This study aims to see if advertisers’ age affects what they look for in prospective partners, in particular whether they stipulate or offer physical attractiveness or age. Discourse analysis is the appropriate method to use in this study, as we require retrieving in-depth information about relationship requirements from a set of transcripts.
Previous research has led me to the following hypotheses;
- Men will be more likely to stipulate ages younger than themselves, whilst women will be more likely to stipulate ages older than themselves.
- Men will be less likely to offer information on physical attractiveness than women.
- Participants will stipulate that they want a partner similar to themselves in age, physical appearance or interests.
Research into whether the age of advertisers affect what they look for in a partner has not been found, therefore a hypothesis can not be directed, but this issue will be approached in the analysis.
Method
Participants
This study analyses 80 lonely heart advertisements, 40 adverts in which men are seeking women and 40 adverts in which women are seeking men. Consent from participants is not needed to carry out this experiment ethically, as the adverts were published for the public domain. Participants were between the ages of 18 and 67, as the adverts were collected from a local newspaper we assume the nationality of the majority of participants is English; however we cannot be certain.
Sources of data
The data comes from adverts collected from a local ‘Friday Ad’ on the 28th November 2003. The first 40 adverts from each category were used.
Procedure for analysis and interpretation
Analysis of dialogue involves three stages; coding, functioning and positioning Potter and Wetherell, (1987) cited in Coolican (1994). Coding involves examining the text closely by reading and re-reading over it to look for themes. The idea is to search for recurring discursive patterns; this is where instances for the research focus are identified. The function process entails finding what the purpose of these chosen themes and use of language is. It ask what the advertiser is trying to achieve in using that particular language and the way he or she presents them self to the reader. Potter and Wetherell (1987) said that “any text has an action orientation and is designed to fulfil certain functions”, in this study the obvious action orientation is to attract a suitable partner, and the function is to be happy, in love or to simply have companionship, however they may be underlying factors. The final process is positioning, this requires the analyst to look at where the advertiser places himself or herself within the text, which brings imagery, metaphors and obligations pertaining to the type of advert made.
Results and Discussion
From the coding process 3 main themes emerged from the transcript to prove or disprove our hypotheses. These themes are; ‘age’, whether participants offer or stipulate age, and if the stipulated age is younger, older or similar to themselves, the second theme is ‘physical attractiveness’, again whether participants offer or stipulate physical attractiveness, the final theme is ‘similarities’, whether participants stipulate that they wish for someone with similarities to themselves, such as; age, attractiveness, beliefs or interests.
Age
This theme was reoccurring throughout all the advertisements. All of the participants offered their exact age, they were not vague as one may think by offering an age range, however we cannot be sure that they are all telling the truth. Age was split into two categories, those under 40, and those 40 and over. The age 40 was chosen because the usual stereotype assumes that someone is middle aged when they reach 40, also out of the 80 participants, approximately half of them happened to be under 40 and the other half 40 and over. The data showed that men under the age of 40 generally seek women of a similar age or older than themselves,
“Romantic male, 32, 5’9”, enjoys walking, country pubs, nights in, dancing, seeks similar female, 45-50, no-ties for love and romance.”
whilst men over 40 seek women younger than themselves.
“Young outlook male, 49, fair/blue, stocky, GSOH, many interests, seeks kind, genuine female, 35-45, for good relationship.
This supports Buss (1988) theory that men chose women younger than themselves and attributes it to the fact that younger women will still be able to reproduce. It is an understanding among some that women age faster than men; perhaps the men in these adverts believe this, so seek someone younger than themselves. Alternatively the males maybe physically active and believe a younger female is more likely to be of similar stamina and fitness to them.
None of the female participants seek men younger than themselves. The majority of women under 40 seek men older than themselves,
“Black female, 29, likes walking, jogging, playing tennis, seeks outgoing male, 35-45, for friendship maybe more.”
