Men look for beauty, while women go for wealth when it comes to assessing future partners, researchers say.
Men placed a high store on beauty
An Indiana University team looked at the behaviour of 46 people taking part in a speed-dating session.
They found that the men were more likely to go for the more attractive women, while women opted for those who could give the best financial security.
Men were also likely to want to date more women, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported.
Speed-dating is becoming an increasingly popular way for singles to meet, involving scores of mini-dates whereby couples get a few minutes to get to know each other.
Researchers said speed-dating offered a good model to analyse the factors people take into account when choosing partners as it offered a "microcosm" of daily life.
During the research, participants were asked what they were looking for. The most common response was to find someone who was like themselves.
But once the speed-dating sessions began, participants began conforming to set patterns, according to the analysis of questionnaires filled in.
The report said men sought the more attractive women and the women were drawn to material wealth and security.
Furthermore, while men on average wanted to see every second woman again, the women wanted to meet only a third of men.
Lead researcher Peter Todd said the study showed the public reverted to type when choosing a mate.
"While humans may pride themselves on being highly evolved, most still behave like the stereotypical Neanderthals when it comes to choosing a mate.
"Evolutionary theories in psychology suggest that men and women should trade off different traits in each other and when we look at the actual choices people make, this is what we find evidence for."
Dr Glenn Wilson, a relationships expert at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, added: "It is well known that men select women for fairly superficial reasons, whereas women think much more about the long-term and the qualities and resources needed to bring up children.
"Men will often find themselves falling into relationships by default after starting off looking for sexual adventure."