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Fernando Ardenghi

"Hurrydate: Mate preferences in action" could be read from
http://www.weeden.info/paper/hurrydate.pdf

http://www.weeden.info/papers.htm

Interesting to see: If its conclusion only shows EARLY STAGE INTENSE ROMANTIC LOVE or also could be "people's INFATUATION and FANTASY"! i.e. The conclusion of this paper can not be applied to any serious dating method.

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Another more interesting paper.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2005, Vol. 89, No. 2, 242–256

http://www.unige.ch/fapse/emotion/members/zentner/pdf/IdealMatePersonality.pdf
Ideal Mate Personality Concepts and Compatibility in Close Relationships: A Longitudinal Analysis Marcel R. Zentner University of Geneva

"How 2 personalities may be best combined in a couple has often been answered in terms of similarity in partner’s personality characteristics. However, results have been inconsistent. The present study proposed that relationship outcomes should depend more on the similarity between individuals’ ideal mate personality concepts (IMPCs) and their partner’s personality as both perceived by the self and selfreported by the partner. Study 1 introduces a new Q-sort to assess IMPCs and provides evidence for the interindividual variability and the short-term consistency of IMPC. By following nonmarried couples over a 9-month period, Study 2 replicated findings from Study 1 and demonstrated that, overall, the current concept of congruence predicts relationship outcomes better than both personality similarity and the partner’s individual personality traits.
Keywords: personality, complementarity, ideal, couples, Q-sort, Big Five"


PAGE 250
"In typological terms, these findings suggest that the typical individual aspiring to a partner with a similar personality profile is likely to be one who is low on Neuroticism and high on Openness. Conversely, the typical individual looking for a partner with a relatively dissimilar or complementary personality profile is likely one who is high on Neuroticism and low on Openness."

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FUTURE TRENDS AND NEW DISCOVERIES ON THEORIES OF ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS DEVELOPMENT

The Online Dating and Social Networking Industry will need these TOPICS TO be RESEARCHED:

- If homophily dominates human attraction but "It seems that what is important in attracting people to one another may not be important in making couples happy."

- If temporal patterns of relationship variables : combination of physique, personality, intelligence, social background, attitudes, habits and leisure preferences may indeed play a significant role between mates / prospective mates:
--Early stage of temporal patterns: a combination of high level of infatuation, fantasy, passion, physical attraction between prospective mates ???
--Middle stage of temporal patterns: a considerable degree of similarity on social background, attitudes, habits and leisure preferences between mates ???
--Last stage of temporal patterns: if only high level on personality similarity between mates / couples could be the core of relationship stability and satisfaction???

-If complex mental processes (successful relationships based on a mental set arrangement) could be only exceptions for "couples by convenience" and not for "romantic couples" i.e. old rich man with young pretty lady.

-If a longitudinal approach will be "a must" in any research, and cross-sectional research must be discarded because does not take into account temporal patterns of relationship variables.

-If Big-5 (like N, E, O, A, C; Costa & McCrae) will not be enough any more to evaluate Couple Similarity between prospective mates; and the complete inventory, 16PF5 test or similar, must be used.

Serious OnLine Dating Sites and their Big Databases are NEW sources for scientific research. New Knowledge is waiting to be discovered inside these Big Databases!!!

Kindest Regards,

Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
[email protected]

Fernando Ardenghi

Other interesting papers.

