Our book, of course, argues that they do. Few social paradigms are as powerful as the value of association. From Loser:
In choosing [mates], we take [a] cognitive shortcut: we select what's already popular, relying on decisions that other people have already made. In the animal kingdom, this is called "mate-choice copying..." A 2001 Gallup poll showed taht we are more attracted to people who have just entered a relationship than single people."
The Times agrees, and quotes a study that claims the power of association is why:
Single women in this study were significantly more interested in the target when he was attached. This may be because an attached man has demonstrated his ability to commit and in some ways his qualities have already been ‘‘pre-screened” by another woman.
Damn right.
