research: liking pheromones & good looks

[ismellgood]

Here is an interesting

study:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15156922



which speaks to the sensitivity of the receiver and their appreciation for good looks (aka the promise

of good genes) in potential partners.

[belgareth]

I wonder how the correlates to

the ancient symbols of fertility versus more modern preferences? If you look at the oldest symbols for fertility the

female figures are, by modern standards, huge! Big, wide hips, heavy thighs and pendulous breasts. Today's figures

are tall and slender to the point of appearing half starved. By comparison, the male symbols have changed little.



If our genetic preference is for more robust women, why the change over the years? It almost seems

counter-productive as a woman carrying a lot of weight would be better able to carry and nurse children.

[eric_pelletier_tw]

simple awnser success

& healt...

A slim & cute girl is more successful helping the male success...
a slim but fit woman is just as

able to carry a kid than a fatty one...
[actualy maybe this unconsious :a fatter woman is more likely to be sick

than a healty & fit one ...]

old time ppl toght fat girls where better carriers than slim ones... that figure

has changed & that change changed the way we see girls :)

[ismellgood]

On average:
Due to

evolutionary factors, male preference for female body mass index (fatness) tends to be a function of food scarcity.

When food supplies are unstable (and were unstable during the male's childhood), men look for women who carry

enough fat to deal with that. When there is/was ample food, men look for women who are less susceptible to the many

diseases that fatness produces. In either case, men look for a low waist to hip ratio.

[belgareth]

The period of time these

preferences formed is when food was nowhere near as plentiful as it is now. All animals attempt to build up fat

against famine that's why to this day we tend to gain a little weight in late summer and fall. It helped our

ancestors make it through the winter. Under those conditions a slim woman has less chance of carrying a child to

term or being able to nurse it for the 3-4 years children were nursed during that period.

[ismellgood]

The preferences for fatness

are not absolute, but contingent on interaction with the environment (there are behaviorally-relevant genes which

only activate upon certain environmental events). Hence, as I wrote above.