| 'The Science of Sex Appeal' is a documentary from back in 2009; I found it really interesting so I thought I'd share some of the notes I took- they pretty much sum it up, but it's still worth a watch.
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- Sex appeal is not a matter of taste, it’s a biological imperative
- We are hard wired to read genetic clues in a potential mate’s face, body shape and sway, scent and voice.
The Face
- Some features are more important to attractiveness than others: (i) the width of the eye being equal to the distance between the eyes; (ii) the ratio of the mouth width to the nose width being equal to the golden ratio (Plato’s golden ratio).
- When we spot someone attractive from across a room, the spark we feel stems from a lightning fast subconscious analysis of that person’s face.
The differences between men’s and women’s faces are caused by the sex hormones. Most of us seem to be attracted to members of the opposite sex who possess a strong dose of these sex hormones during puberty.
Faces start to change at puberty; they are the indicators of health and fertility.
~A very masculine face in a man (long squared jaw, thicker brows, squared hairline) suggests that he has high testosterone.
~A woman’s face which is very feminine (smaller jaw, higher and thinner brows) suggests she has higher female hormones and a healthy reproductive system.
Faces can undergo subtle changes from one day to the next; women get more attractive when they’re ovulating.
The Body
Our brains work quickly to size up faces and bodies for attractiveness, secretly ranking potential partners.
Humans use the waist as an indicator of a person’s gender.
Our brains judge how a body looks as it moves. The following were deemed to be most attractive:
- For men: straight torso walking with a masculine shoulder swagger
- For women: hourglass shape walking with a lot of hip swag
This has nothing to do with health or fertility, but rather a combination of cues. When you have a very masculine/feminine body shape and walk, it’s easier for the observer to process your gender, making you more attractive.
Men focus on breasts because they are a signal that the woman is past puberty, and is probably able to reproduce.
The Mating Process based on Physical Attraction
Some experiments done in human social dynamics:
Experiment 1:
(i) Dressed up 10 men and 10 women in sexually neutral outfits.
(ii) Everyone had a number on their head. They didn’t know their own number but they could see everyone else's.
(iii) The task is to get the highest number they possibly can, while realizing that they have a number on their own head that people are responding to as well.
(iv) Must pick a partner by going off and offering their hand to someone of the opposite sex. The person could then accept or deny them.
The numbers drawn at random are meant to represent desirability; 1 being least and 10 being most. In the real world where most of us don’t know how attractive we are, we tend to aim high, then gradually we will work our way down to someone who will accept us.
Results:
~ The people with the high numbers were able to hold back a little; they got more offers. The people with the low numbers didn’t get any offers.
~ How this can be related to real life: it opens a window into the mind of an adolescent who is not fully aware of how attractive he or she is. a person who is considered a “10” will get a lot of offers from the opposite sex, and will eventually have some sense that they have more opportunities.
Experiment 2:
(i) Before the men and women met face to face, they were made to rate each others' physical appearance on a scale of 1 to 10. Each person was then given an average attractiveness rating.
(ii) Test subjects were then told to try and reel in the most physically attractive person they can (in their opinion) by using the same method as before: offer their hand; person can either accept or deny.
Results:
~ Each person ended up with a partner within a point or so of themselves.
Voice
When a woman and a man out on a first date make small talk, their “antenna” for sex appeal isn’t focused on what the person is saying, but on how they’re saying it.
- Men prefer higher pitched voices. A higher pitch indicates femininity, health, and youth: younger women have higher pitch voices, as do women with a higher estrogen level.
- Women prefer deeper, more masculine voices. The pitch of the man’s voice is also related to how much testosterone the man had at puberty; women pick up on these testosterone cues on a subconscious level.
Just like a woman's faces becomes more appealing during ovulation, so does her voice. During ovulation, a woman’s voice has a higher pitch.
Social and Financial Status
An attractive man is not the same as an attractive woman; each sex is picky about slightly different things.
The selectiveness of females for dominant males leads to competition amongst males and various kinds of showing off.
- Men prioritize physical attractiveness, women prioritize status; they let the men do the work of deciding who’s on top, and then they tend to choose them based on this.
~ The reason women are choosier about men is because sex is more costly for them; men can have sex and walk away, whereas women could face 9 months of pregnancy and years of childcare.
~ Women’s desire to share this burden leads them to search for clues beyond simple physical attractiveness- clues to a man’s status, wealth, and overall suitability as a partner and protector.
Human reproduction is not just about sex- it’s also about keeping that partner; and so attractive women may not marry men as handsome as they are beautiful, because they are trading for other sorts of characteristics, for resources or commitment.
Research has shown that women can change their perception of a man based on the car he drives:
- They were asked to rate pictures of the front of cars just as they would rate photos of men.
- They preferred cars which show dominance and power; this could have something to do with the fact that they assume these particular cars are safer. They also turn out to be more expensive.
Experiment: how directly social and financial status can change a woman’s perception of a man
(i) Photographs were taken of men
(ii) Each man was assigned a different job
(iii) Pictures were shown to random women on the street; along with the picture, the man’s job and income were stated.
Results:
- Based on just physical attractiveness, man X got a 4/10 average rating. However, when told he had an income of $245, 000 and a high status job (music industry executive) he was given as high as an 8 by some women.
- Based on just physical attractiveness, man Y got 9/10 average rating. However, with a $23,000 paycheck as a retail clerk, he experienced a serious loss of sex appeal- getting as low as a 3 out of 10 form some women.
- Guy Z, who ranked lowest on the physical attractiveness scale of all the men in the lab, was said to make $375, 000 (Software Entrepreneur) and was given as high as a 10 by some women.
Scent
A secretion that influences sexual behavior is androstenone.
Men produce this hormone in their apocrine glands, which cluster wherever there’s body hair.
