Both male and female volunteers rated people in the pictures as more desirable when they were paired next to attractive companions, the scientists found. By using cameras to track eye movements during the experiments, the researchers also saw that when volunteers spent more time looking at a potential mate’s unattractive partner, they were less interested in that mate.
“Even though people were only asked to evaluate the potential mate in each photograph, they all spent a significant amount of time looking at the mate’s partner,” said researcher Jessica Yorzinski, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Davis. “Women spent more time looking at the partners that they found attractive, while men shifted their gaze back and forth more.”
In addition, while male volunteers were interested in attractive women regardless of their partners, female volunteers were more skeptical of attractive men if they were paired with unappealing companions. This difference might perhaps be rooted in how women are often choosier about mates then men.
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