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Say you've been courted a few times by a guy named John. He asks you out have dinner or to see a few movies, but you are just not interested and turn him down. Now, a few weeks later down the road, John is attached to another girl. Good for him? Well, not necessarily. A study from the Journal of Evolutionary Psychology says that you might actually regret your decision to turn him down. John, paired up with a pretty girl, suddenly seems so much more attractive!
Christopher Rodeheffer, Randi Leyva and Sarah E. Hill are researchers who found that women are more attractive to guys that are attached than those that are single. Participants were shown photos of males with relatives, exes or current girlfriends. Those paired with current girlfriends were rated higher on attractiveness. Even average looking males paired up with attractive females stated as a girlfriend were also rated higher compared to single men. In addition, the study found that males paired with a partner were rated higher on trust, intelligence and humor!
Why is this? Well, the researchers deduced that if a male, physically attractive or not, is attached, then that means they possess some form of redeeming qualities. In other words, when a woman sees an attached male, she assumes that he is in a relationship because he possess good qualities of a mate. This explains why females would find attached men more attractive!
Source material from Scientific American