Ponca City, We love you writes "The Telegraph reports that men who spend even a few minutes in the company of an attractive woman perform less well in tests designed to measure brain function than those who chat to someone they do not find attractive. This leads to speculation that men use up so much of their brain function or 'cognitive resources' trying to impress beautiful women, they have little left for other tasks. Psychologists at Radboud University in The Netherlands carried out the study after one of them was so struck on impressing an attractive woman he had never met before, that he could not remember his address when she asked him where he lived. Researchers recruited 40 male heterosexual students and had each one perform a standard memory test. The volunteers then spent seven minutes chatting to male or female members of the research team before repeating the test. The results showed that men were slower and less accurate after trying to impress the women. The more they fancied them, the worse their score."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Well, yes, the blood moves. It's also often about a massive chemical reaction in your brain. I have a semi-rare condition where pheromones are very obvious to me. Some girls actually can make my head hurt, though I haven't had such reactions since I turned about 40.
Being able to sense the drug incoming, I was able to examine my reaction over the years. My heart raced, my chest tightened, and I longed for whichever girl I saw next. Often, I'd get hit with it from behind, before I saw any girl. I would be incapable of thinking of anything else but the girl who brought this to me. It takes a while for that to wash out of your system. A few hours later, I'd often think, "What the hell was I so enraptured about? She's nothing special."
Now, you know that whole "chemistry" thing, where some people strike you
as attractive and some just... don't? That's in part determined by the
differences between your immune systems.
That works because if the genes that code for your major histocompatibility complex (MHC)
are similar to the other person's, you'll tend to find them less attractive
than otherwise, and vice-versa. Why mate with someone who's immune to the
same stuff you are? Your offspring won't have any survival advantage.
Instead, evolution has selected for creatures that mate with partners whose
immune systems are incompatible. Either because both parents tend to be
unlikely to be sick at the same time, ensuring the presence of at least one
caregiver. Or because some the offspring of such pairings get a mix of
genes that features the the best bits of both parents. (Offspring that
get the worst of both parents tend not to survive, but that's a problem
for individuals, not the species.)
Love is just a chemical reaction in your brain, anyway. It's not magical, or sacred, or even very special. It's your brain recognizing the opportunity to mate with someone who matches your particular template for an ideal partner (usually based on early experiences, parents, and other external factors), and shooting you up with natural drugs to make you feel like it's way more than it really is.
This study seems like a barely concealed reason to bring attractive women into the lab. In fact I would wager that this is the first time the line "Want to come to my lab for some 'test'?" has actually worked.
Another story: Men were given a huge meal of food they love. After eating, they did less well on tests.
Even more: Men were subjected to adversarial behavior from women who were being seductive, but had no interest in the men. The men responded with confusion, and later did less well on tests.
Why not give the memory test during the chatting session to see what happens to cognitive function then? I'd be interested to see if men make the same number of mistakes if the test somehow ties into the whole 'impressing women' deal. Then again, I'd be interested to see how the women do in the same situation. I know a lot of women who dumb themselves down in the presence of a man they're interested in because they believe that men are intimidated by smart women.
This leads to speculation that men use up so much of their brain function or 'cognitive resources' trying to impress beautiful women, they have little left for other tasks.
How about the even more simple explanation of just being distracted by the beautiful woman and imagining her naked with her legs wrapped around you is taking up all of your resources? "Trying to impress" doesn't need to come into it at all (and likely doesn't because usually having your mind so completely occupied that you become a dumbass doesn't really impress people), and seems like a stretch of a conclusion to come up with. Far more likely that thought of sex have simply completely taken over the brain and body, as they so often do..
Like the old joke says, men have a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to operate one at a time.;)
Don't forget having to say to yourself over and over: "Dontlookathertits. Dontlookathertits. Dontlookathertits. Dontlookathertits..." You spend so much time trying to not get slapped that you miss out on half the conversation.
