Research Article Arbitrary Social Norms Influence Sex Differences in Romantic Selectivity

ABSTRACT—Men tend to be less selective than women when evaluating and pursuing potential romantic partners. The present experiment employed speed-dating procedures to test a novel explanation for this sex difference: The mere act of physically approaching a potential romantic part-ner (vs. being approached), a behavior that is more characteristic of men than of women, increases one’s at-traction to that partner. This hypothesis was supported in a sample of speed daters (N 5 350) who attended a het-erosexual event where either men (eight events) or women (seven events) rotated from one partner to the next while members of the other sex remained seated. Rotators were significantly less selective than were sitters, which meant that the tendency for men to be less selective than women at events where men rotated disappeared at events wher