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/
or four words: "I am your boss!" :-)
How very true, indeed.
This article is very true.
hehe
I see something basic here. In a western relationship, the two people have to be attracted to EACH OTHER. The MAN does not get to pick-and-then-marry-and-bed whomever he wishes.
IPSO FACTO, women prefer men who are 'stronger' and more ordinate than they. Without that, there can be no enduring relationship between the two perosnality types.
Personally I married the homecoming queen who graduated magna cum laude from USL. And indeed, she WANTS me to waer the pants in the family, yet she is no shrinking violet. After 27 years, it still works well.
Hogwash. I just wanna be kept. I'd rather she paid for the X-box anyway.
western relationship? I assume you mean western countries... since when did anyone in the West ever do that? You're kidding yourself really. It's apparent you've never been in the marriage/divorce threads on FR.
You're close -- ;-)
What I meant was that in Western countries, a man (or his family) does not just "select" a woman to marry and sh must comply. Folks generally date, fall in love etc etc.
I guess there are horrible exceptions you can point to, but I was speaking in generalities that would align to the study -- most marriages in the US are mutually agreed to.
interesting point... now I'll be waiting for the studies of why many of the same sex marriages are ending in divorce! LOL
This story isn't worth the paper it's written on and I'll challenge any man to a fist fight or quilting bee to prove it!!!
You mean I missed it!
I don't know about all this. I know lots of couples where the dominant breadwinner - the male - is the henpecked husband.
I also know couples where the wife has the dominant job and she is subservient to the husband who is unemployed or has a less prestigious job.
However, in the study men did not date women or vice versa. The males and females had only photos and descriptions of work environment.
Well, he must do something right for a successful woman to be "subservient". :-)
Whose salary will be missed more in the case of marriage and child birth assuming of course the chauvinistic male has the higher salary? And who is more able to care for the newborn assuming of course natural feeding is the choice?
Dumbass studies, dumbass results, dumbass waste of my taxes........... Time to re-examine the government's waste spending on dumbass stuff!!!!!
LOL! thanks the threads I am participating in are getting a little heavy.
"Well, he must do something right for a successful woman to be "subservient". :-)"
One would hope that would be the case...I think the exchange theory works out quite well in relationships, and the U of M study does nothing to either prove or disprove any other factors at work.
Right, but the study is supposed to somehow relate to real life. In real life, men do not look at a calogue of women with bios, pick one and then get to marry her. In real life a man can be attracted to a woman, but the feeling has to be MUTUAL (not just photographic) in order for a relaitonship to begin and endure.
The research m i g h t be valid, but the conclusions are not sound.
As ususal, we discerned that most men like attractive women.
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