INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS AND GROUP PROCESSES The Matching Hypothesis Reexamined

Although experimental tests have not tended to support the matching hypothesis, correlational studies have consistently found positive intracouple attractiveness correlations among actual couples. The present investigation sought to reconcile the findings of experimental and correlational studies by probing the relation between individual choices and systemwide patterns of couple formation. This was accomplished through the use of a series of mate-selection simulations. In the first simulation, the hypothetical individuals were given no awareness of their own attractiveness level, but they were programmed to demand an attractive partner; in the second simulation, they sought a partner who matched their own attractiveness level; and, in the third simulation, they used a combination of these two criteria. Each simulation culminated in a substantial intracouple attractiveness correlation. Most notably, the simulation based on pure attractiveness seeking produced a correlation in the upper range of those reported in actual studies of existing couples. Thus, it is inappropriate to infer that existing research has established a substantial role of matching in social choice. The use of models such as those provided by the simulations is proposed as a means of facilitating backward inference from systemwide patterns to the individual choices and behaviors that may produce these patterns.