You're both missing the point. Of course they dress that way to attract attention, it's just that the attention they want isn't from YOU. If you watch the whole girl-drama thing in it's entirely you'd see something like this:
awkwardNerd: Hi really-hot-chick, how are you today? really-hot-chick: Oh my GOD! Are you looking at my chest? You pervert! My eyes are up here! awkwardNerd: I...um, no, I....gah. (awkwardNerd retreats against the onslaught of really-hot-chick's righteous fury) 22 seconds later: muscle-guy-fratboy: Hey really-hot-chick, look at you! Niiiiiiiiiice! really-hot-chick: awwe, muscle-guy-fratboy, you big jerk (said with a smile and a forward-lean exposing even more cleavage)
They want to be noticed, they're just not always happy with who notices them.....
If you wanna be happy For the rest of your life, Never make a pretty woman your wife, So from my personal point of view, Get an ugly girl to marry you.
A pretty woman makes her husband look small And very often causes his downfall. As soon as he marries her Then she starts to do The things that will break his heart. But if you make an ugly woman your wife, You'll be happy for the rest of your life, An ugly woman cooks her meals on time, She'll always give you peace of mind.
If you wanna be happy For the rest of your life, Never make a pretty woman your wife, So from my personal point of view, Get an ugly girl to marry you.
Don't let your friends say You have no taste, Go ahead and marry anyway, Though her face is ugly, Her eyes don't match, Take it from me she's a better catch.
If you wanna be happy For the rest of your life, Never make a pretty woman your wife, So from my personal point of view, Get an ugly girl to marry you.
Say man. Hey baby. Saw your wife the other day. Yeah? Yeah, she's ugly. Yeah, she's ugly but she sure can cook. Yeah?. Okay.
If you wanna be happy For the rest of your life, Never make a pretty woman your wife, So from my personal point of view, Get an ugly girl to marry you.
The song is called, "If You Wanna Be Happy" and is originally by Jimmy Soul, released 1963. Not by the band you mentioned. As a music lover, I must give credit where credit is due.
This explains why the average Slashdotter is so smart. They found the best solution to this problem: stay away from women, however beautiful they may be, altogether!
The next time someone gives you crap for living in voluntary solitary confinement in your mom's basement, at least you'll know you're making the smart choice.
One time, a group of us guys were at the grocery store buying some beer. I was having a conversation with one of my friends at the checkout counter as I saw a really, really, hot girl. My eyes were attached to her and couldn't let go. I was able to keep up with the conversation despite not looking at my friend.
He then asked "Are you really paying attention or are you just looking at that hot chick?" I replied, "No, I'm paying attention. I'm like a dual-core processor. One is for our conversation and the other is right now on the girl" Then my other friend said, "I am dual-core as well. But both cores are hung on that girl. "
Could women possibly misinterperate general lower mental function as being a response to their attractivness rather than the fact the guy is a stupid jerk, thus overestimating the intellegence of a potential mate, explaining finally why all the dumb a-holes out there get the hot girls before we do?
You might want to study whether the sun is bright or if the sky is blue.
FWIW I'm not sure that it's always "if you're trying to impress them" or even due to sexual urges - I know there have been times when I've been introduced to some exceptionally attractive woman, and it's like my mind has just shut off (and no, I don't mean that something else has switched on!). It's as if she has this thought dampening field and I'm stuck in it, just based on proximity and the fact that she's paying some level of attention to me.
But of course that's never happened since I've been married, because I don't even notice other women... right honey?
