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Human mate choice and the wedding ring effect: Are married men more attractive?

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Author

Summary, in English

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.

Publishing year

2003

Language

English

Pages

267-276

Publication/Series

Human Nature

Volume

14

Issue

3

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Springer

Topic

  • Biological Sciences

Keywords

  • Human mate choice - Mate-choice copying - Wedding ring effect

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1045-6767