

Happy Guys Finish Last, Says New Study on Sexual Attractiveness - thomasgerbe
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110524070310.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20sciencedaily%20%28ScienceDaily:%20Latest%20Science%20News%29

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extension
Dear Science, You will never figure out attraction by putting people in a lab
and asking them what they like. It's more complicated than that. You'll
understand when you're older.

~~~
oasisbob
_"It is important to remember that this study explored first-impressions of
sexual attraction to images of the opposite sex," says Alec Beall, a UBC
psychology graduate student and study co-author. "We were not asking
participants if they thought these targets would make a good boyfriend or wife
-- we wanted their gut reactions on carnal, sexual attraction."_

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extension
That is just grazing the surface of what is wrong with an experiment like
this. For example:

\- people may react differently to photos than they do to real people

\- people may react differently in a lab than they do in a real life courting
situation

\- people may lie about their attractions for unfathomable reasons

\- people may not even know what they are attracted to

\- the people in the photos can't necessarily fake emotions convincingly

These kinds of issues confound most psychological experiments but you _really_
can't dismiss them when it comes to sex.

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mazsa
FYI: [http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-4-big-myths-of-
profile...](http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-4-big-myths-of-profile-
pictures/)

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brandall10
There's two types of smiling:

1) An honest expression of joy 2) A manifestation of nervous energy

A confident guy in the presence of an attractive woman will do #1. A shy guy
will do #2. #2 displays the guy thinks he isn't worthy. The sub-communication
is neediness. #1 displays that the guy is comfortable around women like her.
The sub-communication is contentment, abundance.

Women can tell the difference.

~~~
hugh3
And if the images as shown are really those used in the study then all the
emotions just look _fake_. Humans are pretty good at telling the difference
between real emotions and fake emotions (which is part of the reason why good
actors can make so much money).

I once volunteered for a study on how the brain processes emotion in the voice
in schizophrenic patients (I was in the control group... I hope!). While
seventy bucks for half an hour's work sounds pretty good when you're a
student, it turns out that lying in an incredibly loud MRI machine for half an
hour while headphones play a nonstop series of bad actors enunciating the
words "It's eight o'clock" while trying to sound "happy" vs "fearful" vs
"angry" vs "neutral" is really hard and relatively unpleasant work. Anyway,
the point of this story is that the actors on the recording obviously weren't
_really_ happy or fearful or angry about the fact that it's eight o'clock, so
I always wondered whether my brain processed that obviously-fake emotion
differently to real emotion. And who knows if that's what's going on here?

Besides, the guy in his "proud" pose is showing off some reasonably impressive
arm muscles which are otherwise hidden under his baggy t-shirt -- no wonder he
looks more attractive!

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jcampbell1
I bet these researchers have discovered that a superficial display of pride in
an oversized white t-shirt is popular among men because it highlights boobs.
The study is flawed beyond repair.

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rokhayakebe
Ok, I will test it this Saturday and report.

~~~
toponium
Hah was thinking the same thing. Going to put it to work tonight

