Women Give More Preference to Men In Luxury Cars

By Margarita Nahapetyan

Psychologists have now proved scientifically what for many years was just a belief for many men and advertises - the car one drives can really make its owner more attractive to a woman.

Researchers at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, said that the results of their findings show that women rate a man significantly higher if he is sitting behind the wheels of a flashy car, rather than in some old banger. As to men, for them it did not matter what was a woman's choice of the car, they reported that their opinion was formed purely on looks.

The experiment involved a total of 120 people, with the ages between 21 and 40. All the participants were asked to examine two photographs which showed the same model sitting in either the silver Bentley Continental, or in the battered red Ford Fiesta. As a result, the majority of women found the same man more attractive when he was sitting in the prestige Bentley. However, when men were tested in the same way, the scientists discovered that the car did not have any influence on their impression of a woman, as they judged her just by the face and figure, no matter which vehicle she was sitting in.

Dr. Michael Dunn of the University of Wales Institute, whose study appears in the latest issue of the British Journal of Psychology, said that he himself was very much interested in evolutionary psychology, along with the increasing number of women purchasing so-called "high end" motors. The scientist said that the results of his study confirmed exactly what he has been expecting - that women are more interested in a man's status and financial well-being, whereas for men it is much more important the way a woman looks.

"The evidence is not just anecdotal," explained the psychologist, and added that there is a lot of evidence from many different sources according to which female have always been more influenced by wealth and status. "It is not a recent phenomenon. It is very ingrained," ha said. Women concentrate more on factors such as wealth and status because, in their opinion, if the man is very well-to-do, he consequently would be in a better condition to rear a healthy and viable offspring.

Another possible explanation of the phenomenon is that in the past, the majority of women were very restricted economically and had been tied to men for financial security, but nowadays, with the increase of female emancipation, the women are becoming independently rich themselves with access to their own financial security. However, Dr. Dunn believes, that despite of all this, the preference for wealthy guys is not going to change in the future, which is more like evolutionary preference, rather than a social factor.

Meanwhile, university psychologists plan to continue the research on this matter and examine in the further studies, whether possessing high-status items such as luxury and expensive cars, for example, can help make up for lack of attractiveness that happens with aging. This, in turn, could provide further good news for male individuals who consider themselves as victims of a mid-life crisis. Also, in the other study, the researchers plan to examine whether men's perception of a woman's attractiveness is effected by specific clothing that are designed to enhance a woman's waist-to-hip ratio.

But for now, referring to the results of the present study, Dr. Dunn has to admit that it could be interpreted as evidence that women are more materialistic and mercantile, compared to men.