60秒科学:Speed-Dating Roles Influence Attraction Perception

For folks who’ve engaged in the strange ritual of “speed dating,” finding that special someone is like winning a romantic game of musical chairs. Now scientists from Northwestern University say that the results depend on who’s doing the circling and who gets to sit.

If you’re not familiar with the process, in a typical bout¹ of speed dating women are seated at a table and men come up to join them. The couples chat for a few minutes, and when the timer goes off the men stand up and move to the next table. At the end of the evening, participants fill out a score card indicating which partners they might like to see again. In this situation, it seems that the guys are usually less selective than the gals². They express interest in following up with more of their dates.

But when psychologists turned the tables and asked the boys to remain seated while the girls did the rotating, the results also did a 180—and the ladies became less picky, findings published in the journal Psychological Science. So the mere³ act of moving toward a potential mate seems to make that person more attractive. Which means that beauty may well be in the eye of the approacher.

—Karen Hopkin

 

1 bout   

n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛

参考例句：

• I was suffering with a bout of nerves.我感到一阵紧张。
• That bout of pneumonia enfeebled her.那次肺炎的发作使她虚弱了。

2 gals   

abbr.gallons （复数）加仑（液量单位）n.女孩，少女( gal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Jim came skipping out at the gate with a tin pail, and singing Buffalo Gals. 这时，吉姆手里提着一个锡皮桶，嘴中唱着“布法罗的女娃们”蹦蹦跳跳地从大门口跑出来。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• An' dey thinks dey wants mousy lil gals wid bird's tastes an' no sense at all. 他们想要的是耗子般的小姑娘，胃口小得像雀子，一点儿见识也没有。 来自飘（部分）

3 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。