Why single women have a soft spot for attached men

Many women believe that "good men are trained by women", but the woman who trains the man is not herself, but has been trained by other women, and those men are "other people's husbands" or "other people's boyfriends." So one can't help but ask, why do single women have a special liking for men who are already in a relationship?

Experts say: "Single women really have a soft spot for attached men." In a study on "poaching" other people's partners, researchers asked 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, the researchers had prepared a fictitious candidate 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.

The experts said: "All participants faced the same situation, the only difference was that some people's ideal partner was no longer single, while others were still single." 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, and whether the other party is single or not will not change their minds. Married women are the least interested in married men, but they like single men more than other women. Presumably, single women prefer to pursue attached men because they have been "pre-screened" by other women as being desirable partners. In contrast, single men are in a state of agnosticism to a greater extent.

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