Human mate choice and the wedding ring effect: Are married men more attractive?
Uller, Tobias and Johansson, Christoffer LU
(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
- 2025-10-14 12:43:48
@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}},
}