Both genders are equally susceptible to the effects of hormones overriding their more rational thought processes. Our limbic system, (limbic I've recently been told is now a deprecated term to describe to describe our motivational systems) flush our more rational processes. What has become more apparent is that our wet core is necessary to our rational decision making no matter how we might like it to be otherwise. Women are just as hormonally driven as men and the study, perhaps unintentionally, perpetuates gender stereotyping and myth making that suggests the horned, male ego is pushing the agenda. It's a mark of cultivation and high intelligence that our libido can't cloud our objectivity. The female psyche may not be the eternal mystery to men that our mythology suggests although there are deep distinctive traits. I've been married and, if you count co-habitations as periods of 6 months or longer, then I've lived with 7 women. Although women, as a (stereo) type, might not count 6 months as a long term cohabitation and might just see it as typical of the male willingness to say anything and do anything just to get laid 2 or 3 times a day. In my experience, if emotions engendered by attractive, potential sex partners can inhibit our higher reasoning faculty, then emotions and drugs are devastating. Personally I've found the drunker I get the more attractive women find me. This effect is more pronounced if I'm alone on a bar stool and two or more attractive women are near by. Inevitably, as I nurse one drink after another, and glance their way, sooner or later, one or more return my interested looks and an uncontrolled giggle will escape. That's when I know they're attracted to me. Of course that kind of attention from beautiful women is unsettling and I usually down a few more quick drinks just to put things in perspective. It's then they can't seem to stop staring at me, and, just about then, the giggling stops and things get serious. I'm pretty sure their upset looks reflect a conflict among them as to which one will leave with me. Although I've never been able to verify my guess because about then one or all of them will ask the bartender to see me out. I take this as a consensus on their part that if one of them can't have me then, in the name of friendship, they'll jointly and severally forego my company. I usually leave peacefully not wanting to destroy any close friendships.
It's embarrassing is what it is, to be turned into a drooling moron and then realise later just how stupid you sounded.
Anecdote is not, nor ever will be, the singular of "data". Sure, everyone may know this. Sure, the outcome may seem obvious to everyone. However, it is not empirical fact until it is studied and established as such. How many common sense "truths" have turned out to be not so true when properly analyzed over the history of human scientific endeavor? In the case of this study, anecdote and assumption about human behavior has now become data, and can be used as such in psychology and sociology to continue to study and describe how and why we are the way we are.
Now that we have established the phenomenon (doot dooo do-do-doot) as data, perhaps we can look into the actual physiological mechanisms which control it.
I would think that above all else, the type of people who read a "news for nerds" site would appreciate research for research sake.:-/
Evolution, my friend. If a reproductively desirable female doesn't arouse you, your genes have come to the end of their otherwise long and successful run.
I think you misunderstand what I meant by "physiological mechanisms". Just saying "evolution, my friend" does not explain anything about what is happening in the brain and body at the cellular and molecular level. Yes, we know that females arouse us. This study suggests data that brain processing for other things is inhibited. Now, what I am curious about at least, it would be interesting to know how and where (in the brain) and by what physiological mechanisms the processing is being shunted.
There is more to understanding biology than just saying, "Oh that's naturally evolved behavior." Some of us want to know exactly what has evolved and been selected for at the cellular and subcellular level.
Durrr... sorry to double comment on the same post, but I wanted to address this.
Some things count as so obvious as to not require scientific inquiry. Hot women give get males wood. You don't need to publish this to claim it, end of story.
Yes, and for centuries it was so obvious that no scientific scrutiny was required that the sun went around the earth, not the other way around. It was also completely obvious that a heavier object would fall faster than a lighter object. It was also obvious that things would get cold because the cold of the surroundings would flow into them. It was also so obvious that time passes at a constant rate, regardless of our perceptions and reference frames. It was also so obvious that humans are the only organisms to experience emotion and pain.
Obviously there are a great many things that are so obvious as to not require scientific inquiry.
Point being, a great many things are so obvious. A great many of those obvious things also turn out to be correct in light of empirical data. However, we are not allowed to treat those scientifically and draw scientific conclusions from them until they are established as empirical data. This is one of the fundamental requirements for science, and I would think people on a "news for nerds" site would get that. Taking the obvious for granted as true is exactly the kind of mentality that brings about pseudoscience. Science requires empiricism, even for the bleedingly obvious.
