The dominance dilemma: Do women really prefer dominant mates?

In: Personal relationships, Volume 15, Issue 4, p. 425-444

Abstract

AbstractPrevious research has led to a widely accepted conclusion that heterosexual women prefer mates who are high indominance. Three experiments designed to distinguish dominance fromprestigeand examine moderating contextual factors challenge this conclusion. College women at 2 U.S. universities evaluated hypothetical, potential mates described in written vignettes. Participants in Study 1 preferred a high‐prestige to a high‐dominance target. With dominance and prestige manipulated independently in Study 2, participants preferred high to low prestige but also preferred low to high dominance. Participants in Study 3 preferred high to low dominance, but only (a) when displayed in the context of an athletic competition and (b) in ratings of attractiveness and desirability as a short‐term (vs. long‐term) mate.