Human mate choice and the wedding ring effect: Are married men more attractive?
(2003) In Human Nature 14(3). p.267-276- Abstract
- Individuals are often restricted to indirect cues when assessing the mate value of a potential partner. Females of some species have been shown to copy each other’s choice; in other words, the probability of a female choosing a particular male increases if he has already been chosen by other females. Recently it has been suggested that mate-choice copying could be an important aspect of human mate choice as well. We tested one of the hypotheses, the so-called wedding ring effect—that women would prefer men who are already engaged or married—in a series of live interactions between men and women. The results show that women do not find men signaling engagement, or being perceived as having a partner, more attractive or higher in... (More)
- Individuals are often restricted to indirect cues when assessing the mate value of a potential partner. Females of some species have been shown to copy each other’s choice; in other words, the probability of a female choosing a particular male increases if he has already been chosen by other females. Recently it has been suggested that mate-choice copying could be an important aspect of human mate choice as well. We tested one of the hypotheses, the so-called wedding ring effect—that women would prefer men who are already engaged or married—in a series of live interactions between men and women. The results show that women do not find men signaling engagement, or being perceived as having a partner, more attractive or higher in socioeconomic status. Furthermore, signs of engagement did not influence the women’s reported willingness to engage in short-term or long-term relationships with the men. Thus, this study casts doubt on some simplified theories of human mate-choice copying, and alternative, more complex scenarios are outlined and discussed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/951354
- author
- Uller, Tobias and Johansson, Christoffer LU
- publishing date
- 2003
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Human mate choice - Mate-choice copying - Wedding ring effect
- in
- Human Nature
- volume
- 14
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 267 - 276
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:0346938372
- ISSN
- 1045-6767
- DOI
- 10.1007/s12110-003-1006-0
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- bcc098f0-0c42-4d49-980a-ff31f157a874 (old id 951354)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 12:27:16
- date last changed
- 2022-01-27 03:55:13
@article{bcc098f0-0c42-4d49-980a-ff31f157a874, abstract = {{Individuals are often restricted to indirect cues when assessing the mate value of a potential partner. Females of some species have been shown to copy each other’s choice; in other words, the probability of a female choosing a particular male increases if he has already been chosen by other females. Recently it has been suggested that mate-choice copying could be an important aspect of human mate choice as well. We tested one of the hypotheses, the so-called wedding ring effect—that women would prefer men who are already engaged or married—in a series of live interactions between men and women. The results show that women do not find men signaling engagement, or being perceived as having a partner, more attractive or higher in socioeconomic status. Furthermore, signs of engagement did not influence the women’s reported willingness to engage in short-term or long-term relationships with the men. Thus, this study casts doubt on some simplified theories of human mate-choice copying, and alternative, more complex scenarios are outlined and discussed.}}, author = {{Uller, Tobias and Johansson, Christoffer}}, issn = {{1045-6767}}, keywords = {{Human mate choice - Mate-choice copying - Wedding ring effect}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{3}}, pages = {{267--276}}, publisher = {{Springer}}, series = {{Human Nature}}, title = {{Human mate choice and the wedding ring effect: Are married men more attractive?}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12110-003-1006-0}}, doi = {{10.1007/s12110-003-1006-0}}, volume = {{14}}, year = {{2003}}, }