Daly and Wilson (1983) assumed that females seek men older than them as they are more reliable and stable, so reduce the risk of them deserting a relationship. Perhaps the women in these adverts have had bad experiences with younger men or just prefer the attitude and appearance of older men.
whilst women over 40 tend to seek men of a similar age to them.
“Single mum, 48, 5’3”, slim, long curly auburn hair, loves antiques, boot sales, socialising, seek male, similar age, for romance.”
Further analysis show that men under the age of 40 (7 participants) stipulate appearances more than men over 40 (2 participants).
These findings support hypothesis 1; Men will be more likely to stipulate ages younger than themselves, whilst women will be more likely to stipulate ages older than them.
Physical Attractiveness
Although a lot of women did offer their appearance, men tend to more than females. However as predicted more men sought appearance but not by a considerable amount. These findings are in line with the predictions of Thiessen et al (1993) that believe men see physical attractiveness as an important factor and Rajecki, Bledsoe, and Rasmussen (1991) that state men are more likely to seek physical attractiveness in females in lonely hearts advertisements. In the analysis it was noticed that an equal amount of men above and below 40 sought appearances, however those under 40 would also offer it whereas men over 40 were a lot less likely to.
“Snap me up, romantic, male 59, 6’4”, likes country side walks , country pubs, wildlife, cosy nights in, cooking, GSOH, seeks slim, brunette/blonde female, for friendship maybe more.”
The example shows that the male is quite specific in what he wants, detailing hair colour, but the only factor of physical appearance he is willing to give is his height which doesn’t give the reader much of an idea of what he looks like. Perhaps this male is self-conscious or a closed person who doesn’t like people to know too much about his personal details. He maybe eccentric and not think his looks are an issue in attracting someone. However the male below is a lot more detailed about himself and what he wants from a respondent. This male doesn’t go into detail about hobbies or interests which led me to consider whether he was more concerned with appearances of himself and a potential partner, than he is in having something in common or similar interests to her. I would say that this male is reasonably confident within himself and that is why he tells the reader about himself and what he wants. You would not get a person who is unsure of themselves saying that they were ‘good-looking’ in an advert because they would fear rejection.
“Worthing based male, 34, quite good looking, slim, athletic, 5’10”, seeks slim, easygoing female, to share nice times.”
It was surprising how much detail some of the men and women went into when stipulating appearances. From my previous assumptions I would suspect a general, one worded description such as; ‘attractive’ or ‘slim’, but participants would go into describing hair length or colour and height. The advantage of being detailed in what one seeks is that the participant is less likely to be disappointed with his respondents, but may get fewer replies than others who are not so specific.
This is a 32 male being quite precise in what he is looking for in a partner in terms of physical appearance,
“Seeks female/single mum, long haired, slim build.”
None the less, those that do provide the reader with detail on their appearances maybe supporting the ‘matching hypothesis’ proposed by Bernstein et al (2003) that people of similar physical attractiveness are more likely to form a lasting relationship, perhaps due to avoiding disappointment. These participants that provide detail descriptions of their appearance are possibly doing this so that the respondent is not disappointed or let down by what they look like when they finally meet, as there are no previous expectations.
Ambiguous words sometimes appeared in the adverts for example;
“Seeks fit female”
In the present day the word ‘fit’ is used to describe someone who is attractive, but its actual meaning and how most people would interpret it is someone who is sporty, active, or fit in health. The person that used this word in an advert was 23; therefore it is assumed he used it in the former way, to specify that he wanted someone attractive, yet we are not aware of the social context he grew up in.
From the findings hypothesis 2 can be accepted; Men will be less likely to offer information on physical attractiveness than women.
Similarities
The hypothesis predicted by Bernstein et al (2003) ‘The matching hypothesis’ that people similar in physical attractiveness are likely to form long term relationships. This is because in the initial stages people look for someone similar in attractiveness to avoid the disappointment of rejection. Also the prediction by Brehm, Kassin and Fein (2002), who state that we are more attracted to someone similar to ourselves in factors such as age, beliefs and religion, because those who have the same opinion are believed to think highly of one another. The outcome of the adverts is unknown but examples of these two hypotheses, that people are attracted to those that are similar to themselves were found.
