Conservatives have a bias for seeing ideal one-night stands as long-term partners

[Judi Lynn]

By ERIC W. DOLAN August 21, 2018

More traditional, socially conservative people are more likely to view a sexy but unfaithful mate as being a suitable long-term partner. That’s the finding of a new study published in the scientific journal Evolution and Human Behavior.

“We know that people have slightly different priorities when choosing either a casual or a serious partner. For short relationships, people prefer partners who are attractive and sexy, as these people are more likely to have fit and healthy children,” explained study author Naomi K. Muggleton of the University of Warwick.

“For long relationships, however, people favour emotionally warm, high status partners who can offer material benefits to children. However, cultures differ in their tolerance of casual sex. We wanted to know whether people from conservative backgrounds are less likely to make the distinction between casual and serious relationships.”

In an initial study, 527 participants from India, the UK, and US were provided “Mate Dollars” that could be used to buy traits to construct their ideal short- and long-term partners. Those traits included: good income, industrious, ambitious, successful career, considerate, kind, caring, patient, good body, good looking, athletic and high sex drive.

More:
https://www.psypost.org/2018/08/conservatives-have-a-bias-for-seeing-ideal-one-night-stands-as-long-term-partners-52023