Personality and potential conceptions: mating success in a modern Western male sample

This study tests an evolution-based model of personality by observing the relationship between a constellation of personality traits and mating success in a modern male sample. Mating success, a frequent contributor to Darwinian fitness, was measured via Potential Conceptions Index (Perusse, D. 1993. Cultural and reproductive success in industrial societies: testing the relationship at the proximate and ultimate levels. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 16, 267–322). One-hundred and six primarily undergraduate males between ages 18 and 40 were administered a test battery consisting of 18 subscales from seven personality instruments and a sexual experience questionnaire. Bivariate correlation and multiple regression analyses supported study hypotheses by demonstrating mating success to be variously associated with Hypermasculinity Inventory Machismo, Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding Self-Deception, Sensation Seeking Scale Form V, 10-item Machiavellianism and Multidimensional Sexuality Questionnaire Sexual-Esteem. The possibility is suggested that sexual selection has contributed to the evolution and maintenance of these personality traits in ancestral populations.