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Speed dating in the lab. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.
In speed dating, single people get to meet and chat with up to 30 potential mates, each for a few minutes. In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers report on the use of speed dating. They found that men picked the most attractive women they thought they had a chance with, and wanted to see over half of them again for a second date. Women were more likely to select based on security and commitment, and wanted to see only a third of the men again.
In other research on attraction, heterosexual single people who were shown images of people on a computer screen had more difficulty looking away from attractive people of the opposite sex than from average looking people. But people in secure relationships were fixated on attractive people of hte same sex. The researchers suspect that people while single people are looking for potential mates, people in relationships were watching out for possible attractive rivals. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.