A hamburger that’s 90 per cent fat-free sounds a lot better than one with 10 per cent fat. And even when the choices are the same, humans are hard-wired to prefer the more positive option.
This is because of what’s known as the “framing effect,” a principle that new research from Concordia has proved applies to mate selection, too.
The study — co-authored by Concordia marketing professor Gad Saad and Wilfrid Laurier University’s Tripat Gill, and published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior — shows that when we choose a partner, the framing effect is even stronger in women than it is for men.
“When it comes to mate selection, women are more attuned to negatively framed information due to an evolutionary phenomenon called ‘parental investment theory,’” says Saad, who has done extensive research on the evolutionary and biological roots of consumer behavior.
“Choosing someone who might be a poor provider or an unloving father would have serious consequences for a woman and for her offspring. So we hypothesized that women would naturally be more leery of negatively framed information when evaluating a prospective mate.”
To prove this, Saad and Gill called on hundreds of young men and women to take part in their study.
Participants were given positively and negatively framed descriptions of potential partners. For example:
“Seven out of 10 people who know this person think that this person is kind.”
[positive frame]
versus
“Three out of 10 people who know this person think that this person is not kind.”
[negative frame]
The researchers tested the framing effect using six key attributes, two of which are more important to men and women respectively, and two that are considered as necessities by both sexes:
- Attractive body (more important to men)
- Attractive face (more important to men)
- Earning potential (more important to women)
- Ambition (more important to women)
- Kindness (equally important to both)
- Intelligence (equally important to both)
Participants evaluated both high-quality (e.g. seven out of 10 people think this person is kind) and low-quality (e.g. three out of 10 people think this person is kind) prospective mates for these attributes, in the context of a short-term fling or a long-term relationship.
More often than not, women said they were far less likely to date the potential mates described in the negatively framed descriptions — even though in each instance, they were being presented with exactly the same information as in the positively framed descriptions.
Women also proved more susceptible to framing effects in attributes like ambition and earning potential, while men responded more strongly to framing when physical attractiveness was described.
This research highlights how an evolutionary lens could help explain the biologicial origins of seemingly “irrational” decision-making biases like the framing effect.
Although there is some truth to the selection process of both sexes in the article (the forming effect). I believe that it is not entirely true.
I believe that each individual’s preference is influenced by their lifestyle, financial status and surroundings. these are the defining factors in ones choice. I don’t agree that most women look for financial security and ambition.
As in most instances when a man or woman makes an acquaintance for the first time, one is not aware of the persons demeanour, personality or financial status. we base whether we like or dislike a person by their physical attributes on sight.
In this way men and women choose prospective partners in the same way, viz by attractive faces and bodies
Women are usually the planners. I think that is why they look rather at characteristics and what a man can offer her, now and later in life. I would like to think that I will marry someone who will be a solid provider on who I can count during any hardships in life. But then again some men have a longer list of requirements than the average women. I think it is more of a stereotype that men consider beauty more important than the rest of the qualities. Also the man is seen as the provider, therefore he is the one calling the shots, the one he decides to spent forever with isn’t responsible for much.
The framing effect makes sense and I think the more people know this, the more effectively it can be put to use. It can help people to choose their partners more wisely. It can also be applied to the business industry. The framing effect can result in better choices all around.
This article puts forward some very relevant points regarding the ways in which men and women choose their partners. It is inevitable that woman lean towards looking at men’s characteristics such as their earnings and ambitions because woman are more sensitive to the fact of always thinking into the future and upcoming events. This is due to the fact that woman will think about having children, investing in a house and have a stable way of living. This is not to say that woman are completely oblivious to the way in which her partner looks. I believe that a relationship wont last long if a woman to not physically attracted to her partner. Looks aren’t everything but do play a strong role in the way in which woman choose their partners
I agree and believe that men are more dependant on a woman’s body and looks because men are seemingly more risk taking, tend to live more in the moment and are hormone driven.
