Moving beyond attraction, compassion, and competence: evidence for compatibility as a distinct component of mate preferences

Introduction: Considerable research suggests there may be three primary qualities desired in romantic/sexual partners: physical attractiveness, interpersonal warmth, and social status. However, they might not capture the full range of needs served by what people seek in their partners; one omission may be compatibility. Methods: = 26.74 years) dataset, we assessed the relative importance of physicality (e.g., height, attractiveness), compassion (e.g., kindness, generosity), competence (e.g., social status, intelligence), and compatibility (e.g., interpersonal coordination) in mate preferences as a function of sex differences, context effects, and people's pace of life, mating strategies, and social strategies. Results: We replicated several established effects like physicality was valued in men strongly in the short-term context, and that more psychopathic and narcissistic people chose physicality more often in their long-term mates. Uniquely here, compatibility was more valued in the long-term context especially for women extending more parenting effort when considering short-term relationships and men who were less psychopathic when considering short-term relationships. Discussion: Importantly, our research begins to carve out a unique space for considering compatibility as a further higher-order trait worthy of consideration in mating research.