Love Survey

Here's an interesting study that contradicts what we normally assume to be true about love. In most cases men and women go beyond immediate physical attraction when searching for a mate. But a study of participants of a "speed dating" service found that most men and women made their dating decisions based primarily on visible physical attributes, like height, weight, and attractiveness and placed relatively little importance on other factors.
In the study, researchers analyzed surveys from 10,526 anonymous participants of HurryDate, a company that organizes "speed dating" sessions in which a group of about 25 men and 25 women has 25 minutes to interact with each other on a one-to-one basis and decide whether they'd be interested in contacting each other in the future by indicating a "yes" on their scorecard.
The study showed that women were more selective than men. They only picked 34% of the men, while men selected 49% of the women. But also that physically observable traits were the biggest predictors of how often a person was selected as a desirable mate by both men and women. Men who were more attractive, taller and younger were chosen more frequently. A woman's desirability was also related to her physical attributes, with slim women being chosen far more often. Somewhat surprisingly, factors that we often think more important to people- religion, education and income, played little role in the selections.
Also, the researchers said that both the men and women are aware that they are in a market and know how to respond to market forces. For example, men and women who rated themselves low on desirability said "yes" to a higher proportion of potential dates.
The results apply only to assessments men and women make quickly in which they meet the opposite sex for the first time (Hmmmmmm No wonder I immediately liked J Lo's butt) and may not apply to repeated meetings of a man and woman.