| Male Behaviour Pre-programmed by Evolution |
| Men see bikini-clad women as
objects, psychologists say It may seem obvious that men perceive women in sexy bathing suits as objects, but now there's science to back it up. CNN 19 Feb 2009 New research shows that, in men, the brain areas associated with handling tools and the intention to perform actions light up when viewing images of women in bikinis. The research was presented this week by Susan Fiske, professor of psychology at Princeton University, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "This is just the first study which was focused on the idea that men of a certain age view sex as a highly desirable goal, and if you present them with a provocative woman, then that will tend to prime goal-related responses," she told CNN. Although consistent with conventional wisdom, the way that men may depersonalize sexual images of women is not entirely something they control. In fact, it's a byproduct of human evolution, experts say. The first male humans had an incentive to seek fertile women as the means of spreading their genes. "They're not fully conscious responses, and so people don't know the extent to which they're being influenced," Fiske said. "It's important to recognize the effects." The participants, 21 heterosexual male undergraduates at Princeton, took questionnaires to determine whether they harbor "benevolent" sexism, which includes the belief that a woman's place is in the home, or hostile sexism, a more adversarial viewpoint which includes the belief that women attempt to dominate men. In the men who scored highest on hostile sexism, the part of the brain associated with analyzing another person's thoughts, feelings and intentions was inactive while viewing scantily clad women, Fiske said. Visit CNNHealth.com, your connection for better living Men also remember these women's bodies better than those of fully-clothed women, Fiske said. Each image was shown for only a fraction of a second. This study looked specifically at men, and did not test women's responses to similar images. A supplementary study on both male and female undergraduates found that men tend to associate bikini-clad women with first-person action verbs such as I "push," "handle" and "grab" instead of the third-person forms such as she "pushes," "handles" and "grabs." They associated fully clothed women, on the other hand, with the third-person forms, indicating these women were perceived as in control of their own actions. The females who took the test did not show this effect, Fiske said. That goes along with the idea that the man looking at a woman in a bikini sees her as the object of action, Fiske said. The findings are consistent with previous work in the field, and resonate, for example, with the abundance of female strip clubs in comparison to male strip clubs, said Dr. Charles Raison, psychiatrist and director of the Mind/Body Institute at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Raison was not involved in the study. Previous research found that people tend to similarly dehumanize those who are homeless or drug addicts, although the phenomenon in this case is somewhat different, Fiske said. People have reactions of avoidance toward the homeless and drug addicts, and the opposite for scantily clad women. The broader purpose of the research was to explore circumstances under which people treat one another as the means to an end, Fiske said. Past studies have also shown that when men view images of highly sexualized women, and then interact with a woman in a separate setting, they are more likely to have sexual words on their minds, she said. They are also more likely to remember the woman's physical appearance, and sit closer to her -- for instance, at a job interview. Taken together, the research suggests that viewing certain images is not appropriate in the workplace, Fiske said. "I'm not advocating censorship, but I do think people need to know what settings should discourage the display and possession of these kinds of things," she said. Both women and men have something to learn from this line of research, Raison said. Women should be aware of how they are perceived when wearing provocative clothing, and men shouldn't let feelings of impersonal sexual longing interfere with their more personal relationships with other women, including female friends. "Many men make foolish choices because of sexual attraction," he said. "The suggestion might be that there's some hard-wiring there that can interfere with the average man's ability to interact on deeper levels with really hot looking stranger women in bikinis," he said. Women may also depersonalize men in certain situations, but published research on the subject has not been done, experts say. Evolutionary psychology would theorize that men view women as objects in terms of their youth and apparent fertility, while women might view men as instrumental in terms of their status and resources, Fiske said. Another avenue to explore would be showing images of men's wives and girlfriends in bikinis, Raison said. He predicts the objectifying effect would not happen in this context. |
| Men worry more about penile
