We’re big fans of John Tierney at the New York Times, and in a recent post he discusses new research by Saul Miller and Jon Maner at Florida State University.1 Their work indicates that single men are more attracted to women who are ovulating, but that men in committed relationships are actually less attracted to those same ovulating women. In short, it’s adaptive for males to want to mate with fertile females, but the motivation to protect one’s current long-term relationship can counteract this effect as committed men downplay the attractiveness of others as a means of protecting their current relationship.2
1Miller, S. L., & Maner, J. K. (2010). Evolution and relationship maintenance: Fertility cues lead committed men to devalue relationship alternatives. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 1081-1084.
2Johnson, D. J., & Rusbult, C. E. (1989). Resisting temptation: Devaluation of alternative partners as a means of maintaining commitment in close relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 967-980.
bluebunny says
Saying that men in committed relationships 'downplay' the attractiveness of ovulating women makes it sound psychological and imposed, like they are struggling against their nature, but didn't we just discover it is adaptive, and so part of their nature, not to find ovulating women as attractive as their single counterparts?
We have such a strong idea that men want sex with as many partners as possible, whenever, that even when we discover this might not always accurately reflect how things work, we still wind up talking that way.