Research Question: Most people spend many years of their life looking for the right person to settle down with and spend the rest of their life with. It would be a whole lot easier if one could tell whether or not a person was right for him or her the moment he or she met another person. I am going to research what attracts people to other people. What are the rules of attraction? What does it take to make a relationship last? What should a person look for in a potential life partner and what keeps a partner around for good?
Buss, David, et al. “A Half Century of Mate Preferences: The Cultural Evolution of Values.” Journal of Marriage and Family 63.2 (2001): 249. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. U of South Dakota, ID Weeks Lib., Vermillion, SD. 1 April 2008
The qualities that people deemed as important in 1939 are not the same as they are now. Research has concluded that the main quality that has changed the most is domestic skills. Men once deemed this as a pretty important quality for women to have, but now it is not as high up on the list. Both men and women increased the importance of good-looks for their partner as well as financial stability. Men, more than ever, see financial prospect as an important trait in women.
Friedlander, Laura J., et al. “Biological, Familial, and Peer Influences on Dating in Early Adolescence.”
This study examines middle school children and their dating habits. The results showed that boys were less likely to date if their parents knew what they were doing. Early dating for both boys and girls have been linked to pubertal maturation, peer delinquency, and peer dating.
Leck, Kira. “Correlates of Minimal Dating.”
This article investigates college students who don’t date much. Shyness, introversion, attractiveness, social self-esteem, and loneliness correlate to women not dating. For men, physical attractiveness, observer-rated social skill, social self-esteem, and loneliness correlated minimal dating.
Najman, Fake M., etal. “Sexual Partner Preferences: Evolutionary Imperative, Emotional Attachment or Hedonism?” Marriage & Family Review 40.1 (2006): 5-23. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. U of South Dakota, ID Weeks Lib., Vermillion, SD. 1 April 2008
An Australian survey surveyed men and women to find out what is desired in a sexual partner. The most desired quality is being with someone who cares for them and someone he or she can love. Also ranked high is that the partner should enjoy sex even if they do not enjoy sex themselves. People expressed similar preferences in sexual partners no matter age, sex, or marital status. Heterosexuals place more of an emphasis on physical beauty than non heterosexuals.
Sprecher, Susan, Quintin Sullivan, and Elaine Hatfield. “Mate Selection Preferences: Gender Differences Examined in a National Sample.” Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 66.6 (1994): 1074-80. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. U of South Dakota, ID Weeks Lib., Vermillion, SD. 1 April 2008
This article researches the willingness of men and women to marry someone based on age, looks, race, religion, income, and whether they have been married before or not. Most of the data they collected was consistent with other studies. Youth and physical attractiveness were found to be more important for men than for women; earning potential was found to be less important for men than for women.
1 comment:
Stacy,
Interesting topic here. There are some problems with the question, however. These are easy to fix, though. First, what society(ies) will this research focus on? What Americans seek in a life-mate is far different than what someone from an Asian society seeks. This is a vital question to answer. Also, what type of attraction. I mean, will the paper focus only on emotional attraction or will is look at the ways that physical attraction can morph into emotional attraction? How does attraction lead to a lasting relationship? Does attraction really have all that much to do with this?
Good sources/annotations. Make sure to include the web-access info for online journals. Remember to include any terms/definitions the source uses, key ideas, etc.
Good work.
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