I used to get tongue-tied thinking I was unworthy of this gorgeous woman & becoming nervous & basically being an idiot. But now with advancing age I realize Beauty is only transitory. Today's "hottie" will probably be a "fatty" by the time she's 30 or 40 (see Pierce Brosnan's wife as an excellent example).*
In other words, they all get ugly eventually, just like me. So that gives me confidence.
It's perfectly valid if they don't claim it generalizes past the confines of the experiment. Of course the/. headline is then inaccurate, but it's not like that doesn't happen anyway. The problem is that there are thousands of variables that can affect an experiment, and you can't test them all in one go. What about testosterone level? Time since last having sex? Relationship status? Heterosexuals account for roughly 90% of the population, which makes them a reasonable group of test subjects for an experiment.
That said, I'd be extremely interested to see a similar study that takes sexual preference into account. Even more interesting would be to study transsexuals whose mind and body disagree on sex; as you might find that straight FTMs exhibit the same behavior as the heterosexual males, despite having female bodies themselves.
Playing devils advocate (here agreeing with you I guess), don't forget that not everyone can be cleanly lumped into those four bins of preference, you insensitive clod!;)
I must say, I'm a big fan of the Royal Enfields. Any bike that can be repaired by an illiterate indian village blacksmith using nothing but a hammer and a hacksaw is +1 win in my books.
There was a cool Enfield trick that we learned last time we were in India; if you can't start your bike on a cold dewy morning, just take out the spark plug, pour a little bit of petrol into the chamber, put spark plug back in, and bang, it starts first kick:)
The guy who taught it to us used the same trick in the Israeli Defence Force to start tanks in the desert.
Easier explanation (Score:5, Funny)
The blood rushes from one head to the other head.
Re:Easier explanation (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Easier explanation (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Easier explanation (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Easier explanation (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, yes, the blood moves. It's also often about a massive chemical reaction in your brain. I have a semi-rare condition where pheromones are very obvious to me. Some girls actually can make my head hurt, though I haven't had such reactions since I turned about 40.
Being able to sense the drug incoming, I was able to examine my reaction over the years. My heart raced, my chest tightened, and I longed for whichever girl I saw next. Often, I'd get hit with it from behind, before I saw any girl. I would be incapable of thinking of anything else but the girl who brought this to me. It takes a while for that to wash out of your system. A few hours later, I'd often think, "What the hell was I so enraptured about? She's nothing special."
Parent
Re:Easier explanation (Score:5, Funny)
I have a semi-rare condition where pheromones are very obvious to me.
I have a semi-rare medical condition that makes my head hurt when I smell bullsh*t.
Parent
Re:Easier explanation (Score:5, Funny)
Don't become a farmer.
Parent
Re:Easier explanation (Score:5, Interesting)
THOMAS (The Human Oxytocin-Mediated Attachment System) How to run a con [psychologytoday.com]
Schneir on Oxytocin [schneier.com]
Oxytocin [psychologytoday.com].
Now, you know that whole "chemistry" thing, where some people strike you as attractive and some just... don't? That's in part determined by the differences between your immune systems.
That works because if the genes that code for your major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are similar to the other person's, you'll tend to find them less attractive than otherwise, and vice-versa. Why mate with someone who's immune to the same stuff you are? Your offspring won't have any survival advantage. Instead, evolution has selected for creatures that mate with partners whose immune systems are incompatible. Either because both parents tend to be unlikely to be sick at the same time, ensuring the presence of at least one caregiver. Or because some the offspring of such pairings get a mix of genes that features the the best bits of both parents. (Offspring that get the worst of both parents tend not to survive, but that's a problem for individuals, not the species.)
Love is just a chemical reaction in your brain, anyway. It's not magical, or sacred, or even very special. It's your brain recognizing the opportunity to mate with someone who matches your particular template for an ideal partner (usually based on early experiences, parents, and other external factors), and shooting you up with natural drugs to make you feel like it's way more than it really is.
Parent
Re:Easier explanation (Score:5, Funny)
They're called spouses.
Parent
Re:Easier explanation (Score:5, Funny)
As Robin Williams put it, "See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time."
