Human mate-choice copying is domain-general social learning

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary psychology
• Social psychology
• Human behavior

Background:

• Mate-choice copying, where individuals copy the partner preferences of others, is theorized to involve domain-specific psychological adaptations.
• Facial cues are often considered particularly salient in mate choice copying, suggesting specialized processing of this information.
• Previous research has not directly tested if face preferences are copied more than other types of preferences or if real social information affects attractiveness ratings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether women preferentially copy face preferences compared to other types of preferences.
• To examine the effect of real-time, peer-generated social information on attractiveness ratings.
• To test the hypothesis of domain-specific social learning mechanisms in human mate choice.

Main Methods:

• Heterosexual women provided attractiveness ratings for men's faces, hands, and abstract art.
• Participants were exposed to genuine social information from peers in real time.
• Attractiveness ratings were collected both before and after exposure to social information.

Main Results:

• Attractiveness ratings for men's faces were influenced by social information.
• Ratings for men's hands and abstract art were also influenced by social information.
• There was no evidence that face preferences were copied more than preferences for hands or abstract art.

Conclusions:

• The findings do not support the idea that women have a specialized mechanism for copying face preferences.
• Real social information impacts attractiveness judgments across different stimuli types, not just faces.
• Evidence for domain-specific social learning in human mate choice is weaker than previously assumed.