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 [email protected] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
