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Good Enough for an Affair. Self-Enhancement of Attractiveness, Interest in Potential Mates and Popularity as a Mate

  • Using data from the Berlin Speed Dating Study, we tested rival hypotheses concerning the effects of self-enhancement of attractiveness on dating outcomes. Three hundred eighty-two participants took part in one of the 17 speed-dating sessions. After each speed-dating interaction, participants indicated how interesting they found the respective person as a long-term and short-term partner. Using social relations analyses, we computed perceiver effects (being more or less choosy) and target effects (being rated as more or less interesting) of long-term and short-term partner ratings. Self-enhancement was operationalized as the discrepancy between self-rated attractiveness and four components of actual attractiveness (observer-rated facial and vocal attractiveness, height and body mass index). Results indicated that self-enhancers were less choosy with respect to their interest for short-term partners, which was especially true for men, but more choosy with respect to long-term partners. With regard to popularity as a mate, potentialUsing data from the Berlin Speed Dating Study, we tested rival hypotheses concerning the effects of self-enhancement of attractiveness on dating outcomes. Three hundred eighty-two participants took part in one of the 17 speed-dating sessions. After each speed-dating interaction, participants indicated how interesting they found the respective person as a long-term and short-term partner. Using social relations analyses, we computed perceiver effects (being more or less choosy) and target effects (being rated as more or less interesting) of long-term and short-term partner ratings. Self-enhancement was operationalized as the discrepancy between self-rated attractiveness and four components of actual attractiveness (observer-rated facial and vocal attractiveness, height and body mass index). Results indicated that self-enhancers were less choosy with respect to their interest for short-term partners, which was especially true for men, but more choosy with respect to long-term partners. With regard to popularity as a mate, potential partners indicated that they found self-enhancers more interesting as short-term partners but not as long-term partners. As self-enhancement is a key component of narcissism, these results are consistent with findings that narcissists perceive many sexual affairs as an achievement, while preferring selected ‘trophy’ long-term partners, and narcissists have a charming appeal for short-term, but not lasting, social relationships.show moreshow less

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Author details:Michela Schröder-AbéORCiDGND, Katrin RentzschORCiD, Jens B. Asendorpf, Lars Penke
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2029
ISSN:0890-2070
ISSN:1099-0984
Title of parent work (English):European journal of personality
Publisher:Wiley-Blackwell
Place of publishing:Hoboken
Publication type:Article
Language:English
Year of first publication:2016
Publication year:2016
Release date:2020/03/22
Tag:mating; physical attractiveness; self-enhancement; social relations analyses; speed dating
Volume:30
Number of pages:7
First page:12
Last Page:18
Funding institution:German Research Foundation [As 59/15-3]
Peer review:Referiert
Institution name at the time of the publication:Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Exzellenzbereich Kognitionswissenschaften
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