Francesca is a smart, accomplished attractive woman in her mid-30s. A professor of art history and archeology at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., she's the last person you'd expect to act like an insecure middle schooler over some boy she likes.
You'd be wrong.
"I obsess. I use the quantity of contact with my partner as an index of my self-esteem for the day," she said, asking that her last name not be used. "It is rather creepy, now that I think about it, but I'll look to see where someone checked in on [the social network site] Foursquare to find a justification for their silence."
Um, how many assistant professors of art history at Rhodes College do you think are named Francesca?
The results: Women did tend to like the men who found them most attractive. The men who were deemed most attractive of all, however, were the ones who were ambiguous on whether they liked the women a lot or just an average amount.
WTF kind of science is that? Apparently, the "Let's Make a Deal" tactic is now accepted scientific practice.
I'd like to know more about their methods of distinguishing the men from one another. Tell these same women that an attractive man thinks they're average, but a group of elderly hobos my or may not think they're hot, and ask them who they prefer. I'll bet ambiguity loses on that one.
Hell, the women themselves are a variable. Nobody doing the study can equate attraction to a disinterested man to an unloving father? Seriously? Not to mention age, relationship status, sexual history, etc.
People like who they like. There is no universal guide. If every man acted aloof beginning tomorrow, a new study would come out in a few months showing women are more attracted to men who are more open.
“Activism is a way for useless people to feel important, even if the consequences of their activism are counterproductive for those they claim to be helping and damaging to the fabric of society as a whole.” - Dr Thomas Sowell
