Mate Poaching: How To Determine If Someone Is Trying To Steal Your Partner

Poachers Mark High In Three Of The Big Five

The big five describes a grouping of personality traits that psychological experts say make up the five dimensions of someone’s personality. These are extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. In the study on poaching, 187 committed heterosexual couples were assessed for poaching tendencies and experiences. They were assessed for their levels in the Big Five traits. In general, female and male poachers rank high in extraversion and women rank particularly high in openness.

There is one caveat: female poachers rank high in agreeableness but male poachers rate low in it. This could speak to other known gender differences in desirable character traits. A report on Pew Research shows that women rank assertiveness/confidence as highly attractive in men, while men rank empathy/nurturing/kindness as highly attractive in women. Another way to describe an “assertive” man would be “not agreeable.” And another way to describe an empathetic/kind woman would be “agreeable.” This is in line with the research on what makes successful male versus female poachers.