Can True Love at First Sight Exist? Mindfulness as a Predictor of Initial Attraction

Initial attraction describes the first stages of romantic attraction and is an important component of the development of romantic relationships. Previous research has focused largely on physical attractiveness and personality factors as predictors of initial attraction. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether individuals’ dispositional mindfulness would predict initial attraction in a speed-dating experiment, beyond the effects of physical attractiveness. Participants first completed an online questionnaire that assessed dispositional mindfulness, and then attended a speed dating session whereby each participant briefly interacted with participants of the opposite sex and then rated their romantic attraction towards the person after each round. It was hypothesized that higher dispositional mindfulness would be associated with higher initial attraction ratings in the actor, and higher initial attraction in the partner, beyond that which can be accounted for by physical attractiveness. Hypotheses were partially supported. Women were more attracted to men higher in dispositional mindfulness, however female dispositional mindfulness did not predict female initial attraction. A trend was observed whereby female’s mindfulness predicted male’s initial attraction, as well as male’s own mindfulness scores predicting male initial attraction. The present study is the first to examine the role of dispositional mindfulness in predicting initial romantic attraction. Implications and future directions are discussed