Ovulation leads women to perceive sexy cads as good dads.

Abstract

Why do some women pursue relationships with men who are attractive, dominant, and charming but who do not want to be in relationships-the prototypical sexy cad? Previous research shows that women have an increased desire for such men when they are ovulating, but it is unclear why ovulating women would think it is wise to pursue men who may be unfaithful and could desert them. Using both college-age and community-based samples, in 3 studies we show that ovulating women perceive charismatic and physically attractive men, but not reliable and nice men, as more committed partners and more devoted future fathers. Ovulating women perceive that sexy cads would be good fathers to their own children but not to the children of other women. This ovulatory-induced perceptual shift is driven by women who experienced early onset of puberty. Taken together, the current research identifies a novel proximate reason why ovulating women pursue relationships with sexy cads, complementing existing research that identifies the ultimate, evolutionary reasons for this behavior.Keywords: evolutionary psychology, ovulation, mating, mate selection, fertilityIn 1939, when asked to comment on the prospects of his opponent the New York Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher responded with "nice guys finish last" (Durocher & Linn, 1975). This aphorism is often used to describe young men's success at dating, with many women saying they want a nice guy but nevertheless dating men who are not-so-nice (McDaniel, 2005). Across cultures, many women believe that a good romantic partner is someone who is reliable, is dependable, and will make a good father (Buss, 1991;Buss et al., 1990). Yet, many women pursue and are heartbroken by men who are charismatic, adventurous, physically attractive, and hopelessly unreliable (Buss, 2003;Kruger, Fisher, & Jobling, 2003;Rhodes, Simmons, & Peters, 2005). Indeed, whereas popular dating guides for men teach bachelors how to be the "bad boy" women cannot resist (Louis & Copeland, 2007), dating guides for women implore them to steer clear of commitment-phobic men and instead choose the reliable "Mr. Good Enough" (Gottlieb, 2010). Why is it that, despite continuous warnings and recurring heartbreak, many women keep pursuing the wrong guy?In this article, we build on past research showing that women's desire for sexy, dominant, and charismatic men is related to their monthly ovulatory cycle (Gangestad, Simpson, Cousins, GarverApgar, & Christensen, 2004;. Although previous work has shown that women experience an increased attraction to such men when they are ovulating, it is unclear why ovulating women would think it is wise to pursue relationships with men who may be unfaithful and might desert them. In the current research, we examine a potential proximate psychological mechanism that may motivate women to believe it is a good idea to pursue men who are sexy, dominant, and charismatic, but who are also likely to be unreliable partners-the prototypical "sexy cad." We propose that ovulation might lead women to...

Birds of a “bad” feather flock together: The Dark Triad and mate choice

“…It is possible that women who are high in these traits mistake ''sexy cads'' for ''good dads''. Such cognitive distortions have been previously found, during ovulation, when women have increased sex-drive and a desire for masculinized partners (Durante, Griskevicius, Simpson, Cantú, & Li, 2012). Similarly, men high in psychopathy also rated high psychopathy advertisements as desirable mothers.…”

An effective way to deal with predators is to taste terrible: Primary and secondary psychopathy and mate preference

“…However, the average age of our female participants was significantly higher than those in a previous study that found preference for psychopathic men in short-term relationships (Jonason et al, 2015). Indeed, during ovulation young women can erroneously judge "cads" for "good dads" (Durante et al, 2012). Nevertheless, this does not explain the pattern of mate choice in men, who are not subject to fertility time constraints (Easton, Confer, Goetz, & Buss, 2010).…”

“…We did not control for ovulation, which can distort women's evaluations of potential mates (Durante et al, 2012). A future study could explore if psychopathy variant interacts with ovulation in influencing mate preference.…”

“…In the context of mating psychology, "good genes" is perhaps the answer. Women perceive socially dominant behaviour (Kruger, Fisher, & Jobling, 2003), conspicuous consumption (Griskevicius et al, 2007), sexual attractiveness, and charisma (Durante, Griskevicius, Simpson, Cantú, & Li, 2012) as indicators of genetic quality, which are all associated with psychopathy (Babiak, Neumann, & Hare, 2010;Lee et al, 2013;Verona, Patrick, & Joiner, 2001). Men's preference for psychopathic traits in women is less well understood, perhaps because psychopathy is hypothesised to have provided fitness only to males and not to females (Jonason, Li, Webster, & Schmitt, 2009).…”

Electrodermal Responses and Assessments of Jealousy During Preovulatory and Menstrual Phase of Cycle

“…Također su sklone za kratkoročnu vezu birati muževnijega i privlačnijega muškarca nego što je to njihov partner (Bellis i Baker, 1990), a preferencija potencijalnoga partnera s dominantnim crtama podudara se s poviše-nim razinama LH i folikulstimulirajućega hormona (Lukaszewski i Roney, 2009). U fazi visokog rizika od oplodnje žene su također manje sklone rabiti zaštitu pri spolnom odnosu (Bellis i Baker, 1990) te očekuju da će privlačniji i dominantni muškarci više ulagati u njihovo potomstvo (Durante, Griskevicius, Simpson, Cantú i Li, 2012).…”