- Females generally hate this smell
- However, during ovulation, women stop finding the smell of androstenone distasteful, and begin to like it. During this time, males smell good, attractive males in particular.
- For men, androstenone is an efficient mating radar, repelling women unless they’re fertile.
- Salty water from a man’s sweat glands blends with the androstenone from apocrine glands, and together they nurture the bacteria that live on the skin. This microscopic breading ground gives every man a unique smell- one that women are sharply attuned to.
In our brain, the processing of odors is very closely related to emotional responses, as well as genetic ones.
Experiment: done to find out whether there is a specific preference for the odor of one guy which is the same for all the girls in their sample group, or whether it’s a matching system where each girl prefers the odor of a different guy.
(i) The men were made to run on the treadmill.
(ii) Their sweaty t-shirts were collected and each put in a different jar.
(iii) The women were then asked to smell each jar containing a different t-shirt, and rate the smell on an attractiveness scale.
Results:
Women only liked a man’s smell if two conditions were met:
(i) The woman had to be within a day or two of ovulation.
(ii) The MHC (major histocompatibility complex) genes of the man had to be significantly different from their own.
The women’s sense of smell was also steering them clear of relatives. When confronted with the smell of a family member, the woman had a strong negative reaction.
- Connection between how we smell and the MHC:
o MHC is a section of our DNA that determines which diseases our immune system is equipped to fight.
o No two people have the same MHC combination; therefore no two people smell the same.
o Our immune system determines which bacteria can live on our skin, and the bacteria is what makes our sweat smell.
- People prefer body scents that are different from their own.
- Closely related individuals will have a similar immune system; this results in similar body odors, which will the result in incest avoidance.
- Scent steers women away from genetically unsuitable partners, and towards ones who will give them healthy kids.
- A man’s smell may repel, but the scent of a woman is completely different.
o When men are exposed to vaginal secretion, they will lose the ability to distinguish between an attractive woman and a less attractive woman.
Flirting
Men and women on the prowl play a game of cat and mouse, sizing up each others' sex appeal while trying to promote their own; this is known as flirting.
While studying speed dating, researchers found:
- Men tend to talk about their occupations, jobs, where they got their degrees
- Women amp up signs that they are attractive, indications of youth
- A naive observer of speed dating could tell, judging by facial expressions, if the man was interested in the woman- but they would not be able to guess if the woman was interested in the man.
o Most of what a man needs to know about a woman is obvious- her face and body are billboards for her genetic health
o But because women look beyond genes, they care about a man’s status and resources; so they are seeking to elicit information to assess how good of a mate he might be. Therefore, they act like they’re interested, ask questions, etc.
o Men therefore think women are into them; but they are often wrong. They tend to rate a woman’s sexual interest in them on the medium to high side; but if you ask a woman to assess the sexual interest, she will assess it on the medium to low side.
o Evolutionary explanation for this: for men underestimating a woman’s sexual interest could result in a missed reproductive opportunity
Sex
- Men have a good deal of testosterone in their saliva, and so when a man and woman are kissing, she is receiving that testosterone; testosterone is the hormone of sexual desires.
- Dopamine is experienced during sex. It gives you the feeling of elation and euphoria; it is the brain’s pleasure chemical. The dopamine high is addictive- it keeps us coming back for more.
o Elevated dopamine levels seem to raise the sex drive even in non-romantic situations.
o Example: thrill sports like bungee jumping deliver a big dopamine rush.
o After bungee jumping, women were noted to give men higher ratings on the attractiveness scale.
Relationships
Test subjects were put inside an MRI scanner, and were made to look at two photos- one of their significant other, and one of a casual acquaintance.
Findings when the test subjects looked at their significant other:
o Activity in a part of the brain called the ventral tegmental area. This is where dopamine is made.
o Also found activity in the caudate nucleus. This is where many factors from our past experience and present environment combine with dopamine to produce and experience. This is the brain system that gets galvanized when you want, crave, focus on something; when you try to win something.
~ The mental difference between lust and love boils down to this one structure in the brain; lust is a thrill seekers high, one that fades with time. Falling in love rewards those who relentlessly pursue a goal- to be with their loved one.
They are different brain systems, meaning:
• You can feel the sex drive for somebody and not be in love with them
• You can be in love with somebody and never have had sex with them
Infidelity
New research shows that women also seek sexual variety.
- Women tend to prefer guys with masculine faces; but this depends on how close they are to ovulation. When they are ovulating, they do indeed prefer a more masculine face, but when they are not, they prefer a more feminine one.
- Women , even married ones, may be biologically driven to promiscuity.
o A woman may choose for a long term mate a guy that possesses good “dad” traits; is kind, able to provide etc.
o She may engage in unfaithful behavior if (i) the long term partner she is with does not also possess those “sexy” traits that are indicators of good genes, and (ii) she is ovulating.
o It doesn’t make sense for a woman to engage in underhanded behavior if she has no chance of conceiving an offspring.
- When women expose their flesh and make exaggerated body movements, it causes male testosterone levels to rise.
- Researchers found that women who actually had a long term partner but went out dancing with a friend other than their partner, sent out the most sexual signals- they exposed most of their skin, and moved most attractively.
o Women who were ovulating were the most flirtatious.
o Women who were ovulating and had a steady partner were the most flirtatious of all.
Monogamy
90% of North American prairie voles spend their entire adult lives with one partner.
- When scientists looked in the brains of monogamous male voles, they found high levels of a hormone called vasopressin; promiscuous male voles had drastically lower vasopressin levels
- Likewise, vasopressin is the monogamy prone hormone in males too.
- High levels of a hormone called oxytocin is present in the brains of monogamous women.
-Roz _________________ NOTE: I'm taking a break from the site, and hence will not be responding to any messages! 
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