Psychology Human Relationships ERQ

AMRC

Aim, Method, Results, Conclusion

AIM Wedekind

Wedekind (1995) performed an experiment with the aim of testing if women would prefer the body odors of men whose MHC genes were the least similar to their own.

METHOD Wedekind

____ recruited a group of 49 women and 44 men, with a wide range of MHC genes. Wedekind gave each man a clean T-shirt and asked him to wear it for two nights. To ensure a strong body odor, he gave the men supplies of odor-free soap and aftershave and asked them to remain as “odor neutral” as possible.

RESULTS Wedekind

Women were more attracted to the odors of men with dissimilar MHC genes, suggesting a preference for genetic diversity in potential mates.

CONCLUSION Wedekind

Overall, says Wedekind, the women he tested were more likely to prefer the scent of men with dissimilar MHC. Although we might argue that this is strong evidence that MHC determines whom we find to be attractive, that would be a reductionist approach to relationships. As you will see in the next two sections, cognitive and sociocultural factors also appear to play an important role in human attraction.

AIM Markey and Markey

To investigate the extent to which similarity influences partner choice.

METHOD Markey and Markey

• Method (Study 1): 169 single university students described their ideal partner's traits, then described themselves.

• Method (Study 2): 106 couples (together 1 year) filled out questionnaires about their own and their partner's personalities.

RESULTS Markey and Markey

(Study 1): High correlation between self-description and ideal partner description; "warm" people wanted warm partners

(Study 2): Couples with high love/harmony sometimes had complementary traits (e.g., one dominant, one submissive).

CONCLUSION Markey and Markey

People are attracted to those similar to themselves, supporting the similarity-attraction hypothesis (cognitive factor).