FoxNews: "Earth-Shattering Study: Men Like Good-Looking Women"

This was honestly the title of a post by FoxNews.com.

Negatives: First, scientifically, they only studied 26 men and 20 women. Statistically, not enough. Second, it was in only one country, Germany. Third, it was in the controlled setting of...speed dating. To say that over the course of "short meetings of three to seven minutes" you can draw significant conclusions on the mating rituals of humans is overstatement in the extreme.

Positives: Even though this study is scientifically questionable at best, the conclusions were interesting (if true). To quote the findings:

"Men's choices did not reflect their stated preferences, the researchers concluded. Instead, men appeared to base their decisions mostly on the women's physical attractiveness.

The men also appeared to be much less choosy. Men tended to select nearly every woman above a certain minimum attractiveness threshold..."

"The scientists said women were aware of the importance of their own attractiveness to men, and adjusted their expectations to select the more desirable guys.

'Women made offers to men who had overall qualities that were on a par with the women's self-rated attractiveness. They didn't greatly overshoot their attractiveness,' Todd said, 'because part of the goal for women is to choose men who would stay with them.'

But, he added, 'they didn't go lower. They knew what they could get and aimed for that level.'

So, it turns out, the women's attractiveness influenced the choices of both the men and the women."

I would argue that women's perception of their attractiveness probably influenced their decision. If a woman perceived herself as unattractive, she would seek someone who was needy/clingy/likely to stick by her. If she perceived herself as attractive, she would aim a little higher.

Again, an interesting thought, but not terribly good science.

Aloha.