Mate Value and Self-Esteem: Evidence from Eight Cultural Groups
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This paper explores self-perceived mate value (SPMV), and its association with self-esteem, in eight cultures. 1066 participants, from 8 cultural groups in 7 countries, rated themselves on 24 SPMVs and completed a measure of self-esteem. Consistent with evolutionary theory, women were more likely to emphasise their caring and passionate romantic nature. In line with previous cross-cultural research, characteristics indicating passion and romance and social attractiveness were stressed more by respondents from individualistic cultures, and those higher on self-expression (rather than survival) values; characteristics indicative of maturity and confidence were more likely to be mentioned by those from Traditional, rather than Secular, cultures. Contrary to gender role theory, societal equality had only limited interactions with sex and SPMV, with honesty of greater significance for male self-esteem in societies with unequal gender roles. These results point to the importance of cultural and environmental factors in influencing self-perceived mate qualities, and are discussed in relation to broader debates about the impact of gender role equality on sex differences in personality and mating strategies.
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Goodwin et al.'s evidence largely supported the cultural norm-fulfillment perspective; caring was most strongly related to self-esteem in traditional cultures that value this trait most.
“Their evidence largely supported the cultural norm-fulfillment perspective.For example, “caring” (a close relative of A) was most strongly related to self-esteem in traditional cultures, which value this trait most.”
From Cultural norm fulfillment, interpersonal belonging, or getting ahead? A large-scale cross-cultural test of three perspectives on the function of self-esteem. (2015) · cites this paper as Goodwin, Marshall, Fulop, Adonu, Spiewak, Neto, and Hernandez Plaza (2012)
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Cultural Bases for Self-Evaluation: Seeing Oneself Positively in Different Cultural Contexts
Becker, M., Vignoles, V. L., Owe, E., Easterbrook, M. J., Brown, R., Smith, P. B., Bond, M. H., Regalia, C., Manzi, C., Brambilla, M., et al. (2014) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167214522836 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Self-citationGebauer, J. E., Sedikides, C., Wagner, J., Bleidorn, W., Rentfrow, P. J., Potter, J., & Gosling, S. D. (2015) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspp0000052 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
- Authors
- Goodwin, R., Marshall, T., Fülöp, M., Adonu, J., Spiewak, S., Neto, F., & Hernandez Plaza, S.
- Affiliations
- Brunel University of London (GB)
- University of Bedfordshire (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Goodwin, Robin
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2012-04-25
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- e36106
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3338495
- OpenAlex
- W2056631401
- Cited by
- 53
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 7
- FWCI
- 5.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Jagiellonian University Repository (Jagiellonian University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Brunel University Research Archive (BURA) (Brunel University London) (submittedVersion)
- Brunel University Research Archive (BURA) (Brunel University London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Repositório do ISCTE-IUL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- University of Bedfordshire Repository (University of Bedfordshire) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Keywords
- self-perceived mate value, self-esteem, mate value, cross-cultural comparison, individualism-collectivism, sex differences in personality, mating strategies, evolutionary psychology, honesty, social attractiveness, romantic passion, self-expression values
- MeSH terms
- Culture, Ethnicity, Female, Humans, Male, Self Concept, Sexual Partners, Young Adult
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