Men go for looks

Posted by DCampbell aka Puteri | 9/04/2007 03:29:00 PM | | 4 comments »

How often do you see a good looking man with a below average looking woman? Not often, right? Usually a good looking man is often seen with a beautiful woman. How about an average looking man with a beautiful woman? Quite often, right?

Someone said on the radio today, when you see a beautiful woman with an average looking man, or below average looking man, check the size of his bank balance! Heheh, seems this is very true in Malaysia! But studies show men usually go for looks whereas women are more discriminating and go beyond looks when looking for a mate.

Researchers led by Todd report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that their study found humans were similar to most other mammals, "following Darwin's principle of choosy females and competitive males, even if humans say something different."

Their study involved 26 men and 20 women in Munich, Germany.

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.

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.

After the session, the researchers compared what the participants said they were looking for with the people they actually chose to ask for another date.

Men's choices did not reflect their stated preferences, the researchers concluded. Instead, men appeared to base their decisions mostly on the women's physical attractiveness.

The men also appeared to be much less choosy. Men tended to select nearly every woman above a certain minimum attractiveness threshold, Todd said.

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."

Read the full story here.

4 comments

  1. Anonymous // 4:15 PM, September 04, 2007  

    I think a woman's personality is most important 'cause, when the looks go away (and they always do), the personality remains. I married you for your looks AND personality!

  2. DCampbell aka Puteri // 4:40 PM, September 04, 2007  

    Sweetie!! :-) Yahhh, there is that threshold ... as long as the women's looks don't go below that threshold, they're still interested!

  3. pat // 9:16 PM, September 04, 2007  

    sigi amai ko husband nuan nyak,puteri :) personaliti yg manah lebih baik gik ari semina good looks aja..

    lagipun mayuh risiko kawin enggau org mua manah tuk..antara nya,mayuh mega org ka ngacau pasangan kitai..Jaga-jaga...

  4. Anonymous // 1:59 AM, September 06, 2007  

    well its really true that some of the peoples go for looks and not for they're personality but sometimes most of the woman are go for the personality and attitudes for they are more satisfied for that.

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