I’ve always had this idea that the type of car you drive effects how attractive you are to the opposite sex. For years we may have been referring to this simply as “pogi points” or “ganda points”.  But I never really got definitive proof that it’s actually true… until now.

Attribution link to photo: The Car Spy                      Attribution link to photo: Autoviva.com

Some researchers in U.K. did an actual scientific study. They got a male model, a female model, several volunteers as subjects, and 2 cars. The first car is a silver Bentley Continental GT and the second car is a red Ford Fiesta ST. Of course the Bentley looked much more impressive than the Ford, but the intention was to establish a “neutral status”.  For the research, “neutral status” means a reasonably decent car that the “every day motorist” can afford to drive. The Bentley was considered their “high status”.

They took a picture of the male model posing beside (or inside) each car with the same posture, facial expression, and clothing.  They did the same for the female model. They then showed the male volunteers the 2 pictures of the female model and asked them to rate the girl in terms of attractiveness (from 1 to 10). Afterwhich, they asked the female volunteers to do the same for the male model pictures.

THE RESULT

The findings indicate that the female subjects were affected but the males were not. Here’s the exact quote:

Results showed that the male target model was rated as significantly more attractive on a rating scale of 1-10 when presented to female participants in the high compared to the neutral status context. Males were not influenced by status manipulation, as there was no significant difference between attractiveness ratings for the female seated in the high compared to the neutral condition. It would appear that despite a noticeable increase in female ownership of prestige/luxury cars over recent years males, unlike females remain oblivious to such cues in matters pertaining to opposite-sex attraction.

Based on this study, I gathered some insights on how to become a bit more attractive while dating. For guys — buy, borrow, or rent a nice looking car. For girls — better to invest in things other than your car. Apparently, men don’t care less what women drive.

Source: Br J Psychol. 2010 Feb;101(Pt 1):69-80. Epub 2009 Mar 19. Effect of manipulated prestige-car ownership on both sex attractiveness ratings. By Dunn MJ, Searle R., School of Health Sciences, Centre for Psychology, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, UK. mdunn@uwic.ac.uk

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