I strongly believe that more research needs to be done in order to make this article more powerful and prevent readers from disagreeing and/or disproving the facts put forward in this article. More aspects of choosing partners needs to be included to get the point which is being made more valuable.
This blog is very interesting. When you think about it, you see that this is true in some cases but not all. I believe that when it comes to mate selection, both males and females are equally attuned to negatively framed information. This is because people always do what they think is the best for themselves. For example, poor women will try by all means to lure a rich, ugly man than a poor, handsome man.
People, especially women, describe their ideal mate to be ambitious, attractive, kind and intelligent but in reality they settle down for less than what they imagined. Few people actually marry the type of person they’ve always dreamed about. That’s the joy of love. It works in mysterious ways.
This is interesting,but the question is does love really evolve around materials and looks,becouse those staff fade and they are unreliable,if the research is true then it simply means are getting in relationships under wrong reasons,which will end the relationship immediatley when they change
It would be interesting to see if this is hardwired neurological behaviour or if it is something imparted through culture. If we gain knowledge of this behaviour will it be possible to overcome it?
I agree with the article. Men tend to look for good looks and attractive body, and it is also a bonus if a woman is kind hearted. I don’t think men necessarily seek out financially stable women because it boosts their ego’s if they earn more than women whereas, women on the other hand prefer men who are financially stable and who are as ambitious as they are because it puts them on the same intellectual level without insecurities, of course they also look for good looks as a bonus and to produce good looking offsprings.
Men and women are different in many aspects in life. It is true that men and women use the framing effect differently for mate selection. Men are more concern with the presence whereas women are more concern with the future. This research gives results based on a general view,so I believe it omits some of the possibilities. Not all men or women are the same. Hence there may be variety within men or women. Men,just want to be pleased and that’s what matters most this is the reason why they focus more on physical appearance for mate selection. On the other hand women are very cautious,this is the reason why they tend to focus on what’s within the potential partner rather than just the physical appearance.
This article has made me realize that some of stereotypes involved with men and women are true. However some aspects to the results could have swayed the answers a tad bit.
“Birds of a feather flock together” is an old saying which is generally true among us humans as well. A person involved in this case study who comes from a wealthy family will want to marry a person who will keep them financially secure as they have been their whole lives. Some times family life gets sacrificed for money, but the partner is able to deal with this choice.
However a person who is not so well off has ranked loyalty, family time and respect rather than money.
Of course there must always be human values and monetary safety within each relationship, but each tax bracket would rank some of these values in a different order compared to each other.
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This is a very interesting article with a very interesting line of thought. It is obvious that men are not going to choose their mates the same way women do. Men have rejection to worry about therefore approach a woman they deem worthy of the effort invested to avoid the rejection. But often men will opt for the avenue that has a lower likelihood of rejection.
Beauty is obviously number one on a men’s list generally speaking although you have men that opt for character over beauty. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, so one has to account for the fact that different men will find different women attractive. I believe that the decision at the end of the day lies on the woman. Who firstly chooses based on the level of protection and security(both tangible and intangible) the man will provide and secondly physical appearance(preferences differ) because a woman will always have a friend with a better looking husband.
Overall I believe this article is incomplete as it does not account for all probabilities. Unles those are the intentions of the author.
I would be keen adding more information on the last sentence of the last paragraph of the article where the author states that the broad criteria of in which men and women use when choosing their partner. Recent research done in Princeton University suggests the general criteria has indeed increased. Modern women of today also proved more susceptible to framing effects in attributes of appearance not just men, also modern women are less susceptible to attributes of earning potential as there is an increase of women who can be benefactors in they’re family.
We all have heard the saying “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” haven’t we? Research like the above article just concurs with sayings like these that are found throughout history. People have always noticed that if you put someone in a positive light about a subject people are more attracted towards that person and exactly the opposite to a certain degree. Someone could have a relatively good “image” of you and one of your friends could mention only one situation or action you did which could be classified as “bad” and this person could either see over this mistake or change the entire “image” she/he had of you.
