AhHa! Proof!

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.


http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994469


ahhhh... but can we bring down entire websites??????


[Message Edited]
3,651 views 17 replies
Reply #1 Top
"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."

hehehe.... maybe it is time for a "Women of Wincustomize" calender? NOT



Reply #2 Top
but what about the power of cute furry animals to sway people?

/me *tries looking really REALLY cute to see if people will give me chocolate*



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Reply #3 Top
well, that explains why coherent conversations with extremely attractive women are impossible to have!!

I can rest easy knowing that it's a physiological weakness and nothing inherent to me!!
Reply #4 Top
/me bends down next to feline and opens hand palm up offering the home made Dutch/German Chocolate Kisses and Fudge wife made from family recipe passed down for generations starting in Europe * hiya kitty *

Goodmorphing

Maybe they should lower the scan when doing CAT Scans during this type of research and prove another old cliché as being based in reality?

That other brain claimed to be what most guys think with 90% of the time.
Reply #5 Top
hey chocolate is bad for cats. kinda poisons them doesn't it?
Reply #7 Top
But I'm not so sure it isn't a fairy tail, Boomer ate half a box of em and all he did was upchuck and have the proverbial Hershey's Squirts for a day

Reply #8 Top
IPlural bends down next to feline and opens hand palm up offering the home made Dutch/German Chocolate Kisses and Fudge wife made from family recipe passed down for generations starting in Europe * hiya kitty *


/me *CHOMP* *MUNCH* *CHEW*
/me ****PPPUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRR****



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Reply #9 Top
I thought I could sense a conversation about chocolate gimme gimme gimme...
Reply #10 Top
/me reaches into backpack and pulls box of goodies out and gives it a shake, flips the lid back and holds it out to Fuzzy
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Reply #11 Top
/me sneaks up behind IPlural, grabs the box of goodies, and runs off!

/me *WIZZ*



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Reply #12 Top
Pretty women scramble men's ability to assess the future


.....but not chocolate!
Reply #13 Top
What do you call pretty Women with Chocolate ?


"Goddess on the mountain top
Burning like a silver flame
The summit of beauty and love
And Venus was her name"

Reply #14 Top
"Pretty women scramble men's ability to assess the future"

Interesting.

"Homer, my eyes are up here!"
"I've made my choice..."
Reply #16 Top
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.

Irrational? I doubt it. We Dutch have an expression: "It is better to have one bird in the hand than ten in the air". I don't think it is irrational. It's practical. And if looking at such pictures indeed change the way men make decisions then it is probably just to secure the next generation.

Reply #17 Top
IPlural - What do you call pretty Women with Chocolate ?


/me calls them cat beds
they can feed me chocolate while also providing a comfortable place to rest, and if they ask really nicely they can even provide me with a tummy rum /me *PPUUURRRRRRRR*



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