(Password: hjernevask)

Brainwash 1: 7 – ”The Gender Equality Paradox” – http://vimeo.com/19707588

Brainwash 2: 7 – ”The Parental Effect” http://vimeo.com/19893826

Brainwash 3: 7 – ”Gay/straight” http://vimeo.com/19869748

Brainwash 4: 7 – ”Violence” http://vimeo.com/19921232

Brainwash 5: 7 – ”Sex” http://vimeo.com/19921928

Brainwash 6: 7 – ”Race” http://vimeo.com/19922972

Brainwash 7: 7 – ”Nature or Nurture” http://vimeo.com/19889788

Apparently, this is what influenced Norway to abolish women’s studies. It’s a series called “brainwashing”. It’s super-amazingly cool.

A physically attractive person charged with the same crime as a less attractive person is more likely to be found not guilty of that crime. Physically attractive individuals found guilty of a particular crime are more likely to receive more lenient sentences than less attractive defendants. In court cases in which the crime is sex-related, physically unattractive defendants are considered to be more dangerous than better-looking offenders. This effect is often independent of the actual grooming or attire of the defendant.

 

Just a random tidbit I saw that made go “lol, wtf?” At first this weird factoid makes you go “that’s some weird psychology”… And you don’t think has anything to do with normal people, i.e. non-criminals.

But then you realize it stretches out to normal people too. The truth is, an average-looking guy is far more likely to be deemed a “potential criminal” or a “potential stalker”. In fact, you might notice from everyday reality, that the uglier a guy is, the more likely he is to be deemed “creepy”, even if he does the exact same actions and behaviours as other men.

Ever seen a handsome looking guy get called creepy? Ever? Even once? He might be called a jerk, he might be called an asshole, but never creepy. And mind you, the term “creepy” means that someone gives you the “creeps” i.e. the same feeling gained from watching creepy horror movies where you don’t know what angle the monster is about to leap from and kill.

The truth is, this intuition seems to be very false, as watching documentaries on criminals and serial killers will show you. Many of them are in fact extremely handsome, some are extremely charismatic, some are both. Yet, society seems to somehow endorse the idea that loners, nerds, introverts and unattractive people are more likely to be criminals. It’s almost like some sort of a mechanism society uses to get these people to contribute more and work harder.

Most people looking on at such an event can’t help but wonder why the troll is exploding into such embarassingly, over-exaggerated fits of paranoia-induced lunacy that they make Alex Jones blush. Well, a lot of people have been giving guesses mostly centered around theories about the troll trying to get attention to compensate for its ugly trollhood. Turns out, these theories might be right. There’s some evidence on why some people want to advertise to the world that they rejected someone, and even make a big show of how they had to be mean about it.

Source: Jeremy Nicholson
There is also a psychological tendency to bias the attributions about the requester. The Fundamental Attribution Error illustrates that individuals are likely to attribute the behavior of others to disposition or personality, as opposed to situational factors (Ross, 1977). In other words, when an individual is disinterested in the offer of another person (a behavior), he/she is more likely to attribute that disinterest to a characteristic of the requester (e.g. they seem unattractive, boring, or uncomfortable), rather than to factors within themselves or the situation (e.g. they are in a bad mood, disinterested, or distracted). So, there is a bias to blame the requester for not liking the request – even though many other factors often actually cause the disinterest.

 

Finally, there are also Downward Social Comparison processes that can even make some people feel good when they view others badly. This has been studied particularly in instances of racism, but it certainly applies to other forms of prejudice (Fein & Spencer, 1997). Essentially, people can get a self-esteem ”boost” from putting others down (like when they “reject” others harshly). This is especially likely to occur when they are feeling badly about themselves, or are not thinking about the situation fully (e.g. distracted, drunk, etc.).

Put it all together…and that is a recipe for a very difficult interpersonal situation. If someone is not interested in a date request, it can feel bad or difficult to say no while empathizing with the person asking. There is an automatic psychological bias to incorrectly blame the requester’s personal characteristics for being disinterested in the request. Also, there can even be a temptation for a self-esteem boost by devaluing the other person, while exercising the “power” to say no. No wonder, even with the best of intentions, it often goes so badly…

Also look at: Chucky’s genius explanation of the same, but from another perspective

Very often these roles evolve to meet external pressures form other groups or in response to natural conditions. A society that relies on long-range fishing or trade or for that matter raiding is going to need to build disposability inot one or naother of its gender roles, and we alll know whch one it is likely to be.