-Peter
Parent
Re:Easier explanation (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Easier explanation (Score:5, Insightful)
This study seems like a barely concealed reason to bring attractive women into the lab
Taking them along to meet with the grant committee would probably explain the funding.
-jcr
Parent
Re:I have found it works both ways (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Works on Women Too! (Score:5, Funny)
thats due to the alcohol content required to get her into your car
Parent
This is just the male BIOS (Score:5, Funny)
I BSOD all time, where BSOD is Blank Stare Of Desire.
And yes, I need a reboot to come back
Re:This is just the male BIOS (Score:5, Funny)
For everyone's sake, please do your "rebooting" in private.
Parent
Irresponsible Journalism (Score:5, Funny)
This story is worthless without pics!!!
Re:Irresponsible Journalism (Score:5, Funny)
This story is worthless without pics!!!
Well, the submitter had pics, but then he looked at them, got stupid, and forgot to include them.
Parent
Abusive behavior caused confusion. (Score:5, Insightful)
Another story: Men were given a huge meal of food they love. After eating, they did less well on tests.
Even more: Men were subjected to adversarial behavior from women who were being seductive, but had no interest in the men. The men responded with confusion, and later did less well on tests.
Parent
Re:Irresponsible Journalism (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Attractive women? (Score:5, Funny)
What is this "attractive woman" device you speak of?
Re:Attractive women? (Score:5, Funny)
I'll explain it to you right after I finish imagining a Beowulf cluster of them...
Parent
Why after? (Score:4, Interesting)
Trying to impress? (Score:5, Insightful)
From TFSummary:
How about the even more simple explanation of just being distracted by the beautiful woman and imagining her naked with her legs wrapped around you is taking up all of your resources? "Trying to impress" doesn't need to come into it at all (and likely doesn't because usually having your mind so completely occupied that you become a dumbass doesn't really impress people), and seems like a stretch of a conclusion to come up with. Far more likely that thought of sex have simply completely taken over the brain and body, as they so often do..
Like the old joke says, men have a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to operate one at a time. ;)
Re:Trying to impress? (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:Trying to impress? (Score:5, Insightful)
You're both missing the point. Of course they dress that way to attract attention, it's just that the attention they want isn't from YOU. If you watch the whole girl-drama thing in it's entirely you'd see something like this:
awkwardNerd: Hi really-hot-chick, how are you today?
really-hot-chick: Oh my GOD! Are you looking at my chest? You pervert! My eyes are up here!
awkwardNerd: I...um, no, I....gah. (awkwardNerd retreats against the onslaught of really-hot-chick's righteous fury)
22 seconds later:
muscle-guy-fratboy: Hey really-hot-chick, look at you! Niiiiiiiiiice!
really-hot-chick: awwe, muscle-guy-fratboy, you big jerk (said with a smile and a forward-lean exposing even more cleavage)
They want to be noticed, they're just not always happy with who notices them.....
Parent
Never make a pretty woman your wife (Score:5, Funny)
Theres a song, by the Skatellites.
Obviously this now has a scientific basis:
If you wanna be happy
For the rest of your life,
Never make a pretty woman your wife,
So from my personal point of view,
Get an ugly girl to marry you.
A pretty woman makes her husband look small
And very often causes his downfall.
As soon as he marries her
Then she starts to do
The things that will break his heart.
But if you make an ugly woman your wife,
You'll be happy for the rest of your life,
An ugly woman cooks her meals on time,
She'll always give you peace of mind.
If you wanna be happy
For the rest of your life,
Never make a pretty woman your wife,
So from my personal point of view,
Get an ugly girl to marry you.
Don't let your friends say
You have no taste,
Go ahead and marry anyway,
Though her face is ugly,
Her eyes don't match,
Take it from me she's a better catch.
If you wanna be happy
For the rest of your life,
Never make a pretty woman your wife,
So from my personal point of view,
Get an ugly girl to marry you.