Saad and Gill illustrates this with more logical words and a more modern understanding. But you can’t say that you haven’t experienced the “framing effect” or haven’t actually used it before. There are numerous books that describe the “framing effect” with various names and uses.
Either it could help us with further studies or it could ultimately be more exploitable towards personal or professional gain. Thus the question of should it continue or rather stop cannot be thoroughly answered.
The article points out that male and female choose mates based on impulse (“ humans are hard wired”) rather than voluntary decision .The framing effect and choosing mates adds to the point that humans are more similar to animals/animal practices than they think, it’s really fascinating that humans choose mates on attributes that any animal in the wild also looks for in their mates because the attributes in man that woman look for is a provider and a man who is willing to be in charge(ambition) ,that’s characteristics that female animals look for ,this leads me to thinking that humans and animals are not so different in choosing a mate and this choose is involuntary rather than a conscious decision that we make.
I don’t totally with article because even though woman are more sensitive about what the future holds than men they still want a good looking man. Men do live for now and are happy with what they have now and women generally think about the future, they live today for tomorrow. This is the reason why woman are more sensitive in choosing who they want, they are really emotional but honestly woman do also care about his looks. Men might take it more into consideration than woman but woman also want a good looking man and honestly men do also love women who want them and don’t need them. Men also want woman who can look after themselves, infact if further research was conducted they would of realised that men actually want women with a lifestyle that complements theirs. This research was not conducted properly, its approach was not well planned as many aspects are not involved.
The article clearly supports the idea that men are more visual beings, whereas women are more emotional when it comes to selecting a suitor. An attractive woman is more likely to be considered an optional partner than a less attractive woman.
Positive framing for women is very complex. Studies shown that women consider men who is more likely to reach success, thus he would be able to provide for their children. This is basic instinct of survival. Women is also attracted to sex appeal, but not as intense as men.
A woman’s experience in the past can determine her personal positive framing effect. Her list of positive framing will be much longer than a man’s.
I have always thought that we as people choose partners according to their looks and personality. Reading this article I have seen that we all have a certain drive ( frame effect) that lets us to choose a certain partner. Obviously an independent woman who is not planning on having a family will not be seeking a high-income earning man compared to a woman who was taught to respect men as breadwinners. I think choosing partners stems from the kind of life you are leading. You will choose a partner that will go hand-in-hand with the type of life style you have.
This is very interesting. I totally agree with the article. We as humans tends to make decisions, not only choosing partners but everyday choices based on the “framing effect” without realizing. It is also true that both men and women choose their partners based on different characteristics.
Attractive body and face might be more important to men but i truly believe that its even more important to women also. You should hear women bragging about their lovers. Beauty is also a concern.
It is so funny how earning potential is more important to women while most men do not choose their partners based on financial reasons. Its a good thing that kindness and intelligence is more important to both sexes.
This article leave me with the question ‘ Does love exist at first sight?’, Because it is very clear that loves starts to grow after we are very sure that the person meet our preferred criteria.
This is very interesting. This made me realise that we often make decisions mased on certain criterias without realising. We as humans tend to make decisions
I agree with the article regarding the differences in which members of opposite genders tend to make their choices based on the framing effect.
The framing effect could potentially make a huge impact on the ways in which targeted-marketing is implemented.
However, this article appears to be rather one-sided in its approach to presenting the reader with analyzed information. The only discoveries pointed out by the research conducted are based on the choices made by women affected by this “framing effect”. Not a single point of information regards how men make their choices in pursuing life partners.
The article also makes the assumption that all persons of a specific gender search for members of the opposite gender in the pursuit of a potential life partner whereas we know this to be untrue.
The article does not point out any exceptions or irregularities that might have come up in the research nor does it suggest any theories to support them.
Notwithstanding these problems, I agree that this research should be studied further and broadened in order to fully draw from the benefits in the field of consumer sciences that could be gained.
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