size than women Women are much more interested in a mans personality and looks than the size of his penis, but men can experience real anxiety even if they are average sized, according to a research review published in the June issue of the urology journal BJU International. Science Blog 31 May 2007 Dr Kevan Wylie from the Porterbrook Clinic and Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, UK, reports that while men often have a better body image, genital image and sexual confidence if they have a large penis, women dont necessarily feel that bigger is better. He teamed up with Mr Ian Eardley from St James Hospital in Leeds to bring together the findings of more than 50 international research projects into penile size and small penis syndrome carried out since 1942. By drawing together the results of 12 studies that measured the penises of 11,531 men, they discovered that average erect penises ranged from 14-16cms (5.5 to 6.2 inches) in length and 12-13cm (4.7 to 5.1 inches) in girth. Wylie and Eardley also looked at the bizarre practices used by men worldwide to enhance the size of their penis, including the Topinama of Brazil, who encourage poisonous snakes to bite their penises to enlarge them for six months! They report that Indian Sadhus men are known to use weights to increase the length of their penis and Dayak men in Borneo pierce the glans of their penis and insert items into the holes to stimulate their partner. Other key findings of the review include: * A survey of over 50,000 heterosexual men and women found that 66 per cent of men said their penis was average sized, 22 per cent said large and 12 per cent said small. 85 per cent of women were satisfied with their partners penile size, but only 55 per cent of men were satisfied. * Two studies reported that 90 per cent of women prefer a wide penis to a long one. Other studies pointed out that the issue of male attractiveness was complex, but that penile size was not the most important factor for women. * Small penis syndrome is much more common in men with normal sized penises than those with a small micropenis with a flaccid length of less than 7cm (2.7 inches). * One study found that 63 per cent of men complaining of small penises said their anxieties started with childhood comparisons and 37 per cent blamed erotic images viewed in their teenage years. None of the men studied actually had a micropenis. * Another report based on data collected by Kinsey in the 1940s reported that, on average, homosexual men had larger penises than heterosexual men. The report authors suggest that exposure to male reproductive hormones in the womb may be one explanation. * Individual research studies have also suggested that penis size is smaller in studies focussing on older men, but Wylie and Eardley found no overall differences when they collated the results of various studies. * The review also provided little evidence of racial differences, with the exception of one Korean study where the men had smaller than average-sized penises. The authors suggest this area needs further investigation. * Evidence on the effectiveness of vacuum devices, penile extenders and traction devices was found to be limited, but the authors noted that patients may experience psychological benefits from some of them. * The review also showed that the results of surgery are poorly documented and significant complications can ensue. It is very common for men to worry about the size of their penis and it is important that these concerns arent dismissed as this can heighten concerns and anxieties says Dr Wylie. It is helpful to normalise the situation and provide as much accurate information as possible, as many men either lack any information or have been misinformed. This extensive review aims to provide clinicians with an overarching summary of the many research projects that have been carried out into penile size and small penis syndrome. Clinicians who are presented with a man with small penis syndrome need to consider a number of treatment approaches. The initial approach should be a thorough urological, psychosexual, psychological and psychiatric assessment, possibly with more than one clinician involved say the authors. Conservative approaches to therapy, based on education and self-awareness, as well as short-term structured psychotherapies, are often successful. They authors are, however, very cautious when it comes to treating a psychological condition like small penis syndrome with gadgets or surgery. There is poorly documented evidence to support the use of penile extenders, and while information is starting to emerge on the success of some surgical techniques, this is not backed up by data on patients satisfaction with such procedures stresses Dr Wylie. Blackwell Publishing [1] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source URL: http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/men-worry-more-about-penile-size-women-13347.html Links: [1] http://www.blackwellpublishing.com |
| Sex cues ruin men's ability