Say man.
Hey baby.
Saw your wife the other day.
Yeah?
Yeah, she's ugly.
Yeah, she's ugly but she sure can cook.
Yeah?. Okay.
If you wanna be happy
For the rest of your life,
Never make a pretty woman your wife,
So from my personal point of view,
Get an ugly girl to marry you.
Re:Never make a pretty woman your wife (Score:5, Funny)
For your sake, I hope your wife does not have mod points. Actually either way you are sleeping on the couch
Parent
Re:Never make a pretty woman your wife (Score:5, Informative)
The song is called, "If You Wanna Be Happy" and is originally by Jimmy Soul, released 1963. Not by the band you mentioned. As a music lover, I must give credit where credit is due.
Parent
Re:Never make a pretty woman your wife (Score:5, Funny)
Mod this guy informative, and then get way the hell offa his lawn...
Parent
Gender segregation in school. (Score:5, Insightful)
Now there is a concrete argument for gender segregation of boys and girls in school.... I wonder how women react around rich men?
Re:Gender segregation in school. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
What do you mean "temporary"? (Score:5, Funny)
Crimeny, women have made me stupid for decades. When does it get better?
Why the average Slashdotter is so smart (Score:5, Insightful)
This explains why the average Slashdotter is so smart. They found the best solution to this problem: stay away from women, however beautiful they may be, altogether!
The next time someone gives you crap for living in voluntary solitary confinement in your mom's basement, at least you'll know you're making the smart choice.
Dual core (Score:5, Funny)
One time, a group of us guys were at the grocery store buying some beer. I was having a conversation with one of my friends at the checkout counter as I saw a really, really, hot girl. My eyes were attached to her and couldn't let go. I was able to keep up with the conversation despite not looking at my friend.
He then asked "Are you really paying attention or are you just looking at that hot chick?"
I replied, "No, I'm paying attention. I'm like a dual-core processor. One is for our conversation and the other is right now on the girl"
Then my other friend said, "I am dual-core as well. But both cores are hung on that girl. "
Selecting for stupidity. (Score:5, Interesting)
stupid*er* (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe beautiful women just make the stupid psychological tests seem less important by comparison.
More info for these researchers (Score:5, Funny)
Hey guys,
You might want to study whether the sun is bright or if the sky is blue.
FWIW I'm not sure that it's always "if you're trying to impress them" or even due to sexual urges - I know there have been times when I've been introduced to some exceptionally attractive woman, and it's like my mind has just shut off (and no, I don't mean that something else has switched on!). It's as if she has this thought dampening field and I'm stuck in it, just based on proximity and the fact that she's paying some level of attention to me.
But of course that's never happened since I've been married, because I don't even notice other women... right honey?
It Cuts Both Ways (Score:5, Funny)
I always wondered why I meet so many stupid men (Score:5, Insightful)
The singular of data (Score:5, Insightful)
I could have told you that.
It's embarrassing is what it is, to be turned into a drooling moron and then realise later just how stupid you sounded.
Anecdote is not, nor ever will be, the singular of "data". Sure, everyone may know this. Sure, the outcome may seem obvious to everyone. However, it is not empirical fact until it is studied and established as such. How many common sense "truths" have turned out to be not so true when properly analyzed over the history of human scientific endeavor? In the case of this study, anecdote and assumption about human behavior has now become data, and can be used as such in psychology and sociology to continue to study and describe how and why we are the way we are.
Now that we have established the phenomenon (doot dooo do-do-doot) as data, perhaps we can look into the actual physiological mechanisms which control it.
I would think that above all else, the type of people who read a "news for nerds" site would appreciate research for research sake. :-/
Parent
Re:The singular of data (Score:5, Insightful)
Evolution, my friend. If a reproductively desirable female doesn't arouse you, your
genes have come to the end of their otherwise long and successful run.
