Studies show science behind attraction
Raquel Calson art
February 10, 2009 • Shannon McGuire
Filed under Features
MTV provides pivotal information to teens in the 21st century, especially its “Hot or Not” list featured on its website. Blocked on school computers and inappropriate for work, posters relish the time spent at home finding out if they are “hot” or “not.”
Not only does MTV provide such a beauty ranking service, hotness rankings flood social networking sites like Facebook.
Of course, some sites say everyone has an equal chance of being considered attractive. The phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” which backs up such sites, has become a cliché saying. The irony of the adage’s over use is that it is false.
In nature, humans rely on similar points of attraction to decide on a mate. Based on the five senses, we can tell that beauty is not truly in the eye of the beholder.
Sight: The average human uses sight to define level of attraction in three main areas, symmetry, height, and shape. A symmetrical female or male shows signs of good health. Symmetry in nature shows signs of good development, parasite resistance, survival and fertility.
In males, height is an important factor in attraction and overall success.
For this attraction point, let us go into the wild. In the animal world, larger animals tend to be more dominant.
Females gravitate toward the more dominant male for means of survival. This trend continues in the human species, as most attraction studies have found that women prefer men taller than five foot nine.
Studies have also found that this survival technique links to the business world. According to a University of Pittsburgh study, “The average height of a man in the United States is five foot nine, whereas more than half of the CEO’s in the American Fortune 500 are over six feet tall and only 3 percent are less than five foot seven.”
Shape attraction has differed throughout the years. Men in medieval times were attracted to women considered fat by modern standards.
Meanwhile, now men are generally looking toward fit women, while trends in shape change with fashion.
If someone is looking for fertility, standards remain the same. Men with broad shoulders and trim tummies tend to produce more sperm and thus are more attractive in mating circles.
Women with hourglass shapes have similar qualities.
Sound: In nature, birds and moose use mating calls to attract potential partners.
Humans similarly use their voice. According to Psychology Today, low voices are “the peacock’s tail of attraction,” designed solely for attraction purposes.
A low voice shows increased testosterone levels and helps signify authority. Again, given the natural instinct of a human, people are attracted to the sound of the voice for safety and reproductive reasons.
Smell: Most Americans believe that body odor is a nuisance. We shower daily, wear perfume and cologne and promote deodorant products.
While Americans seem to avoid the stench of bad body odor, in the past humans have embraced it.
According to SkinBiology.com, in the Middle Ages, a man would wipe his brow after dancing and present it to his lady as a love token. Why share such a sweaty smell?
According to Psychology Today, the reason is human pheromones. A pheromone is a chemical found in body odor that triggers response from the brain.
Each person’s pheromone level is different due to differences in DNA.
A 1996 study by Sarah Richardson shows that females prefer men whose genes are the least similar to their own.
In an experiment, men were given an unscented T-shirt and were asked to wear it for two nights in a row. During this time they didn’t use deodorants or scented soaps.
After, women were presented with six shirts– three from men with similar genes, and three from men with different genes from their own.
The results showed that the women preferred the scents of men whose genes were different from their own. The scent of men with similar genes often remind the women of a relative’s odor, such as a brother or father, while the smells of dissimilar men would often remind them of a past or current boyfriend.
This suggests that body odor might have influenced past and current decisions on who to date.
Taste: Pheromones also impact attraction in taste, especially when we kiss. Kissing is a way of “tasting” the other person’s pheromones to determine if they are sexually compatible, according to A.G. Singer’s study, A Chemistry of Mammalian Pheromones.
In addition, similar food taste has been linked to attraction.
A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that after people were given a sample of ice cream and compared likes and dislikes, the tasters who enjoyed the sample were more likely to say they could trust the people that shared their tastes.
Touch: touching someone is primarily used in flirtacious settings to determine attraction. Whether it be playing “footsie” or brushing up against a person, these social cues help people determine attraction.
Psychologist Monica Moore, of Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, found that flirtatious women would “accidentally” brush up against a man they were interested in or gently tap his forearm. These were taken as signs that they were “interested.”
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