Reading focus
Syllabus: How Do Close Relationships Form and Function?
Compare stated preferences with desire during actual encounters.
Why you’re reading it. Add partner selection to the question of opportunity.
A question to consider. What would distinguish an appealing first encounter from the beginning of an enduring relationship, and how would you measure both?
Why this reading
Stated ideals and attraction during interaction need not tell the same story. This study tests whether reported preferences predict desire for actual potential partners.
Before you read
An ideal preference describes a desired attribute. Predictive validity asks whether a measure forecasts a relevant outcome. Average differences between groups do not establish how well individual preferences predict each person's choices.
Read for
- Separate preferences recorded before meeting from ratings made after interaction.
- Compare desire, chemistry, and agreeing to exchange contact details.
- Follow the month of reports and distinguish speed-date matches from other romantic interests.
Consider afterwards
- How would you test whether an ideal predicts an enduring choice rather than a favorable first impression?
Editorial context
The 163 undergraduates met opposite-sex potential partners. Attributes were rated rather than experimentally assigned, and perceptions can reflect attraction itself. The authors explicitly consider alternatives to the claim that people do not know their preferences. A later synthesis distinguishes relationship stages and measures; neither work warrants saying that ideals never matter.