In June 2009 a number of research assistants (confederates) were told to approach somebody who they could imagine they would go on a date with/invite home/go to bed with. The research assistants would approach the stranger of the opposite gender using the following standard introduction; “Hi, my name is ‘name of the confederate’. I am sorry to disturb you like this, but I have been noticing you around and find you very attractive”. The research assistant would then ask one of the following questions: “Would you go on a date with me tonight or during the week/weekend?”, “Would you come over to my place tonight or during the week/weekend?”, or “Would you go to bed with me tonight or during the week/weekend?”

In total, 389 respondents from the four largest cities of Denmark (Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg, and Odense) were included in the experiment. 

New Danish study on mating strategies of women and men

Men more willing to accept sex with strangers
Men tend to agree to sexual invitations from strangers of the opposite gender more readily than women do. In particular, men more often accept the two explicit requests to have sex; a significantly larger number of men than women accepted an invitation to ”come to my place” and ”go to bed with me”. No distinct differences were found between the two sexes in regard to replies to the request to ”go on a date with me”.

New Danish study on mating strategies of women and men

Looks are more important to women
Hald and Høgh-Olesen investigated whether looks seem to matter for acceptance of sex with a stranger. As hypothesized, the study confirms that looks seem to have some importance for women in choice of partner – even for just a short-term partner. ”We were not surprised to find that looks are more important to women than to men. In particular, women tend to find looks more important for ‘random sex’ than men. This is probably related to reproduction”, says Henrik Høgh-Olesen. 

New Danish study on mating strategies of women and men

Singles more willing to accept sex with stranger
The study showed that respondents who were not in a relationship were more willing to consent to have sex with a stranger than respondents with a partner. This result was found for both men and women. Male subjects who were not in a relationship were 20 times more likely to consent to one of the sexual invitations compared with male subjects in a relationship. Single women were more than 8 times more likely to consent to a sexual invitation, compared with women in a relationship. 

New Danish study on mating strategies of women and men

Unknown factors
One of the reasons for womens’ rejection of sex with a stranger could be fear of crime. ”If the woman was allowed to take measure of the guy in a safe environment before being alone with him, the success rate for men may have been higher”, says Gert Martin Hald.

Here’s some further analysis:

Sexual Receptivity Invitations from the Strangers of the Opposite Gender

Researchers conducted the experiment twice, in 1978 and 1982, with the help of students of Florida State University. In both cases, five students and four students aged around 22 years on the campus of the University addressed a total of 48 men and 48 women.The conversation looked like this: “Several times I saw you here / a. You seem very attractive / ý.” Then researchers put unsuspecting respondents randomly selected question from these three options: “Do you want me to go out tonight?” - “Do you want the evening to come to my apartment?” - “Want to go to bed with me?”

Clark and Hatfield formulated before the start of the experiment two hypotheses. The first, traditional, they agree to offer men more than women. The second, androgynous, not the behavior of both sexes differ fundamentally. The results support the assumption dramatically gender differences in affection undergo random sexual adventure. Men willing to approach to any type of menu in the first study of 65% to 21% in the second and 63% to 17%. Expressed in detail the research fell as follows:

It is almost inconceivable that men were more likely to go with a foreign woman on a date, or home to bed with increasing levels of intimacy. While in case of an invitation to the meeting were gender differences at all, or nearly significant, in other instances dramatically began to show and offer anonymous sex has not even approached one of 96 women! The study results therefore confirm the stereotypical images of males and indiscriminate vybíravých female, although this finding can be interpreted by two opposing theories. According to biological determinism contemporary sociobiology is interested in sexual activities designed genetics, anatomy and sexual dimorphic hormones. In contrast, contemporary social determinism of Social Sciences argued that patterns of sexual behavior are primarily influenced by culture, social conditioning and enrolled roles. The authors say that the explanation is likely, although admit to liking sociobiologickému (see Clark & ​​Hatfield 2003).

