## Step 2 - Reading

#### Laws of Attraction

You are going to read a text about Partner Selection.

- Read the text and do assignment 1.
- Read the text again and do assignment 2 and 3.

#### Assignment 1

Copy and fill in the grid (on your own) and discuss the answers in your group.

What information do you get? (use key words)
Introduction |
| Men | Women
Evolutionary theory |  |
Social role theory |  |
Conclusion |

Read the text.

Laws of Attraction: How Do We Select a Life Partner? What we know, and don’t know, about the process of mate selection. Published on December 2, 2014 by Noam Shpancer, Ph.D. in Insight Therapy Most of us seek a partner, for life or at least for a while. But how do we choose? After all, we meet hundreds, even thousands, of people in the course of our daily lives. What makes two people pick one another from among the myriad available candidates? Psychological science has long been trying to answer this question, and with considerable success. Two main theories have guided scientific thinking on the subject. First is evolutionary theory, which claims that behavioral tendencies, physical characteristics, and personality features that promote our chances to survive and reproduce become, by that virtue, desirable to us. In addition, biological and anatomical differences between organisms will dictate different optimal solutions to the same problem. For example, if two animals, one with nimble feet and the other with strong wings, encounter a hungry predator, how will they deal with the survival threat? Most likely, the first animal will run away and the second will fly off. Likewise, the evolutionary approach predicts that the biological and anatomical differences between men and women will result in different preferences for partner selection. For example, human biology dictates that women need help and protection during pregnancy, and that their fertility is time-limited . Therefore, it makes sense that men who can provide protection will be deemed attractive to women, and that young—and hence fertile —women will be attractive to men. Indeed, studies show that when it comes to long-term relationships, women overall emphasize the importance of status parameters while men find female youth highly attractive. On the other hand, 'social role theory,’ developed by the American psychologist Alice Eagly, argues that social—rather than biological—processes dictate our social choices. According to this argument, the mate selection rules are dictated by the roles that women and men occupy in society. Thus, people's preferences in the search for a mate are expected to shift as social roles and norms shift. For example, women are attracted to men with power and money because society limits their own ability to gain power and money. If, tomorrow, most positions of power and money go to women, then a man’s status and wealth will matter much less to women, while male beauty, youth, and stamina may come to matter more. Source: www.psychologytoday.com