By denise ngo — Written on Apr 12, 2015
Ladies, if you recently went through a breakup, congratulations! You just got more attractive. New findings published by the University of Michigan say that men find women who got dumped by their last boyfriends super sexy.
The study examined how past relationships affect your love life in the future. Researchers showed 198 participants fake online dating ads and gauged their responses. Participants rated the ads based on shallow information and on how that person's last relationship ended. They were also asked whether they wanted a long-term relationship with the person, or whether they just wanted sex.
Here's where things got really interesting.
For men, the woman's relationship history mattered only when he wanted a serious relationship with her. But if he was only interested in hooking up, he didn't care who did the dumping. Ironically, women prefered men who initiated their last breakup.
Although the eloquently-titled study "Rejection Hurts: The Effects of Being Dumped on Subsequent Mating Efforts" didn't explore why men found scorned women more attractive, lead researcher Christine Stanik (from the Department of Psychology) offered her own theories.
Like many people who rely heavily conventional dating wisdom, Stanik didn't anticipate the study's results.
She said that "Initially, I was expecting that everyone would like the person who rejected their last partner more because it's an indication perhaps that the person is of high status (or) [risks] breaking up with someone [for the sake of finding] a relationship that is more suitable for them."
It's crazy that whether or not you did the dumping determines how attractive you are.
Stanik speculates that when a man initiates a breakup, his actions reinforce the male dominance that is synonymous with conventional gender roles. Therefore, knowing his prospective girlfriend got canned reassures him that he'll be the one in control.
Um, I don't know about you but this sounds a little bit like a red flag.
On the other hand, when women leave their boyfriends, guys man consider them high-maintenance and picky. This also makes them worry that she will eventually reject him as well. Talk about insecure! Meanwhile, women may prefer guys who initiated their last breakup because it suggests that he isn't hung up on his ex.
Go figure.
Do you agree with the results of this study? How have your past relationships affected your current one (or lack thereof)?