The Matching Hypothesis and Infidelity

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the result of research which placed 200 male undergraduate participants in a 4x3 mixed factorial design to determine if the physical attractiveness stereotype applied to adultery. Participants were assigned to 4 conditions. Each group was presented with a scenario depicting the character "John" committing adultery with one of 3 women. The first independent variable was the manipulation of the attractiveness level of "John". "John" was presented as either an unattractive, average, or attractive man. A "no picture" group was created to measure the participant's base line response. The participants were then asked to indicate which woman (unattractive, average, or attractive) "John" was having an affair with. The paper shows that results indicated that the matching hypothesis does occur in situations of infidelity. Evolutionary implications and reasoning are also discussed.

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From the Paper:

"Women look for a man whose appearance indicates a means to acquire resources and the ability to protect/care for any potential offspring (Townsend, 1990). These cues, coming from an evolutionary standpoint, are also very logical. Women have much more at stake than men do when it comes to child bearing. Females seek a mate that exhibits traits that imply that he will be able to provide for her during her pregnancy, since during those 9 months she will be unable to provide for her self (in an ancestral hunter-gatherer society). If the women in question does not embody the traits men find desirable, she will have to look for a man that is lower on the attractiveness ladder."

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