The mismatch in looks is actually a perfect match
Bad news for smarties. You might get rejected by hotties! Women seeking a lifelong mate might do well to choose the guy a notch below them in the looks category. New MIT research reveals couples in which the wife is better looking than her husband are more positive and supportive than other match-ups.
Women seeking a lifelong mate might do well to choose the guy a notch below them in the looks category. New research reveals couples in which the wife is better looking than her husband are more positive and supportive than other match-ups.
The reason behind
The reason, researchers suspect, is that men place great value on beauty, whereas women are more interested in having a supportive husband.
Researchers admit that looks are subjective, but studies show there are some universal standards, including large eyes, “baby face” features, symmetric faces, so-called average faces, and specific waist-hip ratios in men versus women.
Past research has revealed that individuals with comparable stunning looks are attracted to each other and once they hook up they report greater relationship satisfaction. These studies, however, are mainly based on new couples, showing that absolute beauty is important in the earliest stages of couplehood, said lead researcher, University of Tennessee, James McNulty. But the role of physical attractiveness in well-established partnerships, such as marriage, is somewhat of a mystery.
The new study, published in the Journal of Family Psychology, reveals looks continue to matter beyond that initial attraction, though in a different way altogether.
Supportive spouses
McNulty and his team assessed as many as 82 couples who had married within the previous six months and had been together for nearly three years prior to tying the knot. Participants were, on average, in their early to mid-20s.
Researchers videotaped as each spouse discussed with their partner a personal problem for 10 minutes. The tapes were then analyzed for whether partners were supportive of spouses’ issues, which included goals to eat healthier, to land a new job and to exercise more often.
Responses
“A negative husband would’ve said, ‘That’s your problem, you deal with it,'” McNulty said, “versus ‘; what do you want me to do? Hey, I’m there for you; How may I help you?'”
A group of trained “coders” rated the facial attractiveness of each spouse on a scale from 1 to 10, with the perfect 10 representing the ultimate babe. About a third of the couples had a more attractive wife, a third a more attractive husband and the remaining partners showed matching looks.
Trophy wives
Overall, husbands and wives behaved more positively when the woman was better looking.
The finding “seems very reasonable,” professor of behavioral economics, Program in Media Arts and Sciences and Sloan School of Management, MIT, Dan Ariely. “Men are very sensitive to women’s attractiveness. Women seem to be sensitive to men’s height and salary,” said Ariely, who was not involved in the recent study.
In couples with more attractive husbands, both partners were less supportive of one another. McNulty submits wives mirror, in some ways, the level of support they get from husbands.
“The husband who’s less physically attractive than his wife is getting something more than maybe he can expect to get,” McNulty. “He’s getting something better than he’s providing at that level. So he’s going to work hard to maintain that relationship.”
Men who are more attractive than their partners would theoretically have access to partners who are more attractive than their current spouses, he said. The “grass could be greener” mentality could make these men less satisfied and less committed to maintaining the marriage.
Physical attractiveness of husbands is not as important to women, the researchers suggest. Rather, wives are looking for supportive husbands, they say.
So, the mismatch in looks is actually a perfect match. “Equitable is unlikely to mean the same on every dimension,” said Ariely. “It just means that overall two people make sense together.”
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