MEN let their partners win at games because of a “happy wife, happy life” mentality, a study suggests.
Women were more competitive and focused when playing in games against strangers but won more often against their other halves, Chinese researchers found.
GettyMen may let their partners win at games because of a “happy wife, happy life” mentality, Chinese researchers say[/caption]
This could be down to “mate retention” behaviours from men to keep their wives in a good mood and their sex lives intact, they suggested.
Lead author Shuya Jia, of North China University, said: “Although women compete more effectively against a stranger, they are more likely to win when playing against their partner.
“Their male partners may be adopting a ‘happy wife, happy life’ mentality, avoiding potential relationship conflict by allowing their spouse to win.”
The study, published in the Elsevier journal Neuroscience, looked at how men and women approached competition when against strangers or their partners.
Researchers studied 52 female university students aged 18 to 25, who were asked to play a game testing their reactions against an opponent.
One group was asked to compete with a stranger of the opposite gender, while the other played against their romantic partners.
The researchers monitored their brains with small sensors on the scalp to see how active the areas linked to concentration, focus and willingness to compete were.
Women won more games when playing against their significant other than against a stranger.
However, there was no significant difference between their reaction speed between the two groups.
Men showed lower levels of competitiveness when playing against a romantic partner, the brain monitoring showed.
The researchers said: “Women had a higher winning rate when competing with their romantic partners.
“It may be the result of men adopting spouse retention strategies to maintain their romantic relationships to prevent the partners from leaving.”