Long after women have chosen Mr. Stable over Mr.
Sexy, they struggle unconsciously with the decision,
according to a new study by UCLA researchers who
look at subtle changes in behavior during ovulation.
Auguste
Rodin, 1888-1889, Paris, Museè Rodin
At their most fertile period, these women are less
likely to feel close to their mates and more likely
to find fault with them than women mated to more
sexually desirable men, the research shows.
"A woman evaluates her relationship differently at
different times in her cycle, and her evaluation
seems to be colored by how sexually attractive she
perceives her partner to be," said Martie Haselton,
a professor of psychology and communication studies
at UCLA and senior author of the study.
Nevertheless, the negative feelings appear fleeting,
and they don't seem to affect a woman's long-term
commitment to her romantic relationship, the study
found.
"Even when these women are feeling less positive
about their relationship, they don't want to end
it," said Christina Larson, the study's lead author
and a doctoral candidate in social psychology at
UCLA.
Through a series of high-profile studies, Haselton's
lab has revealed telling changes that take place in
women's behavior during ovulation. Possibly to
increase the odds of attracting suitable mating
partners, these behaviors include a tendency to
dress up and to speak in a higher-pitched, more
feminine voice and — in a potential
inbreeding-avoidance mechanism — to refrain from
contact with male kin.
In addition, the lab has found that women whose
mates are less sexy and masculine tend to be more
attracted to other men during the few fertile days
leading up to ovulation.
"A lot of research has shown that women's
preferences change over the course of the cycle, but
this is the first time that these changes have been
shown to have implications for relationship
functioning," Larson said.
She and Haselton began the study by pinpointing the
ovulation cycles of 41 undergraduate women involved
in long-term heterosexual relationships.
They asked the women to rate the sexual
attractiveness of their mates by answering such
questions as "How desirable do you think women find
your partner as a short-term mate or casual sex
partner, compared to most men."
They also asked the women a series of questions
designed to measure their partner's stability or
suitability as a long-term mate, including questions
about how his present and future financial status
compares with that of most men.
Then at two different points in her monthly cycle —
at high fertility (just before ovulation) and at low
fertility — each woman was asked about the quality
of her romantic relationship.
The researchers, who used a questionnaire designed
exclusively for the study, found no significant
change across the cycle in how the women perceived
their level of commitment to the relationship or, at
least initially, in their satisfaction with it.
But an exercise that required the women to rate how
close they felt to their men yielded dramatic
results.
As women mated to less sexually attractive men moved
from their least fertile to most fertile period,
their closeness scores dropped one point on a
seven-point scale. Women mated to the most sexually
attractive men, meanwhile, experienced the opposite
effect. As these women moved from their least to
most fertile period, their closeness scores rose by
a point.
To ensure that the findings were not an anomaly,
Haselton and Larson repeated the experiment with 67
other co-eds in long-term relationships. This time,
however, the researchers administered a
better-recognized measure for relationship
satisfaction than the one they originally used. They
also administered a questionnaire aimed at
illuminating a dimension not studied in the first
round: pickiness. The questionnaire asked the women
to rate how characteristic such faults as being
moody, childish, emotional, thoughtless and critical
were of their mate.
The researchers found that women mated to the less
sexually attractive men were significantly more
likely to find fault with their partners and, again,
feel less close to their partners during the
high-fertility period than the low-fertility period.
Women who rated their mates as more sexually
attractive, meanwhile, did not exhibit these changes
and instead reported being more satisfied with their
relationship at high fertility than at low
fertility.
The researchers believe the findings shed light on a
suite of conflicting behaviors that stem from mating
strategies that might have provided an evolutionary
benefit to women's female ancestors of long ago but
today probably serve no other purpose than to stir
the domestic pot.
"Since our female ancestors couldn't directly
examine a potential partner's genetic makeup, they
had to base their decisions on physical
manifestations of the presence of good genes and the
absence of genetic mutations, which might include
masculine features such as a deep voice, masculine
face, dominant behavior and sexy looks," said
Haselton, who is affiliated with UCLA's Center for
Behavior, Evolution, and Culture.
"It is possible that we evolved to feel drawn to
these visible markers because, at least in the past,
they proved to be indicators of good genes," she
said. "Ancestral women who were attracted to these
features could have produced offspring who were more
successful in attracting mates and producing
progeny."
But as any mother with mounting bills and laundry
can attest, women do not look only for good genes in
a potential partner.
"In the reproductive arena, women probably evolved
to desire men who could contribute both quality care
and good genes," Haselton said. "The problem is that
there is a limited number of potential mates who are
high in both. So many women are forced to make
trade-offs."
She calls the urge for a stable long-term partner
along with the increased desire for a more sexually
attractive mate during periods of high fertility the
"dual mating hypothesis."
Haselton and Larson next plan to look at whether
fault-finding and the feelings of distance and
dissatisfaction have any long-term destabilizing
effects on the relationships of women with less
sexually attractive men.
They also plan to look into how, if at all, the
behavior is perceived by the male partners of these
women.
"We don't know if men are picking up on this
behavior, but if they are, it must be confusing for
them," Larson said.
The findings are scheduled to appear in the November
issue of the peer-reviewed journal Hormones and
Behavior.
For more information
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