Mentioned research initially came to the misunderstanding, criticism and rejection of the methodology of the Gender Studies. Yet over time become a classic, as witnessed by the still continuing interest in him. Danish researchers Hald and Høgh-Olesen published the November issue of the journal Evolution and Human Behavior article that confirms the original findings and expands. The experiment was conducted on a sample of this time 173 men and 216 women, a volunteer interviewers were also more than that – 10 men and 11 women. The results are so compelling as ever, for which perhaps the increasing liberalization of female sexual behavior or increased vigilance associated with the expansion of AIDS.

Hald and Høgh-Olesen asked respondents additional questions and found that men – unlike women – played a role too attractive tazatelek. In addition, confirm the hypothesis that both sexes have been affected by the momentary state of the partner, because the participants in respect of more refusing all kinds of offers. Even among men there was a significantly higher willingness to cheat on their partners with anonymous women, as is evident from the last table:

Danish researchers this time no qualms about applying for an explanation of gender differences and evolutionary psychology as their main reason for identifying the theory of parental investment . Women are evolutionarily adapted to be cautious when choosing a partner because of their potential investment in pregnancy and parenthood is much higher than for a random partner. If the offer proceeds, only if exceptionally attractive men, strictly in accordance with the theory of good genes . In men’s motivation is completely different, because almost anonymous sex risk nothing and conversely increasing their potential reproductive success. It seems that even fifty years since the discovery of hormonal contraception have not eliminated these differences, even if it leads to its gradual weakening.

Anthony Weiner, John Edwards, Arnold Schwarzenegger — men behaving badly, right? It may be more complex than that. Research shows power causes men and women to take risks and imagine themselves as more attractive. New survey research shows that, given power, women are as likely as men to stray.

Power May Increase Promiscuity : NPR

Don’t women ever get involved in sex scandals? We put the question to a panel of pedestrians in downtown Washington. Here are Brendan McNamara, a legal assistant, and Debbie Wilcox, a visitor from Canada.

Mr. BRENDAN MCNAMARA (Legal Assistant): I don’t want to speculate, but I think that women have done it less.

Ms. DEBBIE WILCOX: I think it goes along with the culture and the society and the position of power and taking advantage of people that are not in a position of power.

VEDANTAM: So would you imagine that women would do the same thing in positions of power?

Ms. WILCOX: Never.

(Soundbite of laughter)

VEDANTAM: They’re right and they’re wrong. Power is the problem, but it turns out it is just as much a problem for women as for men.

Power May Increase Promiscuity : NPR

Mr. JORIS LAMMERS (Department of Social Psychology, Tilburg University Professor): Whether they ever committed adultery, whether they foresee that they ever would engage in a adulterous relationship. And, yeah, we found it affects both men and women. The more they have power, the more they are likely to engage in infidelity.

VEDANTAM: Lammers found that the most powerful people in his survey were 30 percent more likely to have affairs than the least powerful people. The most powerful people were also having way more affairs. And this is not just about the Dutch.

Studies done in other places have shown the same correlation between adultery and power. And there is preliminary research that might explain why power increases infidelity. When you stick people inside a brain scanner and give them a fleeting sense of power, the way they view risks and rewards changes.

Mr. LAMMERS: So you can even see this in brain activation. If people feel powerful, and you can see that brain structure associated with positive things – with rewards – is just much more activated than the part that is steered towards preventing the bad things from happening.

VEDANTAM: So when you get a sense of power, you start to focus on all the things that could go right. And you get blinders on for all the things that could go wrong. But that’s not all.

Psychologist Jon Maner, at Florida State University, recently sat heterosexual college students down with an opposite sex partner. Maner found that when students were given a brief feeling of power, they were more likely to start flirting with the stranger sitting next to them. Take away the power, the flirting disappears – and it wasn’t just the men. Women given power behaved exactly the same.

Mr. JON MANER (Florida State University, Department of Psychology Professor): Power-holders tended to touch their subordinates more, they maintained more direct eye contact. They behaved in an overall more flirtatious manner.