Some participants were not specific as to which factors of themselves they wanted their potential partner to be similar to, whilst others would specify. If they did not specify it was understood they meant either appearances or interests depending on what factors of themselves they went into.
“Bubbly, female 20, own car, educated person, enjoys cinema, days out and in, socialising, seek similar male, 20-30, with GSOH, for friendship maybe more.”
This participant doesn’t inform the reader as to which factors they wish to be similar to themselves but it is supposed that they imply that they want a sociable, educated male that enjoys days out and in, and visiting the cinema, so this participant is looking for a partner with similar interests.
The advert below is somewhat vague as the advertiser mentions that he is ‘open-minded’ but hasn’t been specific in telling the reader his beliefs or opinions, so it could be taken either way; that he wants an open-minded partner or he maybe implying that he wants someone with similar interests.
“Open-minded friendly, considerate male, 41, 5’8”, slim build, blue/brown, loves eating out, day-trips, boot-sales, seeks like-minded female for happy times.”
An example of where a participants is specific in what she wants,
“Sweet female, early 50’s, professional lady, enjoys classical music, seeks gentlemen who enjoys classical music, to share interests.”
This female states her interest into classical music and is specific that she wishes that her respondents is also into classical music ‘to share’ this interest. This advert endorses what Brehm, Kassin and Fein (2002) hypothesised, the female in question will think highly of someone that enjoys classical music because it is something that she takes pleasure in.
Although not all the participants state that they want a partner with similarities, hypothesis 3 can be accepted; ‘Participants will stipulate that they want a partner similar to themselves in appearance or interests’.
Refer to appendix for further example of adverts.
Reflection
The benefit of discourse analysis is that no inferences are made previous to the procedure and the research question is continually altered to fit to the findings. This is not a scientific method and does not treat participants as scientific objects that can be manipulated and measured. The advantages of using lonely heart advertisements are; demand characteristics are eliminated as participants do not intend to be participants of research, it is a naturalistic observation as these adverts are placed by real people with real consequences, and as the typical undergraduate student is not used, a wider population of age and status is used to improve validity.
However, validity and reliability could be questioned as this is a very subjective approach as two different conclusions could be made about the same subject depending on who was carrying out the analysis. Inter-coder agreement is needed, so another experimenter is necessary to analyse the discourse and compare findings. Hyman (1992) cited in Hayes (1995) has reservations that discourse analyses may result in being “a researcher’s ideas with examples.” Analysing discourse by oneself is difficult when ambiguous words emerge, when one person sees a word they may immediately think of something different to another person. I feel that if another analyser was used then it should be someone with different beliefs and social background, so that the analysis is not dependent on someone’s up-bringing. A local newspaper was used as a source for the lonely hearts. The issue with using local newspaper is that there maybe a chance of recognising a participant, however the particular adverts used do not give detailed information, such as their name or photograph.
References
Lawes, R. (1999). Marriage: an analysis of discourse. British Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 1-20.
Pawlowski, B., Dunbar, R.I.M. (1998). Withholding age as putative deception in mate search tactics. Evolution and human behaviour 20: 53-69.
Rajecki, D.W., Bledsoe, S.B. & Rasmussen, J.L. (1991). Successful personal Ads: Gender differences and similarities in offers, stipulations, and outcomes. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 12(4), 457-469.
Smith, J.E., Waldorf, V.A. & Trembath, D. (1990). “Single white male looking for thin, very attractive…” Sex Roles, 23(11/12), 675-685.
Bernstein, D.A., Penner, L.A., Clarke-Stewart, A., Roy, E.J. (2003). Psychology. 6th ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Coyle, A. (2000). Discourse Analysis. In Breakwell, G.M., Hammond, S., & Fife-Schaw, C. Research methods in psychology. London: Blackwell.
Coolican, H. (1999). Research methods and statistics in psychology. 2nd Ed. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
Hayes, N. (1995). Foundations of psychology; An introductory text. London: Routledge.