I think you misunderstand what I meant by "physiological mechanisms". Just saying "evolution, my friend" does not explain anything about what is happening in the brain and body at the cellular and molecular level. Yes, we know that females arouse us. This study suggests data that brain processing for other things is inhibited. Now, what I am curious about at least, it would be interesting to know how and where (in the brain) and by what physiological mechanisms the processing is being shunted.
There is more to understanding biology than just saying, "Oh that's naturally evolved behavior." Some of us want to know exactly what has evolved and been selected for at the cellular and subcellular level.
Parent
So obvious it MUST be true :-/ (Score:5, Insightful)
Durrr... sorry to double comment on the same post, but I wanted to address this.
Some things count as so obvious as to not require scientific inquiry. Hot women give get males wood. You don't need
to publish this to claim it, end of story.
Yes, and for centuries it was so obvious that no scientific scrutiny was required that the sun went around the earth, not the other way around. It was also completely obvious that a heavier object would fall faster than a lighter object. It was also obvious that things would get cold because the cold of the surroundings would flow into them. It was also so obvious that time passes at a constant rate, regardless of our perceptions and reference frames. It was also so obvious that humans are the only organisms to experience emotion and pain.
Obviously there are a great many things that are so obvious as to not require scientific inquiry.
Point being, a great many things are so obvious. A great many of those obvious things also turn out to be correct in light of empirical data. However, we are not allowed to treat those scientifically and draw scientific conclusions from them until they are established as empirical data. This is one of the fundamental requirements for science, and I would think people on a "news for nerds" site would get that. Taking the obvious for granted as true is exactly the kind of mentality that brings about pseudoscience. Science requires empiricism, even for the bleedingly obvious.
Parent
Re:Again - people were paid to study this? (Score:5, Insightful)
I used to get tongue-tied thinking I was unworthy of this gorgeous woman & becoming nervous & basically being an idiot. But now with advancing age I realize Beauty is only transitory. Today's "hottie" will probably be a "fatty" by the time she's 30 or 40 (see Pierce Brosnan's wife as an excellent example).*
In other words, they all get ugly eventually, just like me. So that gives me confidence.
*
* http://www.beforeandaftermarriage.com/celebrity/fat-keely-shaye-smith [beforeanda...rriage.com]
Parent
Re:Again - people were paid to study this? (Score:4, Insightful)
Too bad I don't have any mod points. For a totally off comment and asshole statement like yours, a negative moderation is most definitely called for.
Parent
Re:Scientifically meaningless? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's perfectly valid if they don't claim it generalizes past the confines of the experiment. Of course the /. headline is then inaccurate, but it's not like that doesn't happen anyway. The problem is that there are thousands of variables that can affect an experiment, and you can't test them all in one go. What about testosterone level? Time since last having sex? Relationship status? Heterosexuals account for roughly 90% of the population, which makes them a reasonable group of test subjects for an experiment.
That said, I'd be extremely interested to see a similar study that takes sexual preference into account. Even more interesting would be to study transsexuals whose mind and body disagree on sex; as you might find that straight FTMs exhibit the same behavior as the heterosexual males, despite having female bodies themselves.
Playing devils advocate (here agreeing with you I guess), don't forget that not everyone can be cleanly lumped into those four bins of preference, you insensitive clod!;)
Parent
Re:Can I just add something here? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:There got to be an App for that... (Score:5, Funny)
A lot less than for an app which makes me look like Brad Pitt in front of attractive women. Got one of those?
Parent
Re:There got to be an App for that... (Score:5, Interesting)
There was a cool Enfield trick that we learned last time we were in India; if you can't start your bike on a cold dewy morning, just take out the spark plug, pour a little bit of petrol into the chamber, put spark plug back in, and bang, it starts first kick
The guy who taught it to us used the same trick in the Israeli Defence Force to start tanks in the desert.
Parent
Re:ironically (Score:4, Funny)
It was pointed out to me, that most women are smarter than their spouses. This study just proves that long lasting affect is normal.
The person that pointed this out to me is my wife. 10+ points higher than me.
Parent