Hardly a surprising finding. How many women would turn down an advance from Brad Pitt because he was married? Marriage just seems to be another one of those "fitness" markers such as wealth or status that women use in mate selection. Once again evolution trumps morality.
-Don. Don Allen Dept. of Psychology Langara College 100 W. 49th Ave. Vancouver, B.C. Canada V5Y 2Z6 Phone: 604-323-5871 ----- Original Message ----- From: Mike Palij Date: Friday, August 14, 2009 7:00 am Subject: [tips] Why Do Single Women Go After Married Men? To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" Cc: Mike Palij > Or do they? > > An interesting blog entry in the NY Times this week describes a > study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology that varied > descriptions of males and females as being single or married/attached. > Quoting from the blog entry: > > |To the men in the experiment, and to the women who were > |already in relationships, it didn't make a significant > difference > |whether their match was single or attached. But single women > |showed a distinct preference for mate poaching. When the man > |was described as unattached, 59 percent of the single women > |were interested in pursuing him. When that same man was > described > |as being in a committed relationship, 90 percent were interested. > > Of course, as the researchers explain, "most women who engage > in mate poaching do not think the attached status of the target > played a role in their poaching decision, but our study shows this > belief to be false." > > A married man, apparently, has been "pre-screened", has been > found "passing the test for matehood", and, thus, is a desirable > "commodity". > > Gee, guys, I hadn't realized how objectified we have been for so long. > I feel, what is the proper word, used? ;-) > > For more (or less) see the blog entry: > http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/do-single-women- > seek-attached-men/?em > > If you were really interested in the article you would locate it and > read it yourself: > > Parker, J. & Burkley, M. Who's chasing whom? The impact > of gender and relationship status on mate poaching, Journal > of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 45, Issue 4, July > 2009, > Pages 1016-1019, ISSN 0022-1031, DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.04.022. > (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6WJB-4W6Y5S3- > 1/2/dc59df25a980557415a8385ea7efe80a ) > Abstract: > Are women more interested in men who are already in a > relationship? Female and male participants who were single > or in a relationship viewed information about an opposite-sex > other and indicated their interest in pursuing this target. > Half of the participants were told that the target was single > and half read that the target was currently in a relationship. > The results showed that only single women were more interested > in pursuing an attached target rather than a single target. > We discuss how these results add to what is already known about > mate poaching. > Keywords: Mate poaching; Cheating; Gender; Relationship status > > Why do I get the feeling that "mate poaching" will be the next > big topic to be researched by undergraduates this coming academic > year? ;-) > > -Mike Palij > New York University > m...@nyu.edu > > > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) > Don Allen Dept. of Psychology Langara College 100 W. 49th Ave. Vancouver, B.C. Canada V5Y 2Z6 Phone: 604-323-5871 --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
