| In the process of exploring mate preferences of graduate students in learning, this paper makes use of two different layers of research methods:two questionnaires and two live tests. Study 1 designed an open-ended questionnaire and a rank questionnaire to understand the general trend of mate preferences of graduate students. In study 2, two experiments were performed amidst both to male and female participants. A two-factor mixed experiment 1 was performed to further explore the mate preferences of graduate students and analyze which personality characteristic were essentials and which were luxuries. The material of experiment 1 included three levels of budgets. In experiment 2, a computer application was created to simulate the mating process in real life to verify the conclusions of experiment 1 and find out most important factors for choosing a spouse for both male and female participant groups.The results show that:(1) Individual character, genuine kindness and feeling of love were ranked in the top three important places by graduate students; feeling of love, a sense of responsibility, individual character, caring, partner’s ability were ranked at the top by female graduates; individual character, genuine kindness, feeling of love, obedience to parents and physical attractiveness were ranked at the top by male graduates.(2) In the low budget situation, male graduates put more importance on genuine kindness, obedience to parents and physical attractiveness, whereas female graduates put more importance on a sense of responsibility, caring, partner’s ability, economic conditions and career growth.(3) Compared with the high budget situation, female graduates put significantly more budget on individual character and feeling of love but put significantly less budget on physical attractiveness in the low budget situation.(4) Compared with the high budget situation, male graduates put significantly more budget on individual character and feeling of love but put significantly less budget on economic conditions and career growth in the low budget situation.(5) For female graduates, feeling of love, caring, partner’s ability, a sense of responsibility, economic conditions and career growth, individual character, obedience to parents, genuine kindness were all characteristics which greatly influence acceptance of a potential partner. Love was the most important component of them all. However, for male graduates, these were obedience to parents, caring personality, physical attractiveness, genuine kindness, partner’s ability and good health. The most important component was obedience to parents.Conclusions:(1) Partner character and feeling of love are necessities to both female and male graduates. Physical attractiveness is a luxury to female graduates. Economic conditions and career growth is a luxury to male graduates. (2) There are gender differences in the mate preferences. Female graduates place more importance on a sense of responsibility, partner’s ability, caring personality, economic conditions and career growth, whereas male graduates place more importance on obedience to parents and physical attractiveness. (3) For female graduates, feeling of love, caring, partner’s ability, a sense of responsibility, economic conditions and career growth, individual character, obedience to parents, genuine kindness are all characteristics which greatly influence acceptance of a potential partner. For male graduates, these are obedience to parents, caring personality, physical attractiveness, genuine kindness, partner’s ability and good health. |
