Why do women prefer married men?

One study on "poaching" another person's partner was conducted by Melissa Berkley of the University of Oklahoma and her colleague Jessica Parker. "Single women really have a thing for attached men," Berkley said. For the study on sexual attraction, they questioned 184 heterosexual students at the University of Oklahoma and told the participants that a computer program would match them with an ideal partner.

Half of the participants in the study were single, and the other half were no longer single.

In each group, there were equal numbers of males and females. Unbeknownst to the participants, Berkeley and Parker had prepared a fictitious potential partner for each of them who had exactly the same interests and hobbies as they did. In the study, all female participants were shown the same photo of a "perfect partner," while male participants were shown a photo of a perfect partner. Half of the participants were told that their ideal partner was still single, while the other half were told that their ideal partner was already in a relationship.

"All participants were faced with the same situation, the only difference was that some people's ideal partner was no longer single and others were still single," Berkley said. The most surprising finding was the response of single women. When faced with single men, 59% of the participants said they were willing to pursue them. However, when faced with a taken man, the proportion of participants willing to pursue him is as high as 90%.

Men have always liked to pursue new partners

Whether the other person is single or not doesn't change their mind. Married women are the least interested in married men, but they like single men more than other women. Berkeley and Parker speculate that single women prefer to pursue attached men because they have been "pre-screened" by other women as desirable partners. In contrast, single men are in a state of agnosticism to a greater extent.

Berkeley said a similar phenomenon of "poaching" mates occurs in birds and fish. In previous studies, participants were only asked whether they found other potential partners highly attractive. To this end, Berkeley designed the study specifically to determine whether participants were more willing to pursue a committed partner.