VEDANTAM: Power also causes both men and women to see themselves as more attractive than they really are. And it makes perfectly innocuous comments from subordinates and strangers sound like come-ons. Volunteers with the power believe their lab partners were acting in sexual ways even when they were not, Maner said. In other words, when you say hello to someone, an ordinary person thinks you said hello. A powerful person thinks you meant hel-lo, and it doesn’t take much power to trigger this.

 

Power May Increase Promiscuity : NPR

Mr. MANER: I don’t think this is going to be limited to powerful politicians or CEOs at big companies by any means. I think this can happen in every day social interactions. In fact, in our own research, just giving people power over a small amount of money in a short laboratory interaction was sufficient to elicit this overestimation of sexual interest.

VEDANTAM: But none of these studies explain why there are so many more sex scandals among men. Our panel of pedestrians in Washington included Barley Bahla(ph), a local writer.

Powerful men tend to be at the center of these scandals, she said, because men are at the center of power in our society.

Ms. BARLEY BAHLA (Writer): Well, women in power have done some pretty inappropriate things. Think of Catherine the Great.

VEDANTAM: Catherine the Great was an 18th century Russian empress, one of the most powerful women in the history of the world. Over three decades, she took up with a slew of lovers. When she grew bored she discarded them by dipping into the national coffers to hush them up. Frankly, her sexual escapades make uploading dirty pictures to Twitter sound tame.

 

ScienceDaily (June 18, 2008) — Swedish researchers have found that some physical attributes of the homosexual brain resemble those found in the opposite sex, according to an article published online (June 16) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Symmetry Of Homosexual Brain Resembles That Of Opposite Sex, Swedish Study Finds

Some psychological tests have shown differences between men and women in the extent to which they employ the brain’s hemispheres in verbal tasks. Other research has hinted that homosexuals may exhibit the tendencies of the opposite sex in brain behavior unrelated to sexual activity.

Ivanka Savic and Per Lindström, of the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, now report that the brains of heterosexual men and homosexual women are slightly asymmetric—the right hemisphere is larger than the left—and the brains of gay men and straight women are not.

Positron emission tomography (PET) scans taken by the researchers also show that in connectivity of the amygdala (which is important for emotional learning), lesbians resemble straight men, and gay men resemble straight women. The researchers analyzed the brains of 90 subjects, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess brain volume and PET data partly gleaned from previous olfactory studies.

One possible interpretation of the connectivity pattern in straight men and lesbians is that the amygdala is wired for a greater fight-or-flight response, the authors say.

 

ScienceDaily (Dec. 16, 2009) — Do good-looking people really benefit from their looks, and in what ways? A team of researchers from the University of Georgia and the University of Kansas found that yes; attractive people do tend to have more social relationships and therefore an increased sense of psychological well-being. This seems like common sense, and might be why we spend billions of dollars each year trying to become more attractive.

The importance of attractiveness depends on where you live

However, the study, published in this month’s issue of Personal Relationships, also determines that the importance of attractiveness is not universal; rather, it is determined by where we live.

The importance of attractiveness in everyday life is not fixed, or simply a matter of human nature. Instead, the impact of our attractiveness on our social lives depends on the social environment where we live. Attractiveness does matter in more socially mobile, urban areas (and from a woman’s point of view actually indicates psychological well-being), but it is far less relevant in rural areas. In urban areas individuals experience a high level of social choice, and associating with attractive people is one of those choices.

In other words, in urban areas, a free market of relationships makes attractiveness more important for securing social connections and consequently for feeling good. In rural areas, relationships are less about choice and more about who is already living in the community. Therefore, attractiveness is less likely to be associated with making friends and feeling good.

Furthermore, urban women need not have below average looks in order to experience a diminished sense of well-being and social life. Dr. Victoria C. Plaut and her team studied women at mid-life in the U.S. based on data related to their well-being, social connectedness, and their body attractiveness (assessed with a calculation of their waist-to-hip ratio). Plaut points out, “In the field of psychology, research results are generally seen as having a natural and universal applicability. This research suggests that this is far from being the case. Rather, the importance of attractiveness varies with certain sociocultural environments, and, if you think about it, urban environments are actually a relatively recent addition to human life.”

