Accuracy of Identifying Married Couples on the basis of Similarity of Attractiveness

Summary

Based upon the literature demonstrating the homogamous bases of mate selection, this study was designed to determine whether research participants could accurately match photographed marital partners and whether the matching process would reflect homogamy of physical attractiveness. Fifty male and female undergraduates were given trials of selecting a male stimulus person's wife from a set of four photographed females. The accuracy of identifying the correct wives was well beyond chance expectations. The female Ss tended to exaggerate the similarity of the marital partners' physical attractiveness, consistent with the principle of homogamy. The male Ss, on the other hand, tended to de-emphasize similarity between mates by exaggerating the physical attractiveness of the selected wives.