Dating down will make you happier?

I was recently lazing around on the couch watching a rerun of The King of Queens, when I started thinking about why you see so many attractive women with, how to put this kindly, slightly less attractive guys.

Turns out that both men and women tend to be more positive and happier when the wives are more attractive.

 

A group of psychologist did a study of 82 newlywed couples, where they studied the spouses supportiveness, as well as having the couples rate their satisfaction in their marriage.

This is what they found:

- Men who were more attractive than their spouses were less supportive than men who were were equally matched or less attractive.
- Men who were more attractive were less happy than others.
- Men and women tended to be more positive and happier when wives were more attractive than their husbands.

- Attractive men are more likely to attract women, which could make them less satisfied and less committed.

- Attractive women might not mind being better-looking because attractiveness might be less important long-term.

You can read the full study here.

I think this is attributed to a theory called the attractiveness halo, which says that a persons physical attractiveness exerts a generally positive influence on the attitudes and behaviors of observers. So the womans looks make the man happy, and in turn he treats her nicer, which in turn makes her happier around him. 

And then you have a happy little couple!

What do you think? 

Do you feel that these mismatched couples are happier than Brad and Angelina, or Victoria and David Beckham?