Tuesday 2 September 2008

Sam: Copy Cat


We’ve talked about the downsides of frienditis, but can there actually be any advantages to having loads of attractive females around you? Well it turns out there can.

Our reptilian brains constantly have to make high speed choices whether we should trust new people we meet, and it’s particularly important for women who generally have to look after the consequences should attraction go wrong. We are superficial lizard brains at heart, and people like people that others find attractive. A team of German and Austrian researchers have found that having attractive women around you is an effective mate-finding shortcut.

As we all know, finding a good partner takes time, energy and sometimes even money. When one woman finds a man attractive, others will engage in ‘mate choice copying’ and flock to him too. Apparently birds and fish do the same thing too.

Maybe this goes someway to explain that infuriating phenomena so many people have been through. Suddenly when with a girlfriend, there are no shortage of offers and opportunities, but, when you are single the only constantly available ladies are mother fist and her five daughters. No, it wasn’t some cruel joke, turns out all those women were just programmed to play copy cat.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ever notice how this doesn't work for women? If men see a woman surrounded by attractive men I've found they think some pretty unpleasant things:

1) She's one of those women who men treat as a friend because there's something "wrong" with her, be it mind or body

2) She's a potential "tart" and not worth the effort

3) She's already taken by one of the group, therefore don't bother to approach

There are a few more things, but I can't recall them at the moment. Please note that I'm female, have seen this in action, and have checked with a few male friends to confirm my interpretations. :(

butterflywings said...

I was thinking much the same as Saffron.
Funny how this so-called "research" coincidentally confirms the worst sexist prejudices in the minds of the researchers, isn't it?