, attractive females (asjudged by their photos) were not less likely thanunattractive females to emphasize alternative posi-tive qualities. However, females who emphasizedtheir physical appearance were less likely to em-phasize other positive characteristics. Apparently,when women perceived their appearance to be astrength, they did not feel it necessary to highlightother positive characteristics.

As stated earlier, Internet dating presents inter-personal attraction researchers with a wealth ofdata. The present study is just one example ofcountless ways that this data might be examined.And the possibilities keep expanding. Whereas todate research on Internet dating has primarily beenlimited to Internet personal ads, chat rooms, andother text-based mediums,1 new developmentsoffer Internet daters the chance to enter into real-time voice or video chat through instant messagingservices. Internet daters can now have video chat-dates, where they can set meals, discuss their day,or even play a DVD movie on their computer whilemaintaining video contact, so they can discuss andwatch a movie together.

Researchers have been skeptical that Internetdating can provide a foundation for establishingsuccessful intimate relationships,1,9–11 but new in-novations may change this assessment. New tech-nological developments may make Internetpersonal ads just the first step in the online datingprocess. This not only provides Internet daterswith expanded opportunities, it provides re-searchers with new opportunities to study datingand attraction.

REFERENCES

1. Levine, D. (2000). Virtual attraction: what rocks yourboat? CyberPsychology & Behavior 3:565–573.

2. Buss, D.M., & Schmidt, D.P. (1993). Sexual strategiestheory: an evolutionary perspective on human mat-ing. Psychological Review 100:204–232.

3. Buss, D.M. (2001). The strategies of human mating, 3rd

ed. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer.4. Buss, D.M. (2003). Sexual strategies: a journey into

controversy. Psychological Inquiry 14:219–226.5. Buss, D.M., & Greer, A.E. (1994). Tactics for promoting

sexual encounters. Journal of Sex Research 31:185–202.

616 DAWSON AND MCINTOSH

14337c15.pgs 9/29/06 4:29 PM Page 616

6. Buss, D.M. (1998). Sexual strategies theory: historicalorigins and current status. Journal of Sex Research35:19–32.

7. Botwin, M.D., Buss, D.M., & Shackelford, T.K. (1997).Personality and mate preferences: five factors inmate selection and marital satisfaction. Journal of Per-sonality 65:107–136.

8. Sadalla, E.K., Kenrick, D.T., & Vershure, B. (1987).Dominance and heterosexual attraction. Journal ofPersonality and Social Psychology 52:730–738.

9. Baker, A. (2002). What makes an online relationshipsuccessful? Clues from couples who met in cyber-space. CyberPsychology & Behavior 5:363–375.

10. Barry, W.A. (1970). Marriage research and conflict: anintegrative review. Psychological Bulletin 73:41–54.

11. Biggs, S. (2000). “Charlotte’s Web”: how one womanweaves positive relationships on the net. CyberPsy-chology & Behavior 3:655–663.

Address reprint requests to:Bryan L. Dawson

P.O. Box 8041Statesboro, GA 30460

E-mail: bryan.dawson@gmail.com

SEXUAL STRATEGIES THEORY AND INTERNET ADS 617

14337c15.pgs 9/29/06 4:29 PM Page 617