It's an interesting psychological process that American researchers wanted to look at closely, so they invented a study that analyzed how people leave a partner characteristic, being more attracted to another characteristic they may have. What was discovered about the men was interesting.
Men who were given the chance to ‘model’ their perfect partner for a long-term relationship, the vast majority chose an attractive face over an attractive body. Not surprisingly, men who created their partner for a short-term relationship chose a sexy body over an attractive face.
There were 250 male participants in the study. They had a duty to imagine that they were single and to create their ideal partner of the opposite sex. Each volunteer was presented with a list of physical features, half of which were facial (eyes, nose, hair, skin color, smile) and the other half related to body (height, muscles, chest size, waist size , size of buttocks).
Participants were then asked to rate each of these traits on a scale of 0 to 10 depending on what they rated most. Giving a full score of 10 points for each feature was impossible as there were only limited points available to each participant - ie a budget - which meant they had to compromise their assessments and gave preference to their preferences.
Whether it is a short-term or long-term relationship, male volunteers preferred an attractive face over an attractive body. The only scenario in which the body triumphed over the face, was when male participants were assigned a smaller budget of points and asked to create the perfect partner for a short period of time. In other words, men with more points chose an attractive face even for short-term relationships.
Researchers believe that this behavior in men seeking long-term relationships reflects how we subconsciously judge a woman's long-term reproductive potential. More specifically, a woman’s long-term reproductive potential can be better communicated through facial features that include mimicry and skin after aging. This, researchers claim, is why men prefer a more attractive female for long-term relationships.
