Men would rather marry their female
assistants than equal-ranking women or their supervisors,
according to social psychologists.
The results are based on a
study of men's ratings of imaginary women with different job
titles, during which they judged them according to their appeal
as a one-night stand, friend, or long-term partner.
Men's preferences for less-dominant
women may be rooted in evolution, the researchers suggest.
"Males who preferred to mate
with relatively subordinate partners - as opposed to higher
dominance partners - may have been better able to limit the
chance - or amount - of paternal uncertainty, either by preventing
their partner from having sex outside of the partnership or
by being able to closely monitor their partner's sexual behavior
for possible infidelity," write Stephanie L. Brown and Brian
P. Lewis.
Brown is based at the University
of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and Lewis at the University of California
in Los Angeles.
Previous investigations into
what type of mate men and women prefer have defined dominance
in different ways. Some studies, for instance, have described
dominance by personality - such as aggressiveness - or by
possession of desirable resources, such as status, fame or
fortune.
Many of these studies, in contrast
to the current research, found that men did not appear to
have a preference for women who were less dominant than themselves,
according to their definitions of dominance.
In the current study, Brown
and Lewis based dominance on differences in rank in the workplace,
where dominant, potential mates have the ability to "exercise
their own will at the expense of a less dominant other," they
write in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.
During the study, 120 male
and 208 female undergraduates read scenarios about different
people at work, looked at their pictures, and noted how much
they would like to be associated them. All photos were deemed
by judges to be of people similar in age and attractiveness.
Men said they would prefer
a less-dominant women both as long-term partners and as friends
they would enjoy doing things with, such as exercising and
going to a party.
In contrast, for women, a man's
status had no influence on his desirability as a partner.
SOURCE: Evolution and Human
Behavior, November 2004.
Reference
Source 89
December 31, 2004
