ST. ANDREWS, Scotland, March 23 (UPI) -- How attractive a man or woman thinks he or she is affects who pays for dinner on a date, researchers in Scotland found.
Psychologist Michael Stirrat of the University of St. Andrews in Scotland says people that think they're more attractive are less likely to offer to pay -- especially if they are women.
"We predicted that attractive people would show less willingness to pay because people that are more attractive bring more to the table -- literally -- in the dating market," Stirrat said in a statement.
"Men overall reported a much greater willingness to pay for the meal than the women, consistent with social norms in dating. Women almost never indicated that they would pay."
Some 250 men and women -- about age 25 -- were shown pictures of hypothetical blind dates on a computer and then were asked how they would prefer the bill to be paid -- the man paid, the woman paid or the couple split the bill.
The study, published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, found the men were more willing to pay for more attractive dates, indicting men preferred to invest resources in more potentially fertile mates.
Women preferred more attractive dates to pay for them -- indicating a preference to receive resources and enter into a potential courtship exchange with more attractive mates and a preference to avoid entering a possible reciprocation relationship with less attractive potential mates, the study said.
