A New University Of Missouri Study Suggests That Dating In Your League Leads To The Most Successful Relationships
Remember the popular 2010 film “She’s Out Of My League” starring Jay Baruchel and Alice Eve?
If the title is not telling enough, Baruchel played the role of an “average guy stuck in a dead-end job” who was stunned when a beautiful, successful career woman fell in love with him.
The idea of starkly different characters falling in love has been a long-used trope in Hollywood–giving hope to many viewers of the rom-com films for decades.
But, how truly realistic are these pairings? And, are they bound to last?
A new study conducted by University of Missouri Assistant Professor Sean Prall says no.
Prall recently traveled to northwest Namibia, located in southern Africa, and studied the behavior of Himba– a “group of semi-nomadic agropastoralists.”
He first interviewed community members about the “desirability” of others in the group. Using this information, Prall was able to assign a “mate value” to each person– “a metric describing how likely people are to want to be in a relationship with someone.”
Afterward, he analyzed the relationship statuses of people relative to their mate value.
Surprisingly, Prall found that people who are “similarly desirable” are more likely to enter a relationship with each other. Moreover, these relationships are much more likely to be successful.
pikselstock – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purpose only, not the actual person
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
And unlike preferences, which can be largely influenced by things such as Hollywood movies, Prall believes his research is different because the study relied on people’s actions.
“This research focuses on people’s actions. Sure, you might say you’d prefer someone that’s deemed really desirable, but that’s heavily impacted by societal norms,” Prall began.
“What do you do in that relationship? How does it actually go? That was what we were looking at,” Prall continued.
This difference in approach to understanding mating is groundbreaking since much anthropological research on human mating patterns relies on preference over action.
And Prall believes that Himba was an optimal group to study.
“This was a great population to look at these questions because everyone knows each other, and most date and marry within the population,” he said.
“You can ask them how much they’d like to be in a relationship with a specific person because they actually know that person. That is how people have partnered up for thousands and thousands of years. Not online– but with people in your community,” Prall finished.
Do you believe that you have or are dating someone “out of your league?” Does Prall’s theory hold up?
To read the complete study published in Science Advances, visit the link here.
If true crime defines your free time, this is for you: join Chip Chick’s True Crime Tribe.
More About:Human Interest
