Bad boys attract girls with risk, danger

Colin Farrell, Jude Law and James Dean: all three men are as famous for their rugged good looks and tumultuous private lives as they are for the roles they perform. However, finding even one woman who doesn't drool over them (or some other rebellious Hollywood heartbreaker) is basically equivalent to finding the fountain of youth or the Holy Grail: impossible.

The saying "nice guys finish last" might be cliché, but it also has some truth to it. According to an article in New Scientist, two studies now point to what we have always suspected to be true - the "bad boys" do get the girls.

Peter Jonason and his colleagues at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces administered 200 college students personality tests designed to rank them for typical "bad boy" traits, like narcissism, callousness, deceitful behavior, extroversion and impulsiveness. They also posed questions about the students' relationships with women, including how many partners they have had and whether they actively sought long-term relationships or preferred brief affairs.

Not surprisingly, the men - this correlation was found only in males ­- whose personality tests showed they had a higher percentage of those "bad boy" traits had more partners and were more likely to seek short-term relationships or flings than their "nice guy" counterparts.

It seems that this pattern is not restricted to our own culture but can be found across the globe. David Schmitt of Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., showed the same pattern in a survey of more than 35,000 people in 57 different countries.

Yet, there is still hope for all of those "good guys" out there. For example, researchers have noted that the "bad boys" get more girls because they tend to go for quantity over quality. And although their rebellious traits might attract girls in the beginning, they ultimately hinder chances of securing any lasting, long-term relationships.

Studies show that "bad boys" get more girls, but the real question is - why? Is it because girls enjoy unreturned phone calls, being cheated on and feeling manipulated? No, not really ­- I promise.

Relationship expert and author Lisa Daily wrote in her online column on Romantics.net that one reason women are so attracted to these men is because deep down they hold the ill-conceived notion that they might be the ones who can turn the guy around. The chances of this happening, however, are about as good as the Rams' chances of winning the Super Bowl - a.k.a. none.

Daily writes that another reason is that some women just enjoy doing things they know could be bad for them because things that involve some kind of risk are exciting. Women date "bad boys" for the same reason people ride motorcycles and go bungee jumping. The possibility of getting hurt makes the brief encounter that much more thrilling.

Dating "bad boys" is like a professional sport. Women do it when they are young, but eventually stop after a certain age. Daily writes that as women grow older and want more committed and long-term relationships, they tend to grow out of their "bad boy" fetishes and go for the men they can see themselves with in a long-term sense.

So, while we still might be - OK, we most definitely will be - admiring men like Colin Farrell from afar, realistically, you nice boys will finish first in the end.