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| Research says good looking women should wed unattractive men |
| 2008-04-13 |
| Women seeking a lifelong mate might do well to choose the guy a notch below them in the looks category. New research reveals couples in which the wife is better looking than her husband are more positive and supportive than other match-ups. The reason, researchers suspect, is that men place great value on beauty, whereas women are more interested in having a supportive husband. Researchers admit that looks are subjective, but studies show there are some universal standards, including large eyes, "baby face" features, symmetric faces, so-called average faces, and specific waist-hip ratios in men versus women. Past research has shown that individuals with comparable stunning looks are attracted to each other and once they hook up they report greater relationship satisfaction. These studies, however, are mainly based on new couples, showing that absolute beauty is important in the earliest stages of couple-hood, said lead researcher James McNulty of the University of Tennessee. But the role of physical attractiveness in well-established partnerships, such as marriage, is somewhat of a mystery. The new study, published in the February issue of the Journal of Family Psychology, reveals looks continue to matter beyond that initial attraction, though in a different way. McNulty's team assessed 82 couples who had married within the previous six months and had been together for nearly three years prior to tying the knot. Researchers videotaped as each spouse discussed with their partner a personal problem for 10 minutes. The tapes were analyzed for whether partners were supportive of spouses' issues. "A negative husband would've said, 'This is your problem, you deal with it,'" McNulty said, "versus 'Hey, I'm here for you; what do you want me to do?; how can I help you?'" A group of trained "coders" rated the facial attractiveness of each spouse on a scale from 1 to 10, with the perfect 10 representing the ultimate babe. About a third of the couples had a more attractive wife, a third a more attractive husband and the remaining partners showed matching looks. Overall, wives and husbands behaved more positively when the woman was better looking. Dan Ariely, a professor of behavioural economics at MIT's Programme in Media Arts and Sciences and Sloan School of Management, said, "Men are very sensitive to women's attractiveness. Women seem to be sensitive to men's height and salary." In couples with more attractive husbands, both partners were less supportive of one another. McNulty suggests wives mirror, in some ways, the level of support they get from husbands. "The husband who's less physically attractive than his wife is getting something more than maybe he can expect to get," McNulty told LiveScience. "He's getting something better than he's providing at that level. So he's going to work hard to maintain that relationship." So it seems a mismatch in looks actually makes for a perfect match. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #3 My wife did. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2008-04-13 12:35 |
| #2 Males have the biological prerogative to spread their DNA around. Females have two, different prerogatives. The first is to get the best male DNA for their offspring, and the second is to get the best male provider to help raise the offspring. If there are a lot of males, this means they are most likely not the same male. In basic biology, this means that both males and females have an incentive to violate monogamy. But this is just basic biology. People figured out that *enforced* monogamy, marriage, as an agreement, gives males, females, and their offspring a better deal in the long run. For males, it helps insure the offspring have his DNA. For females, that provision by the males goes solely to her offspring. And the advantage to the children is obvious. But it only works if marriage is enforced. When society was no longer willing to do that, then the *benefits* of enforcement had to be duplicated by the law. Eventually this means that the law will reproduce the major elements of marriage. DNA tests will assure the male the offspring are his. Alimony and child support will insure that he continues to support his offspring for the female. And the children are the focus of this action. Now, this being said, the question becomes what females want in an unattractive mate? Perhaps she wants his DNA, as attractiveness may be of lesser value to her offspring than other traits; or she may want an unattractive mate because it is less likely that he will bond with another female. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-04-13 10:16 |
| #1 Breaking news: new study reveals that most researchers are unattractive men. |
| Posted by: Gliling Lumplump3518 2008-04-13 09:53 |