Who’s chasing whom? The impact of gender and relationship status on mate poaching

[Hojo]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022103109001048

"Who’s chasing whom? The impact of gender and relationship status on mate poaching," published in 2009 in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

The authors, Jessica Parker and Melissa Burkley from Oklahoma State University, conducted a controlled experiment to see how "relationship status" affects a person's attractiveness to the opposite sex.

Study Methodology

The researchers used 184 undergraduate students (97 women and 87 men) and followed this specific process:

The Profile: Participants were shown a photo and a brief profile of an attractive person of the opposite sex.

The Variation: The researchers "rigged" the computer program so that for half of the participants, the person in the photo was labeled as "Single," and for the other half, the person was labeled as "In a Relationship."

The Question: Participants were asked to rate their interest in pursuing the person (e.g., "How interested would you be in pursuing this person?").

Detailed Findings (The 59% vs. 90% Stats)

The most famous result from the study focused on single women evaluating a man:

When the man was "Single": Only 59% of single women expressed interest in pursuing him.

When the man was "Taken": The number jumped to 90% of single women expressing interest.

Other Interesting Results:

Men’s Reaction: Men in the study did not show this bias. They were equally interested in the woman whether she was single or taken.

Coupled Women: Women who were already in a relationship did not show the same jump in interest toward "taken" men. The effect was specific to single women looking for a partner.

Mate-Choice Copying: The researchers concluded that this is a form of "mate-choice copying." For women, seeing that a man is already in a relationship acts as a "seal of approval." It signals that he has already been vetted by another woman and likely possesses qualities like reliability, social skills, or resources.