IS SHORT-TERM MATING THE MALADAPTIVE RESULT OF INSECURE ATTACHMENT? A test of competing evolutionary perspectives
http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/31/6/747

PATTERNS AND UNIVERSALS OF ADULT ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT ACROSS 62 CULTURAL REGIONS Are Models of Self and of Other Pancultural Constructs?
JOURNAL OF CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 35 No. 4, July 2004 367-402
http://www.bradley.edu/academics/las/psy/pdfs/schmitt%5B1%5D%5B1%5D.etal.2004.romatt.jccp.pdf

PATTERNS AND UNIVERSALS OF MATE POACHING ACROSS 53 NATIONS: the effects of sex, culture, and personality on romantically attracting another person’s partner.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2004, Vol. 86, No. 4, 560–584
http://www.bradley.edu/academics/las/psy/pdfs/isdp-poach-schmitt%5B1%5D%5B1%5D.etal-2004.pdf

PERSONALITY, ATTACHMENT, AND SEXUALITY RELATED TO DATING RELATIONSHIP OUTCOMES: Contrasting three perspectives on personal attribute interaction.
British Journal of Social Psychology, 41, 589-610.
http://www.bradley.edu/academics/las/psy/pdfs/Schmitt-2002-BJSP-3Theories-Interaction.pdf

Kindest Regards,

Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
[email protected]

Fernando Ardenghi

More papers to read and analyze:

A GERMAN paper that could be of interest: PERSONALITY and SOCIAL NETWORK EFFECTS on ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS: A DYADIC APPROACH
Neyer F.J.; Voigt D.
EUROPEAN Journal of Personality, Volume 18, Number 4, June 2004, pp. 279-299(21)

http://www2.psychologie.hu-berlin.de/per/pdf/neyer%20+%20voigt%202004.pdf

"The quality of romantic relationships and their associations with both partners' personality traits and social networks were studied in 100 younger couples. The similarity of partners was modest with respect to personality traits, and moderate to large with respect to the perceived quality of the partner relationship and their social networks. While similarity in personality was unrelated to relationship quality, dyadic analyses showed that one's perceived quality of relationship was better predicted by one's own personality (i.e. actor effects) than by the personality of one's partner (i.e. partner effects). Moreover, relationship quality could to some extent be predicted by the quality of the social network once the personality traits of each partner were controlled. Results are discussed from a transactional view of personality and relationships "


Weak points of research and conclusions:
--Does not take into account temporal patterns of relationship variables.
--Dyadic similarity between couple members was calculated using pairwise intraclass correlations (Gonzalez & Griffin, 1997) page 286
--The study was cross-sectional and therefore strong inferences about the causal ordering of effects cannot be made. page 291

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SELF AND PARTNER PERSONALITY IN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS
Barelds, Dick P. H. Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, THE NETHERLANDS
EUROPEAN Journal of Personality, Volume 19, Number 6, September 2005, pp. 501-518(18)

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/jws/per/2005/00000019/00000006/art00003

"Two studies were conducted to examine the relations between both partners' personality and marital quality in married or cohabiting heterosexual couples. In Study 1 (N = 1380, or 690 couples), personality was assessed by means of the Dutch Personality Questionnaire, whereas in Study 2 (N = 564, or 282 couples) personality was assessed by means of the Five-Factor Personality Inventory. We expected neuroticism to relate negatively, and extraversion positively, to marital quality. Furthermore, we expected that spouses would only marginally resemble each other with regard to personality, and that differences in personality would not affect marital quality, when controlling for the individual's levels of personality. All expectations were confirmed."

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PERSONALITY AND MARITAL SATISFACTION: A BEHAVIOURAL GENETIC ANALYSIS
Erica L. Spotts et al, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska
Institutet Stockholm, SWEDEN

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/110451923/ABSTRACT

"Previous research has found that genetic and nonshared environmental factors influence marital quality (Spotts et al., 2004). The current study explored personality as a source for these genetic and environmental individual differences. A sample of 752 Swedish TWIN WOMEN AND THEIR SPOUSES were used. Genetic and environmental influences were found for self-report measures of marital quality, but only environmental factors contributed to the variance of observational measures of marital quality. Wives' personality characteristics accounted for genetic and nonshared environmental variance in the wives' own marital satisfaction, their husbands' marital satisfaction, and the agreement between the spouses on the quality of their marriage. Genetic influences on the correlation between wives' genetically influenced personality characteristics and their husbands' marital satisfaction indicate a gene-environment correlation. Contrary to expectations, husbands' personality did not explain large portions of wives' marital satisfaction beyond that explained by wives' personality. This study emphasizes the importance of spousal personality to the well-being of marriages, and results are discussed within the context of three different theories regarding ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN PERSONALITY AND MARITAL QUALITY."


