So a fascinating study recently asked men and women to evaluate a photograph of a person. They were asked if they were interested in pursuing the person in the photograph. The catch is half of the men and half of the women were told the person in the photograph was already romantically involved with someone else.

With the men, it made not difference – they were equally interested in pursuing the woman who was romantically involved, compared to the women who was not romantically involved.

With the women, it made a huge difference. Only 59% of the women were interested in the guy who was single, but 90% of the women were interested in the man who was already involved!

You can read the article here:

http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/200 ... #more-5133

So my question is why are women more attracted to the man who is taken?

Do women want a man who is 'prescreened' by another woman?

Do women enjoy poaching other womens' men?

Or do women put more value on a man that is taken because the taken man is a scarce commodity that is harder to obtain?

It seems to me that by applying game theory here women are more attracted to the taken man because it is more of a challenge obtaining the taken man, who is seen as more of a scarce commodity, compared to the single guy who is out looking for a women.

Just asked my room mate, here's her reply:
"If he's in dating someone then he can't be too much of a tool. As the saying goes, all the good ones are taken... Plus, girls are bitchy. We want what we can't have"

So maybe its purely preselection and scarcity?

this. plus maybe social proof, but that can kind of be bundled in with preselection

Well 1st of all yeah wumen whant what they can't have. And 2nd if the men is taken that means he's already preselected by other wumen. And wumen whant to know hus this guy, hu is this intrested guy, that is this being preselected by wumen. And so on it becomes a chalang 4 some girls

Not only taken men. If there are women around you and laugh and have a good time the results will be almost the same. And yes - it is a challenge and women love it

Women want what they can't have, they like a challenge. It shows preselection and that you are a sexual being all in all there are lots of reasons all are good. Taken men also have a lot less desperation and women can get a casual sex type dealio and avoid all the crap of a relationship.

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Its well know women always want something they cant have!

When i had a g/f the amout of female attention a recieved was unreal

Yes sad but true - they do want something they can't have! but just got to truly accept it and get on with things!

the statement 'women want what they cant have' has been said plenty of times in this post, however no-one has really delved into why. Males also want what they cant have...and not only in the dating world as we know.

I believe its not just that women want a guy PURELY because she cant have him...that alone does not make any sense. There is a reason.

Normally if one cannot have something in life, it means they are not yet worthy of it, they do not yet have the self-worth to acquire that object. We as humans are naturally wanting to acquire items of higher value for survival purposes (eg. money). Or in a women's case in the dating world, a valuable mate. ie. leader,provider,protector and all that jazz.

Now if you have a look at a 'taken' man...this means only ONE girl (his wife/g.friend) is the only individual on earth worthy of having this guy. If only one person on this earth is worthy of having him, this automatically gives him extremely high value. And as we know women are naturally attracted to a mate of high value as it represents all the goods they need for survival/reproduction as mentioned above.

Now switch it around....take a girl that sleeps with everyone she comes into contact with...now would a guy see her as an item of high value? NO. Because PLENTY of guys are worthy of her, not just one. The more guys that are worthy of her, the lower her value. In the same way, items of low value (bread and water) are affordable by alot of people, whereas Ferrari's are not.

Also, another angle is that because a girl cannot have a particular 'taken' man, it is a challenge (as mentioned in previous posts). However the fact that it is a challenge alone does not justify why it makes him more desirable. Its the perception that a challenge normally results in something of value being received. The more value something has, the harder you need to work for it. If a girl needs to work her butt off for a guy....then he MUST be of high value (in her eyes). Hence why push/pull techniques create attraction like theres no tomorrow. It makes her work hard, and ofcourse guess/wonder.

Wouldn't this be obvious by looking around you and seeing how girls react to a guy with his girlfriend?

It is obvious indeed.

Another thing that adds to the effect is that a taken guy is alot more care-free and confident when speaking to women. He knows he is taken and has nothing to lose so is automatically out of 'approval seeking' mode. He has options. I know that when I have a g.friend Im at my best! (unfortunately). I now try to imagine that I have a g.friend when I go out in order to get myself into that care-free state. As with most things in life its 100% psychological.

In other news, water is wet

beat me to it. i was gonna say the earth is round

lern2spell or GTFO

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They're probably attracted to a guy who's taken because they want what they can't have.