Saturday, December 13, 2003
Beautiful women cause stupidity...
...in men, if this research can be believed. According to psychology professors Margo Wilson and Martin Daly, men simply cannot think straight after looking at a beautiful woman, or even a photograph of them.
The researchers showed male students pictures of both attractive and non-attractive women. Then they had the men roll dice. When they threw double digits, the men would get a choice: take between $15 and $35 the next day, or take $50 to $75 after a wait of one week to eight months. The men who had just viewed pictures of "hot" women were far more likely to take the lesser sum right away, says the study, printed recently in Biology Letters, a Royal Society journal.
The same test was done with female students. There was no difference in the response of the women who had just seen pictures of "hot" men and the response of those who had seen pictures of average or non-attractive men. The pictures were taken from a popular website which invites visitors to rate the attractiveness of people who have submitted pictures of themselves. The psychologists' finding is that men stop thinking about consequences when testosterone takes over.
Okay, that's a comforting thought alright. I wonder if the same reaction can be elicited by showing men live sports and women the shopping aisles at Macy's :) But let's leave that to the next batch of evolutionary psychologists, shall we.
The researchers showed male students pictures of both attractive and non-attractive women. Then they had the men roll dice. When they threw double digits, the men would get a choice: take between $15 and $35 the next day, or take $50 to $75 after a wait of one week to eight months. The men who had just viewed pictures of "hot" women were far more likely to take the lesser sum right away, says the study, printed recently in Biology Letters, a Royal Society journal.
The same test was done with female students. There was no difference in the response of the women who had just seen pictures of "hot" men and the response of those who had seen pictures of average or non-attractive men. The pictures were taken from a popular website which invites visitors to rate the attractiveness of people who have submitted pictures of themselves. The psychologists' finding is that men stop thinking about consequences when testosterone takes over.
Okay, that's a comforting thought alright. I wonder if the same reaction can be elicited by showing men live sports and women the shopping aisles at Macy's :) But let's leave that to the next batch of evolutionary psychologists, shall we.
