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1、PsychologyFriends,thenbenefitsWhyfriendshipcanhelpyouplayoutofyourromanticleagueJun20th2015
2、FromtheprinteditionBEAUTYopensmanydoors.Studyafterstudyhasconcludedthatthecomelyearnmore,arebetterliked,aretreatedmoreindulgentlyandareevengivenmorelenientsentencesincourtJustgoodfriends
3、thantheirplainercounterparts.Thedooritopenswidest,though,istheromanticone.Asbothcommonsenseandevolutionarytheorysuggestshouldhappen,beautifulpeopleattractbeautifulpartners.Butnotalways.Occasionally,handsomemenchooseplainwomen,andviceversa.Whythisshouldbevexespsychologistsandbio
4、logistsalike.AstudybyLucyHuntoftheUniversityofTexasatAustin,andhercolleagues,soontobepublished(http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/06/11/0956797615579273.abstract)inPsychologicalScience,suggestsananswer.Itdependsonwhetherthecouplesinquestionswerefriendsbeforetheywerelover
5、s.MsHuntasked167coupleshowtheyhadcometoknowoneanother.Individualswerequestionedalone,andtheirresponsescomparedwiththoseoftheirotherhalves.Thoseresponsesweremixed:40%ofcouplessaidtheywerefriendsbeforetheywerelovers,while41%saidtheywerenot.(Theremaining19%couldnotagree,withonemem
6、berofthecouplesayingtheyhadbeenfriendsbeforehandandtheotherdenyingit.)Tomeasureparticipants’attractiveness,MsHuntshowedvideosofthemtoagroupofundergraduateswhohadnotbeentoldtheexperiment’sgoal.Thestudentswereaskedtoratetheattractivenessofthepeopleinthevideosonasevenpointscale.Ge
7、nerally,thescoresassignedtoaparticipantbydifferentstudentsagreedwithoneanother,whichallowedMsHunttocalculate,withafairdegreeofconfidence,justhowwellcorrelatedinthebeautystakesapairofloverswere.Sheandhercolleaguesfoundthattheattractivenessofcoupleswhobecameromanticpartnerssoonaf
8、tertheirfirstmeetinghadanaveragecorrelationof0.46(outofamaximumpossibleof1.0).Inotherwords,ifamaninsuchacouplewasratedas“veryattractive”,therewasafairchancethathisfemalecounterpartwouldberatedas“veryattractive”too.Incontrast,thosewhowerefriendsfirsthadanaveragecorrelationofjust
9、0.18.Tellingly,theresearchersfoundthatthelongerthememb
