In a recent article, psychologists have tested the difference between male and female mate selection through speed-dating and simply viewing photographs of unknown people. The photographs included two shots of each individual: one spontaneous pose chosen by the participant and one coached by psychologists. People who had never met the subjects in the photos were then asked to identify different aspects of the photographed person's personality including their openness, emotional stability and likeability. The spontaneous pose proved a more accurate insight to the person's personality traits.
During the speed-dating study, men and women were asked to fill out questionaires about their own wants in a mate of the opposite sex. Men were more likely to focus on the physical attractiveness of their date, while women tended to look more for security and commitment in men. After approximately 30 3-minute dates, the participants were asked to fill out another questionaire about which dates they would be interested in seeing again. The male portion of the group on average wanted to see fifty percent of the women again, while the average female participant was interested in about one-third of the men.
What this tells us is that there is a difference between men and women when they are choosing a mate. Men focus more on the attractiveness of their date, whereas women can look past a man's outward appearance to what he has to offer to the relationship. This study adds to our discussion of the waist-to-hip ratio. I believe men look for physically attractive partners, because they either consciously or unconsciously want their offspring to be physically attractive, while women would prefer their children to be successful and feel strongly that the father's traits will have a vast impact on this success. Both motives go along with the idea that mate selection is influenced by the need to have happy, healthy children.
http://www.psyarticles.com/inter-personal/attraction.htm
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As soon as I read this, I thought about my guy friends and how they are always looking for the "hottest" girl to be with, then I thought about my girl friends and how they are looking for the "supportive, intelligent man". I think that women look for attractiveness in men, but it isn't as important as it is for men when they are looking for a mate.
ReplyDeleteA fun article to read and I think the findings expressed by Peter Todd to be accurate. I just think it sounding like such a easy experiment to conduct and study. It should have been taken farther. Maybe do some test that where more age specific. It would be useful to know how much if it at all our age plays in our decision making of choosing a mate.
ReplyDeleteI felt that this article is very interesting because it clearly states why some men differ from women. What I personally am curious about though, is, if their was ever a study done on whether women would prefer a masculine man or whether that matters apart from the smarts. Such as, if they were given the choice between a unattractive, but intelligent, male to lets say a masculine, athletic one, with little to no smarts about him, which would they choose?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.livescience.com/health/070102_facial_features.html
ReplyDeleteThe above link could be looked at to semi answer Tasha's question.
The information in this link makes sense to me. I believe that (probably unconsciously) most women are looking for the strong masculine male to have children with, yet know that they don't necessarily make the best partners or parents.
I would be interested in seeing if there is some kind of connection between my belief and the divorce rate. I bet that a lot of women choose a more masculine male initially, but after divorce change to the less masculine male thinking they have a better chance at a good long term relationship and better parent to their children.
Very thought provoking blog entry.