The participants were given nine specific traits broken into three categories to rate based on importance, on a scale of 0 to 100. The “aesthetics” category included age, attractiveness, and physical build/features. The “resources” category included intelligence, education, and income. And the “personality” category included trust, openness, and emotional connection. After analyzing the results of the ratings, the team found men and women did, in fact, have relatively similar priorities. Both men and women considered the following qualities important for sexual attraction: The areas that appeared to be slightly more important for women than for men (about 9 to 14 points more important, specifically) were: For both men and women, “preference for attractiveness appears negatively correlated with age, but preference for openness and trust is positively associated with age,” the researchers write in the study. Additionally, younger women rated personality traits as more important than the younger men, but among the older participants, both men and women rated personality more evenly. If there’s anything we can garner from this, it’s that physical attractiveness may be important throughout our lives, but the older we get, the more our personality will be a true test of our attractiveness. For more, here’s what turns women on according to science, plus signs of attraction between two people.
