How Mr Average doesn't stand a chance

In the 2004 film Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, a small-town girl wins a date with a male celebrity through a contest. When the date goes better than expected, a love triangle forms between the girl, the male celebrity, and the girl's male best friend.

In the 2004 film Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, a small-town girl wins a date with a male celebrity through a contest. When the date goes better than expected, a love triangle forms between the girl, the male celebrity, and the girl's male best friend.

Published May 22, 2015

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London - It's the plotline of many a cheesy rom-com: woman turned down by a handsome lothario is scooped up by the Average Joe who’s been waiting in the wings all along.

But in real life it may be a very different story, a study found.

Canadian researchers found that, rather than being grateful for the fall-back option, rejection by an attractive man actually makes a woman more likely to turn down an unattractive one, and to describe him harshly.

It is as if distancing herself from the unattractive man helps her retain the idea that she is high status, cushioning the blow of the rejection, they said.

Psychologists from the University of Toronto recruited 126 single women and created dating profiles for them. The women were told that these profiles would be evaluated by two men that they could potentially meet at the end of the experiment.

They then read the two men’s profiles, which had also been written by the researchers. One had a photo of an attractive man attached, while the other was paired with a photo of an unattractive man. Afterwards the women were told whether the men were interested in meeting them or had turned them down.

Writing in the Journal of Social Psychological and Personality Science, the researchers said: “Participants rejected by the attractive man were derogatory about the unattractive man even when the unattractive man offered acceptance.”

The psychologists then carried out a second, identical experiment with another 166 women and found the same thing. They said their findings went against the theory that “individuals seek connection following rejection”.

Daily Mail

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