Dads or cads? Women’s strategic decisions in the mating game

We report the findings of two studies (N = 142; N = 28) investigating women’s preference for men in short- and long-term mating scenarios and perceptions of honesty of dating adverts written by men high or low in Machiavellianism. Overall, men low on Machiavellianism (viz., dads), were preferred as long-term mates; and men high on Machiavellianism (viz., cads) as short-term mates. Fertile women preferred cads for a short-term relationship and dads as a long-term partner. Higher ratings were given to all adverts when females were fertile, suggesting generally higher levels of desire for a partner when the possibility of conception is highest. In contrast to previous work suggesting traits like Machiavellianism may facilitate a deceptive or exploitative mating strategy in men, the present results suggest (1) women are attuned to differences in men’s personality as a function of fertility and (2) affirms that women prefer cads for short-term mating and dads for long-term mating.

► We investigated female mate choice using male dating adverts high and low in Machiavellianism. ► Fertile women rated high Machiavellian males more highly for short-term relationships and low Machiavellian males more highly for longer-term relationships. ► Higher ratings were given to all adverts when females were fertile. ► Further analysis of the adverts indicated that females could identify high Machiavellian males as being more likely to like about finances and commitment. ► This indicates that rather than being deceived, females are making strategic mating choices.