Are the most romantic gifts expensive and worthless?
at are the characteristics of a good courtship gift? We address this question by modelling courtship as a sequential game. This is structured as follows: the male offers a gift to a female; after observing the gift, the female decides whether or not to accept it; she then chooses whether or not to mate with the male. In one version of the game, based on human courtship, the female is uncertain about whether the male intends to stay or desert…
2 minutes
How do you split a dinner bill with friends so as to optimize long term happiness?
a Dan Ariely's excellent book Predictably Irrational: Although identifying and fighting the allure of free! is important in order to avoid traps while we are making decisions, there are also some cases in which we can use free! to our advantage. Take, for example, the common experience of going to a restaurant with friends. When the server drops off the check at the end of a meal, people often scramble to figure out the norms for payment. Do we each pay for…
2 minutes
Do poor and hungry men prefer heavier women? Do rich and full guys like skinny girls?
a On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Mind's Hard-Wired Habits: The new findings are also consistent with cross-cultural studies showing that men’s preference for the curviness of women’s figures varies directly with the men’s economic status. Psychologists Leif Nelson and Evan Morrison demonstrated this intriguing connection in the lab. In one experiment, they recruited a large group of students from campus and asked them how much money they had in their wallets. They figured that those with no cash would be less…
2 minutes
Is stupidity contagious?
tching movies and TV shows about stupid people may temporarily make you stupider: Media priming refers to the residual, often unintended consequences of media use on subsequent perceptions, judgments, and behavior. Previous research showed that the media can prime behavior that is in line with the primed traits or concepts (assimilation). However, assimilation is expected to be less likely and priming may even yield reverse effects (contrast) when recipients have a dissimilarity testing mindset. Based on previous research on narrative…
1 min read
Masculine Men Give Women More Orgasms
has been hypothesized that female orgasm evolved to facilitate recruitment of high-quality genes for offspring. Supporting evidence indicates that female orgasm promotes conception, although this may be mediated by the timing of female orgasm in relation to male ejaculation. This hypothesis also predicts that women will achieve orgasm more frequently when copulating with high-quality males, but limited data exist to support this prediction. We therefore explored relationships between the timing and frequency of women's orgasms and putative markers of…
1 min read
Is ass-kissing good for your health?
is new research shows that when politically savvy professionals use the coping skill of ingratiation, they may neutralize ostracism and other psychological distress that other less savvy individuals have to cope with in the workplace. Ostracized employees experience more job tension, emotional exhaustion and depressed mood at work. Savvy career minded individuals have known for some time that ingratiating oneself to the boss and others -- perhaps more commonly known as 'sucking up'- can help move them up the corporate…
1 min read
What does your handshake say about you?
a NYT: People with high grip-strength scores are usually healthier than those with weak grips. “They live longer and recover faster from injury,” Gallup says. “They have reduced disability, higher bone density and greater fat-free body mass.” And in a study published this year, Gallup and his son Andrew — at the time an undergraduate psychology major — found that males with high grip-strength scores reported being more aggressive and dominant and had more masculine body types (broader shoulders, narrower…
1 min read
Is there an over the counter drug that successfully treats female sexual dysfunction?
s, placebo: Introduction. In clinical trials of drug treatments for women's sexual dysfunction, placebo responses have often been substantial. However, little is known about the clinical significance, specificity, predictors, and potential mechanisms of placebo response in sexual dysfunction. Aim. We aimed to determine the nature and predictors of sexual function outcomes in women treated with placebo for female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD). Methods. We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the placebo arm of a 12-week, multisite, randomized controlled pharmaceutical trial for…
2 minutes
