Posted on 12/21/2004 3:59:39 PM PST by beavus
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Men are more likely to want to marry women who are their assistants at work rather than their colleagues or bosses, a University of Michigan study finds.
The study, published in the current issue of Evolution and Human Behavior, highlights the importance of relational dominance in mate selection and discusses the evolutionary utility of male concerns about mating with dominant females.
"These findings provide empirical support for the widespread belief that powerful women are at a disadvantage in the marriage market because men may prefer to marry less accomplished women," said Stephanie Brown, lead author of the study and a social psychologist at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR).
For the study, supported in part by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, Brown and co-author Brian Lewis from UCLA tested 120 male and 208 female undergraduates by asking them to rate their attraction and desire to affiliate with a man and a woman they were said to know from work.
"Imagine that you have just taken a job and that Jennifer (or John) is your immediate supervisor (or your peer, or your assistant)," study participants were told as they were shown a photo of a male or a female.
After seeing the photo and hearing the description of the person's role at work in relation to their own, participants were asked to use a 9-point Likert scale (1 is not at all, 9 is very much) to rate the extent to which they would enjoy going to a party with Jennifer or John, exercising with the person, dating the person and marrying the person.
Brown and Lewis found that males, but not females, were most strongly attracted to subordinate partners for high-investment activities such as marriage and dating.
"Our results demonstrate that male preference for subordinate women increases as the investment in the relationship increases," Brown said. "This pattern is consistent with the possibility that there were reproductive advantages for males who preferred to form long-term relationships with relatively subordinate partners.
"Given that female infidelity is a severe reproductive threat to males only when investment is high, a preference for subordinate partners may provide adaptive benefits to males in the context of only long-term, investing relationships---not one-night stands."
According to Brown, who is affiliated with the ISR Evolution and Human Adaptation Program, the current findings are consistent with earlier research showing that expressions of vulnerability enhance female attractiveness. "Our results also provide further explanation for why males might attend to dominance-linked characteristics of women such as relative age or income, and why adult males typically prefer partners who are younger and make less money."
For more information on the ISR Evolution and Human Adaptation Program, visit: http://rcgd.isr.umich.edu/ehap/
It's so much easier that way;)
Business IMO needs to be kept business.
Horse excrement! Any female executives, doctors, lawyers, successful salesladies, entrepreneurs, etc., contact me through this site, I am very interested in dating you! LOL
The man in the workplace, on the other hand, is usually more agressive and control oriented. To abdicate control in BOTH places would be demasculating.
Finally, I have a study to point to. :-)
Well no kidding. So you went to graduate school and spent tens of thousands of dollars to learn that little nugget? What sort of male actually seeks out somebody that they know for sure will make every decision a challenge, every conversation a debate, and every single part of their miserable existence contested?
Putting two leaders into the same relationship is a quick ticket to a personal hell.
I'm sure glad we had these experts to warn us ahead of time.
Does this mean that the gene pool of "powerful women" will one day be depleted due to a lack of compliant men?
Same study, but the article's from a different newspaper (338 posts):
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1300165/posts
Extremely attractive women TYPICALLY do not go to college and pursue a degree. These women know that they can trade on their looks, and often do. Thus, when these women enter the job market, they will enter as a subordinate.
So, GENERALLY speaking; a man has a choice of a mega-babe he works with and is a subordinate; or a reasonably attractive (or unattractive) woman who is his peer. Do the math....
This is MY personal observations, your mileage and experiences may vary. I'm sure that there are fantastically beautiful, highly educated model-like sexys superstars in the workforce ... I just don't see them.
Their use of undergraduates, most of whom have never worked in businesses, makes me question their method. However, I'm not surprised by the results.
Sorry, missed it. Wouldn't have posted if I'd known.
That may have been true at one time, but I doubt it is now. Do you have a link to any studies that show this?
If I were to choose a place to find a bunch of young hot chicks, I would look no further than the nearest business school.
BTW, either this study is total BS, or I never got the memo. Niether did my wife.
Haven't you BEEN to college?
Are you suggesting that every male should marry a woman that is less accomplished?
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