#mate preference

Sociosexuality refers to individual differences in willingness to engage in sexual relations without closeness, commitment, and other indicators of emotional bonding. Individuals who have demonstrated an unrestricted sociosexual orientation tend to engage in sex in the absence of such indicators, whereas those who have demonstrated a restricted sociosexual orientation typically do not.

In one study, it was found that attributes preferred in mates can be split into two categories: personal/parenting qualities and attractiveness/social visibility. Individuals who possessed a restricted sociosexual orientation rated attributes of personal/parenting qualities as more important, whereas the reverse was true for unrestricted individuals. Individuals were also asked to evaluate two prospective romantic partners, one who was described as highly attractive and socially visible but less desirable in terms of personal/parenting qualities and one who had the opposite set of attributes. Unrestricted individuals tended to select the former partner, whereas restricted individuals chose the latter one.

(Please note: nearly all psychological research, especially evolutionary psychology research, has been conducted under a heteronormative framework, which the text below will reflect. I personally feel this is an enormous shortcoming of the literature.

When it comes to long-term romantic relationships, (heterosexual) women and men tend to have different priorities for mate selection. Women put a premium on a man's ability to earn and social status, whereas men put a premium on physical attractiveness, thought to reflect a woman's reproductive health. This has been explained by an evolutionary perspective, that is, the evolutionary drives to propagate and preserve the species. 

However, there are other characteristics that come in as close seconds of ideal partners for both men and women. These include:

Kind and understanding

Exciting personality

Intelligent

Easygoing

Creative

Wants children

Good housekeeper

Kindness has been repeatedly found to be an equally desirable characteristic in mates for both males and females, though second to physical attractiveness/resources and status. Results suggest that people may desire as kind a mate as possible. If, for evolutionary or other reasons, women prefer to mate with men who are able and willing to provide resources, then status is a measure of ability and kindness is a measure of willingness. Thus, a man’s actual resource flow is the product of his standing on both characteristics. Similarly, to a man, a fertile woman may be desirable to the extent that she is willing to share her reproductive resources with him. People who are average in kindness have been defined as those who are willing to be of service to others but who expect a fair and equal amount of benefits in return. People who are above average in kindness are defined as those who perform beneficial acts to others without expecting as much in return. Whereas a person of average kindness can cooperate when exchange is reciprocal, a very kind person is altruistic and will do so even if he or she is underbenefitted.