Mate Copying

Today, we learned all about dating in networks. There are many different ways to study dating. One can ask people how they think they would behave, one can try and observe people at bars, trick people into thinking they aren’t dating, create fake couples and see what people think, or study real dates. In the study of dating, one phenomenon that comes up is mate choice copying. Mate choice copying is when perceiving interest from same-sex peers increases observer’s own interest in the target increases.

The results of an experiment that studies this through speed dating is fairly perplexing. When the speed couples interest in each other was stronger, the observer’s interest increased. When the observer was confident in their attractive, mate choice copying increased. When an observer believed himself or herself to be less attractive than the model, there was a increase in mate choice copying. However, where the results become unexpected is with age. The age of the observer had no effect on their level of mate choice copying.

This was not what I would have predicted. As one gets older, and has more dating experience, or perhaps even is married, one would believe that their methodology or what they are looking for in a mate would change from that of college singles. However, marriage or not the results were fairly standard across the board. I also found it interesting that the observers in the study gave the same results of mate choice copying when looking for both long term and short-term relationships. I would expect a lower rate of mate choice copying when looking for a short-term relationship than a long-term one because chances are the interest lies more in looks than compatibility or personality. I would expect the long-term relationship results to be greater because you are looking for a lasting bond and therefore might be wearier in your decision of the person and therefore more likely to be influenced.