Mr Average

Following on from my earlier post on the subject of attractiveness, I saw today that university researchers have published an article which suggests that women will choose Mr Average rather than a high-flyer. The article itself is subscription only but the BBC has written it up.

The subject, 186 female students, were shown photographs of 60 young men which they were asked to rank in order of attractiveness. Those they thought would make the best partners were the ones they had assessed as most attractive.

The photographs were divided into three ranges of attractiveness: very good looking, average, and unattractive and six were chosen from each range. The women were shown these photographs again but this time they were given details about the man’s age, job, and what he would like in a partner. After the second ranking was done, the men chosen as potentially the best partners were the ones with middle-ranking jobs. There was however still a preference for the best looking ones.