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PERSONALITY IMPLICATIONS OF ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT PATTERNS IN YOUNG ADULTS: A MULTI-METHOD, MULTI-INFORMANT STUDY
Miyoko Onishi et al, University of California at Santa Cruz
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 27, No. 9, 1097-1110 (2001)
http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/27/9/1097
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As could be seen there are lots of papers about THEORIES OF ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS DEVELOPMENT. However results/findings/conclusions have been INCONSISTENT between them!!!
Most probably "better&more_powerful math equations to approach how to evaluate compatibility between prospective_mates/couples" and "more power calculation" will allow to reach new discoveries!

Kindest Regards,

Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
[email protected]

James Houran

Great work in posting these, Fernando!

Of course, there are more than "two models of mating behavior." Informed academics know that the "similarity hypothesis" is oversimplified and is not valid across all personal characteristics of a couple.

The "market model" is neither novel nor at odds with the "similarity model." Research needs to adopt Item Response Theory (IRT) approaches to relationship science -- since many of the findings purported to be consistent facts might well be consistent measurement artifacts. For example, complementarity (differences, not similarities, can be beneficial for a couple) has been validated in new research.

The bottom is that it seems to take both similarities and differences for a couple to be happy over the long-term. Longitudinal and cross sectional research that claim to find that specific variables are more important in the early stages of attachment versus other variables, and that some variables a couple needs similarity on versus other variables is all based on classical test theory from what I have seen. Classical test theory is not the way to go -- investigators should reanalyze their findings with IRT and see if the findings hold. I suspect many, if not all, will not.

Thanks,

Jim Houran, Ph.D.
Research Psychologist

Fernando Ardenghi

Dear Dr. Houran:

The paper: "PERSONALITY, ATTACHMENT, AND SEXUALITY RELATED TO DATING RELATIONSHIP OUTCOMES: Contrasting three perspectives on personal attribute interaction. " British Journal of Social Psychology, 41, 589-610.
http://www.bradley.edu/academics/las/psy/pdfs/Schmitt-2002-BJSP-3Theories-Interaction.pdf
says on page #01 of PDF /page #589 of magazine "Although people can bring personal attributes to their relationships that affect how satisfying and enduring those relationships are, it is more often personal attribute interaction that directly determines romantic relationship outcomes. In this study, three general perspectives on personal attribute interaction—similarity, complementarity and exchange perspectives—were contrasted empirically in their ability to predict dating relationship outcomes. Based on questionnaires completed by a sample of 44 heterosexual dating couples, feelings of relationship satisfaction were most closely associated with the interaction of socially valuable attributes, generally supporting the exchange perspective.
Similarity of personal attributes was also connected with relationship satisfaction; however, this association was in the negative direction.
That is, couples with dissimilar personality traits, attachment styles and sexual strategies were significantly more satisfied with their dating relationships. Complementarity of personal attributes had no link to satisfaction, but complementary couples experienced significantly higher ratings of relationship commitment, especially couples with complementary personalities. Discussion focused on the differences between personal attribute connections with romantic satisfaction and commitment and on the limitations of the present study. "

says on page #14&15 of PDF /page #602&603 of magazine
"Personal attribute interactions and romantic relationship outcomes
………………………..the evaluation of personal attribute interaction and romantic relationship outcomes was appropriately based on couple-level analyses (Kenny, 1988; Kenny & La Voie, 1984). ……..…
………...
Table 5 displays the results from a standard regression analysis of personal attribute interaction perspective indexes on couple-based relationship satisfaction ….
…………….
Table 6 displays the results from a standard regression analysis of personal attribute interaction perspective indexes on general relationship commitment ….
…………………. "

