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Pretty Women Scramble Men's Sense Of The Future
Adam_Trask writes "Psychologists in Canada have finally proved what women have long suspected - men really are irrational enough to risk entire kingdoms to catch sight of a beautiful face." The methodology is not air-tight, but how many scientists figure out a way to use Am I Hot or Not at work? See also "Women Live Longer Because Men Are Dumb."
Isn't this just millions of years of evolution at play? The only reason we are all here today is because our ancestors were successful in finding a mate and passing on their genetic information... and we simply are the product of that evolutionary background.
The fact that both males and females were tested, and only males showed this behaviour tends to confirm this. For reproduction, females must spend far, far more resources than males do (as my old ecology prof used to say, 'sperm are cheap'). They can therefore afford to be more selective when it comes to mates. Males, on the other hand, aren't assured of passing down their genes, thus the evolution of such behaviour.
My wife is a sales associate at a small electronic retail store full of insanely high-priced gadgets. The people she works with are average looking while she is quite stunning. Her sales are more than three times the next highest sales associate. I once witnessed her sell two high end IPaqs and a Tablet PC to the same guy who didn't even know what he was going to do with them.
Until this article I wasn't sure if it was her beauty, or some Jedi mind trick. Now I know.
if they'd get the same results if they tested gay men (with the appropriate pictures). Or if they showed pictures of attractive men to straight men.
It would be interesting to see if this breaks down on gender lines or sexual preference lines.
Women, by contrast, made equally rational decisions whether they had been shown pictures of handsome men or those of average attractiveness.
Perhaps this is because women tend to be less aroused by visual stimuli than men are.
No I don't have a source for this except for anecdotal evidence, but that anecdotal evidence is rather persuasive. Visual porn is overwhelmingly designed with the male (gay and straight alike) in mind, while tactile stimuli (sex toys, vibrators, etc.) are marketed primarily to females. I don't think this is by accident.
Perhaps if the women were asked to make those rational decisions while being massaged by a skilled masseur, their decision-making ability would be found to be impaired in a similar way to the males' impairment when confronted with visuals of attractive women.
How 'bout it, researchers? Design me a study!