Escolha de parceiros e restrição de orçamento

Abstract

Our study started with predictions of the evolutionary psychology, along with the theory of market value, to study how men and women choose their partners. According to this approach, the way we choose our reproductive partners is based on the different selective pressures our ancestors had to face during the evolutionary process of natural and sexual selection, as well as on the view that each one of us represent products in a market of desirable attributes that are more or less available in different potential partners. Our sample was composed of students from the two largest Universities in Goiânia, with a total of 422 subject, most of them having 18-25 years of age. Each subject answered a questionnaire about his/her own characteristics (sex, age, financial situation, etc) and to questions about how important are 10 characteristics of a potential partner in two situations: ideal partner (no restrictions of points), and with a restriction of points (lesser power of choice). The results were consistent with those presented in previous studies, where beauty was more valued by male subjects, and characteristics linked to a good provider by female subjects. These characteristics also gained value for long term relationships when the subject had less power to choose (budget restriction).