For so long we have believed that in terms of dating, it’s the women who are more selective. But a recent study may prove otherwise.

A study by Finkel & Eastwick (2009) sought to answer this question. An experiment was especially designed to test whether a potential partner’s “choosiness” was due in part to whether they were the ones doing the choosing or not. The study observed 350 college students in their 15 speed dating events, where the participants went on 4-minute speed-dates with approximately 12 opposite-sex individuals during each event. After a speed-date, participants rated their romantic desire and chemistry for the partner as well as how much self-confidence they had felt on that date.

What the researchers found was this: people who rotated from person to person were less selective than those sitting, regardless of which gender was doing the rotating. In other words, “when men rotated, women (the ones sitting) were more selective. But when women did the rotating, men (the ones sitting) were more selective.”

So in the end it’s all a matter of who does the approaching that determines who will be choosier.

Read more about this on LiveScience.