The Science Of Commitment, Part II

Last time, we talked about research conducted at Florida State University that studied the difference between how partnered men reacted to an attractive woman and how single men reacted to the same woman. The researchers found that the single men, as expected, found her most attractive during the most fertile stage of her menstrual cycle, while the men who were already in relationships found her least attractive during the same period of time. Their findings indicate that the brains of partnered men subconsciously override their natural impulses to be interested in attractive women in order to protect the relationships they are already in.

But what about the women? Do they show signs of the same subconscious brain function?

Heather Rupp, a neuroscientist at Indiana University, ran a similar study, to determine if sexual partner status affects a woman's interest in other men. 59 men and 56 women were asked to rate 510 photographs of opposite-sex faces. The participants ranged in age from 17 to 26, were heterosexual, and were asked to rate the pictures as quickly as possible, relying only on their "gut" reactions to each image. 21 women and 25 of the men reported having current sexual partners.

Rupp and her team found that both women with sexual partners and women without sexual partners showed little difference in their subjective ratings of the pictures when asked to consider factors like "masculinity" and "attractiveness." However, the women who did not have partners spent a larger amount of time evaluating the images, an indication that they had a greater interest in the subjects featured in them. The researchers believe that these results could indicate that women, in general, are relatively committed to their romantic relationships, and that this factor might influence women in a way that, like the men in the study at Florida State University, suppresses their interest in other potential partners.

Another study, led by John Lydon at McGill University in Montreal, confirmed these findings further. A group of men and women who were highly committed to their partners were asked to rate the attractiveness of people of the opposite sex in a series of pictures. The highest ratings, unsurprisingly, were given to the photographs of the people who would typically be considered attractive. But later, when the participants were shown similar pictures and told that the person featured in the image was interested in meeting them, the results changed. The participants consistently gave those pictures a lower rating than they had in the first portion of the study. "The more committed you are," Dr. Lydon explained to The New York Times, "the less attractive you find other people who threaten your relationship."

So what does that mean for monogamy? Is it actually a lot more realistic than many scientists seem to think? Be on the look out for "The Science of Monogamy," when we'll take a look at those exact questions...

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