Crooks 1

University of Washington

Potential Partner Attractiveness Reexplained: A New Approach to Human-Mating Research

Short- and Long- Term Relationship Context Matters

Carmella Crooks

HONORS 222: Evolution and Human Behavior

Dr. Jon Herron

25 April 2021

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In the research presented by Paola Bressan, she finds that partnered subjects see a shift in

attractiveness of potential mates depending on the order to which context of short- or long-term

relationship is presented first. Women rank men less attractive after being shown an image of a man

and asked to imagine him as a one-night stand, then asked to reimagine him as a new long-term

partner, on the other hand, men rank women less attractive when first shown an image of a new long-

term partner, then asked to reimagine her as a one-night stand. These data were not replicable for

singles. A major point that Bressan made in her piece was that these results are not comparable to any

of the subsequent research published in this area of study, which is what probed her to perform this

particular study. She felt that previous researchers overlooked the fact that order matters, and

relationship status matters, so she made these testable variables in her study. Her aim was to answer

the question: is there a difference in the way attractiveness of strangers is viewed in potential short-

and long-term mates depending on which relationship context is presented first? Bressan

hypothesized there was a statistically significant difference, however it had never been tested

adequately so no data were available to suggest this difference.

Paola Bressan recruited participants through links on Italian universities’ online social media

pages. From her three studies, she had a sample size of 3155 individuals, of which 1902 were

partnered, and 1252 were single. Each individual was presented with colored photographs of

conventionally good-looking faces from the opposite sex and asked to assess their attractiveness as a

potential partner on a scale from 0-10 imagining them as either a long-term partner first or as a short-

term partner, and the order of conditions was in reverse for a random subset of the sample

population. If her hypothesis were true, single and partnered participants would find short-term

partners less attractive if first imagined as a long-term partner. These results were graphed in Fig. 1

and it can be seen that for both men and women, the order of context presented first does have an

effect on the perceived rating of potential partner’s attractiveness. On the other hand, if her

hypothesis were false, the participants would rank attractiveness the same no matter the order of

context (short- or long-term) presented first, as seen in Fig. 2.

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Bressan concluded finding significant results upon statistical analysis. For the partnered

women, they were more likely to rank men less attractive if imagined as a long-term partner first,

followed by imagining as a one-night stand illustrated in both Fig. 3 and 4. Partnered men had the

reverse effect of finding women less attractive if first imagined as a one-night stand and then as a

long-term partner as depicted in Fig. 5. Based on these data, formally illustrated in Fig. 3-5, there is

an effect on the way individuals perceive attractiveness depending on preconceived notions of the

stimuli’s relationship status. These findings infer that previous literature that did not consider the

order to which context is presented falls short of providing substantiated results, therefore requiring

that these studies be replicated taking into account order of context. A question that still remains after

reviewing this body of research is: how does a person’s history of prior relationships shape the way

they view potential partners in the present?

To test this variable, Bressan could ask the same participants in her study to answer

additional questions pertaining to experiences had with prior partners. For example, a question could

be posed as on a scale from 0-10, how would you rate your last long-term relationship? 0 would be

defined as “I wish it had never happened” and 10 being “I am glad I can use it as a learning

experience.” A similar style of question could be used to ask about one-night stands or short-term

relationships, however the rating of 10 could be defined as “an experience that I would gladly do

again,” rather than the wording of a learning experience that was used for long-term ratings. A

prediction for this study is that men would rate their long-term relationships lower than their short-

term and women would rate the opposite; short-term relationships would be rated lower than long-

term (Fig. 6). If these data fail to support the hypothesis, both men and women would observe no

significant difference in ratings for either short- or long- term relationships as depicted in Fig. 7. The

findings in this subsequent study would provide a possible interpretation for why Bressan observed

decreases in attractiveness depending on the order of context presented first.

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Fig. 1 Predicted Results graphed if these Fig. 2 Predicted Results graphed if these data fail
data support the hypothesis. to support the hypothesis

Fig. 3 & 4 Women participants Fig. 5 Men participants

Mean facial attractiveness of potential partners as estimated on a 0–10 scale by single (open symbols) and
partnered (solid symbols) participants. Ratings are plotted as a function of whether the long- or short-term
relationship context is presented first.

Fig. 6 Predicted Results graphed if data Fig. 7 Predicted Results graphed if data fail
support hypothesis to support hypothesis

Men and women participants rating relationships of varying contexts (short- or long-term) retrospectively on a 0-10
scale.

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Works Cited

Bressan, Paola. 2021. Short term, long term: An unexpected confound in human-mating research.

Evolution and Human Behavior ISSN 1090-5138. DOI: 10.1016/

evolhumbehav.2021.03.003.