The big,the rich,and the powerful: Physical,financial,and social dimensions of dominance in mating and attraction

Dominance is a key feature on which romantic partners are evaluated,yet there is no clear consensus on its definition. in study 1 (n = 305),the authors developed scales to measure three putatively distinct dimensions of dominance: social,financial,and physical. in study 2 (n = 308),the authors used their scales in a mate-selection paradigm and found that women perceived physical dominance to be related to both attractiveness and social dominance. for both sexes,attractiveness predicted desirability for a one-night stand,whereas attractiveness and agreeableness were predictors of desirability for a serious relationship. in study 3 (n = 124),the authors surveyed romantic partners in monogamous relationships and found that although aspects of a partner's dominance-financial for women and social for men-played a bivariate role in relationship satisfaction,agreeableness was the strongest predictor of current and future relationship satisfaction and the only significant predictor of relationship dissolution. © 2011 by the society for personality and social psychology,inc.