It might appear great for women to accomplish every dream they have and achieve every goal they set, but a study says men are intimidated by women who outsmart them.
Yes, men are attracted to the idea of dating smart women. After all, it's great to think of having a dinner or an outdoor activity with a woman doctor, engineer or lawyer. However, while men welcome these thoughts, they don't actually like it in reality, Independent reports.
"A real, live smart woman standing in front of them is actually a turnoff," according to NYMag.com.
Researchers at the University of Buffalo, California Lutheran University, and the University of Texas at Austin confirmed a fact that many dreaded to hear, men are threatened by women who tends to be more successful and intelligent than them.
The study involved 105 men, where researchers proposed two scenarios. According to the report, at first men were given this thought: "A woman either outperformed or underperformed them in a math or English course, and then instructed the men to imagine this woman as a romantic partner." In this scenario, men are inclined to give those women who bested them a high ranking.
The researchers learned that "men formed favourable impressions and showed greater interest in women who displayed more (versus less) intelligence than themselves."
On the second scenario, men were given an intelligence test and they were told that they will be meeting a woman who had done better than them on the same test. Men who were presented with the said proposal tended to keep a distance from the woman and rated her as less attractive. Moreover, except from maintaining their space, they also showed their lack of interest to exchange contact information or plan a date with the woman.
The study confirmed that men are threatened when they encounter an IRL interaction with a more intelligent woman.
However, the authors of the study stressed that more experimentation maybe necessary to confirm the conclusion. However, they believed that "feelings of diminished masculinity accounted for men's decreased attraction toward women who outperformed them," Independent has learned.
Successful woman who are single might find this study depressing, as it might suggest finding their partner will be even more challenging. But, many are questioning the relatively small sample size to speak in behalf of all men. Thus, the report suggests that the result is not conclusive
The study is published in the November edition of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. .
