Men Pretend To Like Intelligent Women - But Actually Fear Them

A new study has shown that although men are more attracted to intelligent women, when it comes down to it, they're intimidated by the thought of dating them.

The study, carried out by researchers the University of Buffalo, California Lutheran University and University of Texas, Austin, posits that men's attraction to certain traits in women can be directly affected by how realistic a romantic prospect their potential lover is.

But, when the same experiment was carried out for real - as in the men were given intelligence tests and then told they were going to meet real-life women who had outperformed them - they were totally intimidated. Researchers found that "men formed favourable impressions and showed greater interest in women who displayed more (versus less) intelligence than themselves".

Then the men were asked to place their chairs so they were seated facing the woman while taking a survey that asked how attractive she was.

The research team conducted the study in two phases. Suddenly, the men's opinion toward the more intelligent women had changed.

Men and women were paired off in a final scenario in which they took an intelligence test in the same room. Once done, their scores were read aloud, and the men were asked to move their chairs closer to the women they were paired with.

The key, according to the study, is that in the second scenario, the men felt threatened by the physical presence of a clever woman: "Feelings of diminished masculinity accounted for men's decreased attraction toward women who outperformed them in the live interaction context".

As the researchers put it, their findings suggest that there are "conditions under which self-protective concerns may trump qualities of partners that seem desirable at a distance".

If asked, men will often say that they find high-achieving, intelligent women attractive.

Who knew masculinity could be so fragile?