No Going Dutch if You Want to Go Any Further With Me

At least, that's what the attractive people in the world seem to be saying.

In a study run by St. Andrews University in the UK (let's hope the government didn't pay for this one), the more attractive you consider yourself to be, the more likely you are to be turned off if your date tries to make you contribute to dinner. They seem to be saying "Hey, I'm worth a lot, so you'd better pay up."

From an article in the UK's MailOnline:

"She has spent hours on her hair and make up, bought a new outfit and done her nails. So perhaps it is only fair that her date should pay for dinner.

Pretty women are less likely than plain Janes to offer to contribute towards the bill on a first date, research shows.

But they are not worried about the expense - it is likely to be because they believe their date should pay for the pleasure of being with them, according to researchers at St Andrews University."

First, the people involved in the test were asked to rate their own attractiveness. They were then shown pictures of potential dinner dates. They were supposed to imagine themselves on the date, and then decide among three options: they would pay, the date would pay, or they would split the bill.

Oh, "handsome" men were also reluctant to pay as well, the article notes in passing. I guess that doesn't make as good of a headline, though, including both genders.

There were some interesting findings, though whether one study is enough to actually say this is true is debatable.

First, men were more likely to offer to pay if they found the woman attractive, in a sort of "I'm really desperate and you're hot, so I want to see you again" kind of way.

Ok, that first part may not have been in the study.

Interestingly enough, they found the total opposite if the roles were reversed. Women who were seemingly interested wanted their date to pay for dinner. If they offered to split the bill, it was a sign that the date didn't go that well and they probably didn't really want to go out with the guy again.

Nothing in the article on what happened if both parties saw themselves as gorgeous

Of course, etiquette experts would disagree with all of this anyway. Most say that the person who sets up the date should pay the bill, regardless of gender or attractiveness.

Also keep in mind that this pretty much just applies to that first date. If you've agreed to start seeing each other more than once (maybe it also applies to the second date), then a relationship has developed where it probably isn't as cut and dried who should pay when the couple goes out.

So what do you think? Do you agree with this study? Do you think they're full of it? Or do you think the test subjects are full of it?

My years in the dating scene seem to indicate that the study is true.

Ok, I lied. I was never in the dating scene.

(H/T: a tweet from Hot Air's Allahpundit)