IDEAL PARTNER PREFERENCES

Predictive Validity of Ideal Partner Preferences (Preferences as Independent Variable): Do we desire romantic partners who match our ideals more than partners who do not? Are there sex differences in the extent to which qualities predict romantic desire for real-life partners?

  • Eastwick, P. W., Finkel, E. J., & Joel, S. (2023). Mate evaluation theory. Psychological Review, 130, 211-241. [Download Article] [Supplemental Material]

  • Eastwick, P. W., Joel, S., Carswell, K. L., Molden, D. C., Finkel, E. J., & Blozis, S. A. (2023). Predicting romantic interest during early relationship development: A preregistered investigation using machine learning. European Journal of Personality, 37, 276-312. [Download Article] [Supplemental Material]

  • Sparks, J., Daly, C., Wilkey, B. M., Molden, D. C., Finkel, E. J., & Eastwick, P. W. (2020). Negligible evidence that people desire partners who uniquely fit their ideals. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 90, 103968. [Download Article] [Supplemental Material] [NYPost]

  • Huang, S. A., Ledgerwood, A., & Eastwick, P. W. (2020). How do ideal friend preferences and interaction context affect friendship formation? Evidence for a domain-general relationship initiation process. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11, 226-235. [Download Article]

  • Eastwick, P. W., Finkel, E. J., & Simpson, J. A. (2019). Best practices for testing the predictive validity of ideal partner preference-matching. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 45, 167-181. [Download Article]

  • Eastwick, P. W., & Smith, L. K. (2018). Sex-differentiated effects of physical attractiveness on romantic desire: A highly powered, preregistered study in a photograph evaluation context. Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology, 3, 1-27. [Download Article] [Data]

  • Joel, S., Eastwick, P. W., & Finkel, E. J. (2017). Is romantic desire predictable? Machine learning applied to initial romantic attraction. Psychological Science, 28, 1478-1489. [Download Article] [Data] [Materials] [Dr. Joel's Tedx Talk] [Dr. Eastwick's BYURadio Interview]

  • Eastwick, P. W., Harden, K. P., Shukusky, J. A., Morgan, T. A., & Joel, S.. (2017). Consistency and Inconsistency among romantic partners over time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 112, 838-859. [Download Article] [OSF Data Files and Scripts]

  • Eastwick, P. W., Luchies, L. B., Finkel, E. J, & Hunt, L. L. (2014). The predictive validity of ideal partner preferences: A review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 140, 623-665. [Download Article]

  • Eastwick, P. W., Luchies, L. B., Finkel, E. J, & Hunt, L. L. (2014). The many voices of Darwin's descendants: Reply to Schmitt (2014). Psychological Bulletin, 140, 673-681. [Download Article] [Commentary]

  • Eastwick, P. W., Neff, L. A., Finkel, E. J., Luchies, L. B., & Hunt, L. L. (2014). Is a meta-analysis a foundation or just another brick? Comment on Meltzer, McNulty, Jackson, & Karney (2014). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 429-434. [Download Article] [Original Article]

  • Eastwick, P. W., & Neff, L. A. (2012). Do ideal partnerpreferences predict divorce? A tale of two metrics. Social Psychological andPersonality Science, 3, 667-674. [Download Article]

  • Eastwick, P. W., Eagly, A. H., Finkel, E. J., & Johnson, S. E. (2011). Implicit and explicit preferences for physical attractiveness in a romantic partner: A double dissociation in predictive validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 993-1011. [Download Article] [Chicago Tribune]

  • Eastwick, P. W., Finkel, E. J., & Eagly, A. H. (2011). When and why do ideal partner preferences affect the process of initiating and maintaining romantic relationships? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 1012-1032. [Download Article]

  • Eastwick, P. W. & Finkel, E. J. (2008). Sex differences in mate preferences revisited: Do people know what they initially desire in a romantic partner? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 245-264. [Download Article] [Newsweek]

Contextual Influences on Ideal Partner Preferences (Preferences as Dependent Variable): What information do people use to make judgments about how much they desire a particular quality in a romantic partner?  

  • Alcser-Isais, A. N., Smith, L. K., & Eastwick, P. W. (2022). Inferring one’s own attitude towards an unknown attribute: The moderating role of complexity in juice tasting. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 21, 1368-1389. [Download Article]

  • da Silva Frost, A., Wang, Y. A., Eastwick, P. W., & Ledgerwood, A. (2024). Summarized attribute preferences have unique antecedents and consequences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 153, 913-938. [Download Article]

  • Eastwick, P. W., Smith, L. K., & Ledgerwood, A. (2019). How do people translate their experiences into abstract attribute preferences? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 85, 103837. [Download Article] [Supplemental Material]

  • Ledgerwood, A., Eastwick, P. W., & Smith, L. K. (2018). Toward an integrative framework for studying human evaluation: Attitudes towards objects and attributes. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 22, 378-398. [Download Article]

  • Eagly, A. H., Eastwick, P. W., & Johannesen-Schmidt, M. C. (2009). Possible selves in marital roles: The impact of the anticipated division of labor on the mate preferences of women and men. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 403-414. [Download Article]

  • Eastwick, P. W., Eagly, A. H., Glick, P., Johannesen-Schmidt, M. C., Fiske, S. T., Blum, A. M. B., Eckes, T., Freiburger, P., Huang, L., Fernández, M. L., Manganelli, A. M., Pek, J. C. X., Castro, Y. R., Sakalli-Ugurlu, N., Six-Materna, I., & Volpato, C. (2006). Is traditional gender ideology associated with sex-typed mate preferences? A test in nine nations. Sex Roles, 54, 603-614. [Download Article]

Effects of Ideal Partner Preferences Beyond Attraction and Relationships: How do ideal partner preferences affect people's feelings and behaviors in other domains?

  • Park, L. E., Young, A. F., Eastwick, P. W. Troisi, J. D., & Streamer, L. (2016). Desirable but not smart: Preference for smarter romantic partners impairs women’s STEM outcomes. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 46, 158-179. [Download Article]