 

ScienceDaily (Apr. 11, 2011) — In an article published online April 4 in the journal Behaviour, Howard Russock of the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Western Connecticut State University, compares mate preferences of men and women seeking same-sex versus opposite-sex mates, and compares these preferences to predictions from sexual selection theory.

Evolutionary interpretation of how gender and sexual orientation affect human mate selection preferences

Sexual selection and parental investment theory have been used to study mate selection for many years and for much of that time has been applied to humans, with the prediction that humans will follow the general mammalian pattern. One aspect of human mate selection that has received much less attention is that of same sex mate selection.

The present study used an analysis of 800 personal advertisements from print and online media to determine the mate selection criteria of four mating groups — males seeking females (MF), females seeking males (FM), males seeking males (MM) and females seeking females (FF). Consistent with results of earlier studies, heterosexual males (MF) in our study preferred significantly younger partners than heterosexual females (FM), offered physical attractiveness significantly less often than FM, sought resources significantly less often than FM and indicated a willingness to make a commitment significantly more often than FM.

Homosexual females (FF) differed from heterosexual females by the same four criteria and in the same direction as heterosexual males, in clear contrast to hypotheses suggesting that homosexuals only differ from heterosexuals of the same gender in choice of sexual object. Homosexual males (MM) differed from heterosexual males in only two criteria, both of which exhibited an exaggerated male pattern, possibly because MM are unaffected by the sexual strategies of females; MM sought attractiveness (even) more than MF and offered resources less than MF.

Homosexual men, thus, exhibited no evidence of selection on the mate preference characteristics predicted by sexual selection theory. In contrast, the proximate mate selection preferences of female homosexuals were consistent with the assumption that in their case procreation is irrelevant to mate selection.

 

ScienceDaily (May 16, 2009) — People looking for a good job at a good salary could find their intelligence may not be the only trait that puts them at the top of the pay scale, according to researchers. A new study finds attractiveness, along with confidence, may help job-seekers stand out to employers.

Intelligence And Physical Attractiveness Both Impact Income

“Little is known about why there are income disparities between the good-looking and the not-so-good-looking,” said the study’s lead author, Timothy Judge, PhD, of the University of Florida. “We’ve found that, even accounting for intelligence, a person’s feeling of self-worth is enhanced by how attractive they are and this, in turn, results in higher pay.”

Judge’s team analyzed data from the Harvard Study of Health and Life Quality, a national, longitudinal study. 

The study looked at 191 men and women between the ages of 25 and 75 who were interviewed three times six months apart starting in 1995. They answered questions about their household income, education and financial stresses and evaluated how happy or disappointed they were with their achievements up to that point. They completed several intelligence and cognitive tests and had their pictures taken. Several different people on the research team rated each person’s attractiveness relative to their age and gender. The raters were men and women of varying ages. The authors then calculated an average attractiveness score for each participant based on those ratings.

The researchers found that physical attractiveness had a significant impact on how much people got paid, how educated they were, and how they evaluated themselves. Basically, people who were rated good-looking made more money, were better educated and were more confident. But the effects of a person’s intelligence on income were stronger than those of a person’s attractiveness.

“We can be somewhat heartened by the fact that the effects of general intelligence on income were stronger than those of facial attractiveness,” said Judge. “It turns out that the brainy are not necessarily at a disadvantage to the beautiful, and if one possesses intelligence and good looks, then all the better.”

The research did show that good-looking people tend to think more highly of their worth and capabilities which, in turn, led to more money and less financial stress. But, the study’s authors note, these findings also should be a warning to employers who may subconsciously favor the more attractive. “It is still worthwhile for employers to make an effort to reduce the effects of bias toward attractive people in the workplace,” said Judge. One good means of doing this, according to Judge, is to rely on objective measures such as personality and ability tests.

However, Judge wrote, education and intelligence still had a greater payoff than good looks when it came to their effect on people’s level of income. He concluded that it could be more effective for people to build on important job skills and education before seeking the latest beauty treatments.