Monday, September 03, 2007
Um...
'Zat so?
Science is confirming what most women know: When given the choice for a mate, men go for good looks. I would hope most men know that, too. Does this mean all the ugly chicks with dudes know that their dude had no choice?
Are there actually men who lie to themselves and say they go for brains or something? At least for chicks, good looking guys also seem to be more intelligent, funnier, more thoughtful, etc. For dudes, it goes the opposite way: Hot chicks are assumed to be dumb as stones.
Anyway, we're looking at another one of those groundbreaking studies which point out the obvious.
Their study involved 26 men and 20 women in Munich, Germany. Doesn't that sort of limit the breadth of the conclusions a bit? Does everyone behave like folks in Munich?
Participants ranged in age from 26 to their early 40s and took part in "speed dating," short meetings of three to seven minutes in which people chat, then move on to meet another dater. Afterward, participants check off the people they'd like to meet again, and dates can be arranged between pairs who select one another.
Speed dating let researchers look at a lot of mate choices in a short time, Todd said. ...... so... folks were given a short time to meet people, limiting their impressions to things that can be discovered in that time, such as looks. Surprisingly, those looks were important. Apparently, even pointing out the obvious is too hard for these folks.
In the study, participants were asked before the session to fill out a questionnaire about what they were looking for in a mate, listing such categories as wealth and status, family commitment, physical appearance, healthiness and attractiveness. Attractiveness? Isn't that a bit tautological? "What do you look for in men, ma'am?" "I want them to be attractive!"
And guys won't be surprised to learn that women are much choosier about partners than they are.
...
Women's actual choices, like men's, did not reflect their stated preferences, but they made more discriminating choices, the researchers found.
The scientists said women were aware of the importance of their own attractiveness to men, and adjusted their expectations to select the more desirable guys.
"Women made offers to men who had overall qualities that were on a par with the women's self-rated attractiveness. They didn't greatly overshoot their attractiveness," Todd said, "because part of the goal for women is to choose men who would stay with them"
But, he added, "they didn't go lower. They knew what they could get and aimed for that level." I don't think that's women being "choosier." That sounds a lot more like women being more willing to settle.
. . .
|
. . .
|
