Yesenia Quintero
Friday 9 Am-12 pm
Sociology 4
April 10, 2016
Impact of social structure on mate selection
John F. Zipp is a professor at The University of Akron in Ohio. He has accomplished and
published many experiments and research based in the field of sociology but today we are taking a
closer look at his research of social structure and the impact it has on selecting a mate. His research
consisted of conducting an experiment on his introductory sociology class in order to find out which
teaching method would have a better outcome on teaching his class how social structure impacts mate
selection. His experiment started by splitting his class into two groups. The experiment group and the
control group. He decided to split the class in half and by alphabetical order, this resulted in having sixtytwo students in the experiment group and sixty-three in the control group.
Both groups were presented with the same information on the role of race, age, religion, and
social status on mate selection. The only difference was the way the information was presented. For
example, the control group was presented the information solemnly by lectures, where Professor Zipp
did most of the talking. While the experiment group was given the same information in different
methods such as group work, discussions, debates and more interaction with Professor Zipp and with
each other. Zipp asked the experiment group to meet in class at 9:55 Am, an earlier time than the
control group, which met at 10:45
To avoid any contact between the groups he had two diffferent teacher assistants guard the door to
ensure that the students wouldn't stop and speak to each other about what was being said in class.
At the beginning of the first session with the experiment group he asked his students a couple of
questions. He first asked them and gave them 2 to 3 minutes to list why they would marry and if they
were already married, why they married their partner. Which resulted in the students listing 3 to 5
reasons why, most being love, companionship, money or to start a family. He then asked them to to
write down what they were looking for in a current or future partner. (He asked his class not to disclose
their sexual orientation so that no one in the class felt pressured to reveal their sexual orientation.) This
question seemed to have a longer list or response. After asking these two questions they class was to
get into groups of 3 to 5 members of the gender and they were to discuss their answers and make a
smaller list of the attributes they thought were the most important. Most answers of the groups were
similar with both genders stating that they both wanted a partner with similar interests, educated and
intelligent partners, someone with a sense of humor, someone romantic, caring, kind and someone they
were sexually compatible with. Only one of the groups mentioned religion as an important factor, which
did not make it at the top of anyone’s list. After meeting with the experiment group he met with the
control group and asked the same series of questions, giving them the same amount of time to answer
but this time not allowing them to discuss with each other nor get into groups. He instead lectured after
asking the questions. But found that the majority of their answers matched the experiment groups'
answers.
Next he presented the role of race, religion, age, and social status on mate selection. He met
weekly with his groups and basically gave the groups the same information but in different ways, lecture
vs. active exercises. After every session he asked both groups 4 questions and collected their papers
with their answers as data. The first question asked what they thought was the most important thing
they learned. The second question asked them what important question they thought was left
unanswered. The third question asked them if they read the material, and the fourth asked how well
they understood the material within a scale of 1 to 5. 5 being that they understood the material very
well. By the end of the sessions the results showed that 63.2% of the entire class, both groups, listed a
social structure factor as an important attribute in selecting a mate. 82.3 % of people in the experiment
group reported that social structure factors were important in mate selection while only 44.4% of the
control group listed a social factor in their list. This showed that active exercises had a major impact in
their learning. After the experiment was done Zipp later realized that two major factors could have
changed the outcome of his results. Those factors being that first, his way of selecting the groups wasn't
the best way of splitting the groups, he believed it wasn't random enough. Second, although he believed
he was providing the same material to both classes he thought maybe having his teacher aids review the
material or observe him while he taught the material would have been more effective to find out
whether or not both groups were fairly given the chance to learn the same things. Now my questions to
you are 1) what other teaching method could Zipp have used and what outcome do you think that
would have had? 2) If his groups would have been randomly selected would the results be the same or
different? 3) What social structure do you believe is of most importance when choosing a mate, and
why?