ATTACHED women beware 鈥� single women really have got their eye on your man.
and Jessica Parker of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater asked 184 students to participate in a study on sexual attraction in which they were told they would be matched with an ideal partner. Unknown to them there was just one 鈥渋deal man鈥� and one 鈥渋deal woman鈥� pictured 鈥� the only difference was that half the participants were told their ideal mate was single, and the other half that he or she was in a relationship.
Fifty-nine per cent of women offered a single man were interested in pursuing a relationship. When the man was attached, 90 per cent said they were up for the chase. Men were keener on pursuing new mates overall, but didn鈥檛 mind whether their target was unattached or not.
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Burkley and Parker speculate that single women may be more drawn to attached men because they鈥檝e been 鈥減re-screened鈥� by other women and found to be satisfactory as a mate. (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, ).