PDA

View Full Version : Pretty women scramble men's ability to assess the



Tom
12-12-2003, 01:30 AM
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=n

s99994469 (\"http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994469\")
Pretty women scramble men\'s ability to assess the future

00:01 10 December 03



NewScientist.com news service


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.

Biologists have long

known that animals prefer immediate rewards to greater ones in the future. This process, known as \"discounting the

future\", is found in humans too and is fundamental to many economic models.

Resources have a value to

individuals that changes through time. For example, immediately available cash is generally worth more than the same

amount would be in the future. But greater amounts of money in the future would be worth waiting for under so-called

\'rational\' discounting.

But some people, such as drug addicts, show \'irrational\' discounting. For

example, preferring a small amount of heroin today rather than a greater amount in the future.

Margo Wilson and

Martin Daly of McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada decided to investigate discounting behaviour and see if it

varied with sexual mood.

Male students, when shown pictures of pretty women, were more likely to opt for

short-term economic gain than wait for a better reward in the future.


Sexual opportunity

Both male and

female students at McMaster University were shown pictures of the opposite sex of varying attractiveness taken from

the website \'Hot or Not\'. The 209 students were then offered the chance to win a reward. They could either

accept a cheque for between $15 and $35 tomorrow or one for $50-$75 at a variable point in the future.

Wilson and

Daly found that male students shown the pictures of averagely attractive women showed exponential discounting of the

future value of the reward. This indicated that they had made a rational decision. When male students were shown

pictures of pretty women, they discounted the future value of the reward in an \"irrational\" way - they would opt

for the smaller amount of money available the next day rather than wait for a much bigger reward.

Women, by

contrast, made equally rational decisions whether they had been shown pictures of handsome men or those of average

attractiveness.


Subscribe to New Scientist for more news and features


Related Stories



Cockerels dole out more sperm to new lovers
5 November 2003

Men die young - even if old
25 July 2002



Lionesses go for dark, flowing manes
22 August 2002


For more related stories
search the print edition

Archive



Weblinks

Hot or Not

McMaster University

University of Leeds



\"We have not

elucidated the psychological mechanisms mediating our results,\" says Margo Wilson. \"But we hypothesise that

viewing pictures of pretty women was mildly arousing, activating neural mechanisms associated with cues of sexual

opportunity.\"

Tommaso Pizzari, an evolutionary biologist at Leeds University, offers another possible

explanation: \"If there\'s the prospect of getting a very attractive partner it may pay a man to take more risks

than if an average partner was available.\"

He told New Scientist: \"If this is a response to sexual selection

then you would expect men who are less attractive to take more risks. If you have many attractive potential partners

then it does not pay to take risks. If you are less attractive, with few potential partners, then it pays to take

risks.\"

Journal reference: Biology Letters (DOI 10.1098/rsbl.2003.0134)


Danny Penman

Kari
12-12-2003, 07:10 AM
</font><blockquote><font class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr

/>

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?i

d=ns99994469 (\"http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994469\")
Pretty women scramble men\'s ability to assess the future

00:01 10 December 03



NewScientist.com news service


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.

Biologists have long

known that animals prefer immediate rewards to greater ones in the future. This process, known as \"discounting the

future\", is found in humans too and is fundamental to many economic models.

Resources have a value to

individuals that changes through time. For example, immediately available cash is generally worth more than the same

amount would be in the future. But greater amounts of money in the future would be worth waiting for under so-called

\'rational\' discounting.

But some people, such as drug addicts, show \'irrational\' discounting. For

example, preferring a small amount of heroin today rather than a greater amount in the future.

Margo Wilson and

Martin Daly of McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada decided to investigate discounting behaviour and see if it

varied with sexual mood.

Male students, when shown pictures of pretty women, were more likely to opt for

short-term economic gain than wait for a better reward in the future.


Sexual opportunity

Both male and

female students at McMaster University were shown pictures of the opposite sex of varying attractiveness taken from

the website \'Hot or Not\'. The 209 students were then offered the chance to win a reward. They could either

accept a cheque for between $15 and $35 tomorrow or one for $50-$75 at a variable point in the future.

Wilson and

Daly found that male students shown the pictures of averagely attractive women showed exponential discounting of the

future value of the reward. This indicated that they had made a rational decision. When male students were shown

pictures of pretty women, they discounted the future value of the reward in an \"irrational\" way - they would opt

for the smaller amount of money available the next day rather than wait for a much bigger reward.

Women, by

contrast, made equally rational decisions whether they had been shown pictures of handsome men or those of average

attractiveness.


Subscribe to New Scientist for more news and features


Related Stories



Cockerels dole out more sperm to new lovers
5 November 2003

Men die young - even if old
25 July 2002



Lionesses go for dark, flowing manes
22 August 2002


For more related stories
search the print edition

Archive



Weblinks

Hot or Not

McMaster University

University of Leeds



\"We have not

elucidated the psychological mechanisms mediating our results,\" says Margo Wilson. \"But we hypothesise that

viewing pictures of pretty women was mildly arousing, activating neural mechanisms associated with cues of sexual

opportunity.\"

Tommaso Pizzari, an evolutionary biologist at Leeds University, offers another possible

explanation: \"If there\'s the prospect of getting a very attractive partner it may pay a man to take more risks

than if an average partner was available.\"

He told New Scientist: \"If this is a response to sexual selection

then you would expect men who are less attractive to take more risks. If you have many attractive potential partners

then it does not pay to take risks. If you are less attractive, with few potential partners, then it pays to take

risks.\"

Journal reference: Biology Letters (DOI 10.1098/rsbl.2003.0134)


Danny Penman

<hr

/></blockquote><font class=\"post\">

This is because in men, the blood can be in the brain OR the penis. It

cannot be both places. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

jamesdeanmartin
12-12-2003, 07:33 AM
The blood can be in your head? Someone should have really told me about this, I would have

mad much wiser decisions in the past...

Pancho1188
12-12-2003, 08:10 AM
Does that mean I have to be willing to kill someone in order to have sex with a woman?

cuddlebear
12-12-2003, 12:51 PM
Pretty (and/or naked) women can screw up men\'s minds? This is news??????