to make decisions A glimpse of an alluring woman is all it takes to ruin a man's decision-making skills and the more testosterone coursing through his veins, the worse the problem gets, researchers claim today. Ian Sample, science correspondent Wednesday April 19, 2006 Guardian The finding is unwelcome confirmation that those most likely to be in a position of power are most susceptible to the subtle influences of the opposite sex. Bram van den Bergh and Siegfried Dewitte at the University of Leuven in Belgium set 44 student volunteers aged 18 to 28 a financial game to test how they reacted to fair play. The game required the students to split into pairs and before half of the games, one of each pair was shown images of a sexy woman or asked to rate how much they liked a variety of lingerie. The results showed that men exposed to what the researchers call "sexual cues" accepted unfair play far more than men who were not. The researchers later ranked the men according to their testosterone levels and found that the more testosterone a man had the worse he fared in the tests, they report in the journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B. "We all think we are rational beings, but our research suggests ... that people with high testosterone levels are very vulnerable to sexual cues. If there are no cues around, they behave normally, but if they see sexual images they become impulsive," said Dr Dewitte. "It's a tendency, but these people are not powerless to fight it. Hormone levels are one thing, but we can learn to deal with it." Testosterone levels were gauged by measuring the ratio of the index finger to the ring finger. A low value, suggesting a ring finger longer than the index finger, is a result of high testosterone and is found more commonly in men than women. The researchers are conducting tests to search for a similar effect in women, but have so far failed to find a visual stimulus that alters their decision-making behaviour. |
| Monkeys go ape for a little
allure There is nothing they enjoy more than sitting in front of the TV, watching celebrities at play and images of well-formed female bottoms. Human males, of course, are keen on it, too Robin McKie, science
editor |
| Scientists learn how to stop
males straying Scientists say they have found how to change promiscuous wayward males into attentive home-loving husbands Nature Magazine June 2004 Nature magazine reports that the breakthrough has been achieved with voles but has implications for humans. By altering one gen in the brain hormone chemistry, scientists made a promiscuous meadow vole faithful - just like its prairie vole cousin. After mating, male prairie voles "fall in love", choosing to stick close to their chosen one, guard her jealously and help her raise their young. Closely related meadow voles, on the other hand, mate with several females and pay little attention to their babies. A hormone called vasopressin encourages pair-bonding in prairie voles. Scientists noticed that meadow voles have fewer vasopressin receptors and decided to try giving them more. The results were remarkable. The meadow voles changed their ways and suddenly fixed on one female, choosing to mate with only her - even when other females tried to tempt them. "We think what happens is when the voles mate, vasopressin activates the reward centre, and it really makes the animals pay attention to who they are mating with," co-author Larry Young, from Emory University, Georgia, told BBC News Online. "It makes the voles think: "when I'm with this partner I feel good". And from then on, they want to spend their time with that particular partner." The strings of human behaviour might be pulled by similar hormones and similar pathways. "We know that vasopressin is released when humans have sex," said Professor Young. "Sex is probably involved in maintaining the bond between humans and vasopressin may play a role in that." |
| Women addle men's maths Pretty faces make men reach for money 10 December 2003 HELEN PEARSON Pretty ladies make men want wealth with which to impress, according to a new study - even if they'll be worse off in the long run. Psychologists Margo Wilson and Martin Daly at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, asked students whether they would prefer, say, $19 tomorrow or $25 next week. They then showed them the faces of ladies whose attractiveness was ranked on the website 'How Hot Am I?'. After eyeballing pictures of pretty women, men were more likely to want immediate monetary gratification than to wait for a bigger bonus. Women's calculations, on the other hand, were unaffected by male eye candy, as were men's after ogling plainer women or fancy cars1. With ladies fresh in their minds, men want money immediately because they might use it to impress and woo them, Wilson suggests. Such a trait might have been evolutionarily advantageous: men with more to offer might have been better able to get the girl. The study suggests that the brain areas triggered by a cute face are linked to those that calculate rewards, Wilson says. She next plans to study whether men also covet other resources to wow the ladies, such as food or gifts, and whether older or married men are immune to the women's effect. The results also support the idea that advertisements featuring attractive women seduce men into parting with their money, Wilson adds. "But I guess the marketing people already knew that," she says. References Wilson, M. & Daly, M. Do pretty women inspire men to discount the future? Proceedings of the Royal Society London B, published online, doi:10.1098/rsbl.2003.0134 (2003). |Article| Originally from: www.nature.com/nsu/031208/031208-8.html |