Stress influences the choice of partner

A recent study on partner choice under the influence of stress produced interesting results:

Most people choose a partner who looks relatively similar to themselves. Stress seems to reverse this pattern: stressed men prefer partners who look nothing like them.

This is what researchers report in the “Proceedings B” of the British Royal Society. Scientists see the reasons for this in primordial processes. Stress hormones cause the higher cognitive abilities to shut down, so that people judge more instinctively. “Under the influence of stress, there is greater pressure to produce genetically well-equipped offspring,” one of the researchers suspects.

This works better with a partner who comes from a different gene pool. Similar partners, however, have a different advantage from an evolutionary perspective: “They are perceived as more loyal and trustworthy,” explains the researcher. People choose them under relaxed conditions.

For the study, 50 heterosexual men judged photos of naked women who either looked like themselves or another test subject. Using a graphics program, the researchers had previously crossed photos of their faces with those of a woman.

Half of the men were put under stress by having to place a hand in ice-cold water for three minutes before the examination. This has been proven to increase heart rate, blood pressure and levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

These men rated women who bore no resemblance to them as significantly more attractive. Men who were not previously stressed found photos of women with similar facial features more attractive. A researcher said that only men were tested in the study, but it can be assumed that women react in the same way.

The researchers' results correspond to those of other studies: In animals, stress reduces the preference for partners who are highly valued under normal circumstances.