says on page #17 of PDF /page #605 of magazine
"….the current sample of dating couples had been dating for a considerable length of time, implying that the stage of initial attraction had already occurred. Nevertheless, FUTURE RESEARCH should examine the current set of attribute interaction perspectives concerning relationship outcomes among married couples. It is possible that the complementary INTERACTION of role-oriented attributes such as PERSONALITY TRAITS AND SEXUAL STRATEGIES, MAY BE EVEN MORE IMPORTANT TO ONGOING MARITAL RELATIONSHIPS.
……………. "

and the paper: "CHANGE ASSORTATIVE MATING AND MARITAL QUALITY IN NEWLYWEDS: A COUPLE-CENTERED APPROACH"
http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/psp882304.pdf

says on page #19 of PDF /page #322 of magazine
"................................
Couple Similarity and Marital Quality
Our study presents one of the most comprehensive examinations of the similarity-satisfaction link. The observed SIMILARITY-SATISFACTION CORRELATIONS SUGGEST THAT SIMILARITY ON PERSONALITY RELATED DOMAINS WAS STRONGLY ASSOCIATED WITH SATISFACTION, whereas similarity on attitude-related domains was not.
.................
People may be attracted to those who have similar attitudes, values, and beliefs and even marry them (at least in part) on the basis of this similarity. However, once individuals are in a committed relationship, IT MAY BE PRIMARILY PERSONALITY SIMILARITY THAT INFLUENCES MARITAL HAPPINESS. This suggests that attitude and value similarity may play a different role in relationship development than personality similarity does. For example, whereas similarity in attitudes and values appears to be important early on in the relationship and may play an important role in relationship progression, personality similarity becomes more important as the relationship reaches greater commitment. Our empirical findings and this proposition are certainly consistent with "filter" or "process" theories of relationship development (e.g., Kerckhoff & Davis, 1962; Murstein, 1980) that hold that patterns of similarity and complementarity on different individual-difference domains play differential roles at different points in the relationship development process.

……………. FUTURE RESEARCH designed to better understand these underlying processes is needed.
.................................."

i.e.: "It seems that what is important in attracting people to one another may not be important in making couples happy."

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I am mostly an entrepreneur (a combination of a business man and inventor) trying to launch a quality online dating site using the matching algorithm I had invented.

Actually, I am heavily contacting the group of Psychologists and other Academics, who are interested in researching theories of romantic relationships development, in order to:

Encourage them to conduct new&fresh research leading on to new discoveries, with the following methodology.
- To apply a Longitudinal Approach in order to take into account temporal patterns of relationship variables.
- To use Big Databases of (actual and future/to_be_launched_soon) Serious OnLine Dating Sites == big samples == more than 100,000 persons involved, INSTEAD OF the small samples used in scientific papers. For 100,000 persons' profiles will require nearly 5,000,000,000 of comparisons, quite a lot power calculation!!!.
- To use the 16PF5 test or similar, the complete personality trait/inventory, and NOT the Big-5 any more, because it is an oversimplification.
- To evaluate Couple Similarity in another way (using the matching algorithm I had invented with Advanced Mathematical & Statistical Equations) and NOT with Index of Profile Agreement (IPA; McCrae 1998), or a multiple regression equation (as recommended by Kenny, 1988) or entering the interaction term after the couple's (husband's and wife's) individual scores have been entered (Griffin, Murray, & Gonzalez, 1999)


Dr. Houran, are you going to conduct new & fresh research using a Personality Test designed_with/constructed_using Item Response Theory?
If so, it could be very interesting to analyze results, specially if they become new discoveries!!!
(I want to see if using I.R.T, similarity-satisfaction correlations between couples will demonstrate that ALMOST COMPLETE SIMILARITY on MOST of the 16 personality related domains is really strongly associated with couple satisfaction and stability == HIGH DEGREE OF COMPATIBILITY)

Kindest Regards,

Fernando Ardenghi.
Buenos Aires.
Argentina.
[email protected]


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