Two important aspects of American society’s definition of manhood are financial success and masculine personality attributes such as confidence and determination. Both have been found to affect woman’s romantic attraction to men.
However, relatively little research has been conducted on friendships between women and men. Although some studies have examined the effects of masculine and feminine personality traits on both platonic with romantic attraction, none to date have examined the effect of financial success on platonic attraction. Finally, no study to date has shown that socially desirable personality traits are necessarily more romantically or platonically attractive than socially undesirable traits. By presenting participants with males of contrasting levels of income, occupational status, social desirability and gender role congruence, the present study examined the effects of financial success and gender-role-related personality traits on women’s platonic and romantic attraction ratings of males. View full article »
