How People Become Attractive to Prospective Mates: Strategies of Self-Promotion in the Greek Cultural Context

Abstract

An important aspect of human mating is to appeal to prospective mates. Accordingly, the current research attempted to identify the strategies that people use in order to become more attractive as prospective intimate partners. More specifically, using open-ended questionnaires in a sample of 326 Greek-speaking participants, we identified 87 acts that people performed in order to become more attractive as mates. By using quantitative research methods in a sample of 2,197 Greek-speaking participants, we classified these acts into 16 different strategies. We found that, enhancing one's looks and becoming more pleasant, were among the most preferred strategies. Women were more likely than men to adopt strategies that involved looks, while men were more likely than women to adopt strategies that involved resource acquisition capacity. Moreover, age effects were found for most strategies. The identified strategies were classified into two broader domains, one aiming to develop and demonstrate fitness-increasing qualities, and the other to deceive about fitness-impairing traits.