Did you know that the politics and the economy can influence who you are attracted to? Grace Lau and colleagues at the University of Waterloo conducted an experiment showing just that. In their study, 36 single male Canadian students read an excerpt either describing a poor or positive view of the social, economic, and political climate in Canada.

After this, participants looked at several women’s online dating profiles and then rated their interest in getting to know these women romantically. As part of the experiment, women in the profiles were described in stereotypically feminine ways (i.e., “vulnerable, pure, and ideal for making men feel complete”) or more non-stereotypical ways (i.e., “career oriented, party seeking, active in social causes or athletic”).

Results revealed that men who read the “poor” description of the sociopolitical climate were more interested in meeting the stereotypical rather than the non-stereotypical women. Interestingly, however, overall interest for non-stereotypic women remained the same across conditions. In other words, reading an unsettling review of the current sociopolitical climate enhanced men’s preference for stereotypically feminine women, but it did not enhance nor diminish their interest in non-stereotypic women.

Researchers suggested that these changes occurred when beliefs about just sociopolitical systems were in jeopardy. They proposed that when feeling unstable, people are drawn to enhance stereotypical gender roles to justify the legitimacy of the current social system. Although untested in the current study, an alternative explanation may be that some people, such as anxious individuals, are more inclined than others to seek caring, nurturing partners during times of threat.

These results are interesting given the current economic and political conditions, especially in the United States. It would be interesting to understand whether results apply to women as well…do threatening political climates enhance women’s preferences of stereotypically masculine men? Future research should be conducted to understand more about these effects; but as the results suggest, the current sociopolitical environment may not only be affecting your pocketbook and social outlook but perhaps your love life as well.

Further Reading:

Lau, G.P., Kay, A.C., Spencer, S.J. (2008). Loving Those Who Justify Inequality: The Effects of System Threat on Attraction to Women Who Embody Benevolent Sexist Ideals. Psychological Science, 19(1), 20-21. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02040.x