"They relate this to the fact that making mistakes are much more costly for women than for men because of childbearing. So obviously if you make a mistake in dating the wrong man and having a relationship with the wrong man, you might have nine months carrying a child, then caring for a child. While for men, the costs are lower."

Other academic worksuggests that because men historically have not been so involved in parenting, they devote more time to "short-term mating", so they're not looking further than a date.

A study in the US, on the other hand, suggests the difference might simply be down to the seating arrangements, because the convention is for women to sit still at the events, while men move round and approach each woman.

The researchers found that when the roles were reversed at speed dating events, and women moved round to approach the men, they found that women made more offers than they did at events when they sat still. One possible theory is that the person who moves has more confidence.

Belot and Francesconi's study also took all the data provided by each person from their profile, to work out what attributes people were looking for in a potential mate.

"For both men and women, education and professional status matters. We found that women prefer taller men and men prefer slimmer women," says Belot.

Perhaps this is not a big surprise. But it turns out - people are often ready to compromise on these preferences.

【2017届高考英语二轮复习阅读理解素材：64】相关文章：

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：23（含解析）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：18（含解析）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：4（含解析）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：22（含解析）

★ （全国通用）2014届高考英语一轮单元复习 限时强化训练十

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：11（含解析）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：19（含解析）

★ 2017届高考英语二轮复习课时训练：8（含解析）

★ 备战2016年高考英语第一轮复习的七大方法

★ 2014届高考英语一轮复习课时作业(三十三)选修6Module 3《Music》（外研版）