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Posts Tagged ‘mating rituals’

The Laws of Attraction

The BPS Research Digest offers a quick guide to the psychology and science of human attraction.  Their dating suggestions — based on real studies — are:

  • Dress like the person you want to date.
  • Use the power of touch.
  • Use a popular pseudonym. 
  • Wear red.
  • Make strategic use of mimicry and temperature.
  • You are not hot as you think when you’re drunk.
  • Make strategic use of your friends.


  • The FREAK-est Links

    17 people indicted for identity theft in New York. (Earlier) Economists and psychologists tackle speed dating. Everything you ever wanted to know about U.S. cities. A foolproof strategy for winning at Monopoly. (Hat tip: BoingBoing)



    FREAK-TV: What Do Online Daters Lie About?

    Video This is a subject we wrote about in Freakonomics, based on a really interesting paper called “What Makes You Click?” by Günter J. Hitsch, Ali Hortaçsu, and Dan Ariely. The story we told in the book was an aggregate one, based on thousands of online daters’ data. But we thought it would make sense to go out on the . . .



    The Economics of Sugar Daddying

    Not long ago, Levitt wrote about a Craigslist posting in which a woman solicited advice in marrying a man who made more than $500,000 a year. That posting eventually made the international media rounds, from the Times to the BBC News to Scientific American. But journalists have yet to jump on the wealth of posts like the following, posted in . . .



    The Economics of Gold-Digging

    The following story is currently making the rounds on the Internet. The events probably didn’t happen exactly as described, but for my purposes it doesn’t really matter. Supposedly, a woman posted the following personal ad on Craigslist: What am I doing wrong? Okay, I’m tired of beating around the bush. I’m a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25-year-old girl. I’m articulate and . . .



    What’s That Have to Do With the Price of Corn?

    The rising price of corn due to ethanol demand will have a variety of unintended consequences. As noted earlier on this blog, it might even make Americans skinnier, since food manufacturers may start using a cheaper (and less fattening) substitute for corn syrup. Along these same lines, I heard a story not long ago at an event full of bankers . . .



    More Than Just a Haircut

    Back when I was a graduate student at MIT in desperate need of a haircut, I stumbled into a place called The Hair Connection. Little did I know it would change my life. A pleasant woman named Carmella cut my hair, and even offered me a generous student discount. I soon became a loyal customer, dropping in every three to . . .



    The Science of Insulting Women

    While VH1 debuts a reality show on picking up women, researchers gather data on the psychology of retaining your partner once she’s safely hooked.



    And Today Is…

    July 19 is Flitch Day, a surviving relic from Medieval England in which married couples appear before a “mock court.” Those who can prove that they had “lived in harmony and fidelity” for the past twelve months were awarded a flitch, defined as a “salted and cured side of bacon.” According to Thinkquest.org, “very few [couples] ‘took home the bacon.’”



    The Science of Large Breasts, and Other Evolutionary Verities

    I blogged nearly a year ago about a study by the evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa which argued that beautiful women sometimes marry unattractive men because of the following supply/demand gap: there are simply more good-looking women than there are good-looking men. One reason, Kanazawa said, is that beauty is a more valuable trait for a female, and is therefore accentuated . . .



    The FREAKest Links: Darwin Can’t Lie Edition

    Here’s a twist in our discussion of specialized online dating: a 26-year-old Australian ad salesman has created a tongue-in-cheek site meant to “weed out” the “ugly, unattractive, desperate fatsos.” Called Darwin Dating, it has since gained popularity and led to several happy matches. Craigslist posters are selling their time this week by offering to stand in line to buy iPhones . . .



    More Sex Please, We’re Economists: A Q&A With Steve Landsburg

    Steven Landsburg is not known for having temperate opinions. An economics professor at the University of Rochester and a prolific writer, Landsburg regularly raises provocative theories in his Slate column: women choke under pressure, e.g., or miserliness is a form of generosity. He is the author of the books Armchair Economist and Fair Play, which are in some ways direct . . .



    The FREAKest Links: From Arm Touches Straight to Three-Carat Pacifiers Edition

    Nicolas Gueguen, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Bretagne-Sud, performed a study in which his male research assistants approached 240 women in the street and asked for their phone numbers. Half of the women were asked the question accompanied by a light touch on the arm; the other half received no physical contact. Of those touched, 19% . . .



    The FREAKest Links: Gas Hikes and Bridal Blogs Edition

    Given that we’re already spending the GNP of a small nation on weddings, why not include a little Internet video to share those Big Days with the world? The Wall Street Journal reports that wedding Web sites are a bigger phenomenon than ever, with couples sharing details of their nuptials in blogs, webcasts and online videos. Consumerist offers a conspiracy-busting . . .



    Why Marry?

    Rebecca Mead, whom I am proud to call a longtime friend, is a staff writer for the New Yorker. In addition to being a very good reporter, she’s also a very good stylist; this is a rare and blessed combination. She has just published her first book, One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding, which is full of . . .



    Headlines from Pravda

    I was searching the internet, researching a blog post I had in mind about the Duke Business School cheating scandal, when I stumbled onto the online version of the Russian newspaper Pravda (in English). For those who may not remember, it used to be the mouthpiece of the Communist Party. Here’s a link to the front page. I have to . . .



    The Artist Speaks

    Many of you have expressed confusion as to what the illustration accompanying the latest Freakonomics column means, so I went ahead and posed the question to illustrator David M. Brinley. He replies: “The couple is a metaphor for sexual desires and how his sexual identity has been influenced by the points made in the article. His ‘new’ identity and desire . . .



    Andy Francis (Mr. Price of Sexual Desire himself) Responds to the Critics

    Our latest Freakonomics column described a recent academic paper by Andy Francis. I asked him to respond to the comments that have been raised on our blog (see here). He was kind enough to oblige. Here is what Andy has to say: Thank you for all your comments. They were insightful, and I enjoyed reading them. Let me take a . . .



    Freakonomics in the Times Magazine: The Economy of Desire

    In Freakonomics (the book), Levitt and Dubner often combine disparate subjects to sensible, if startling effect: the commonalities between sumo wrestlers and schoolteachers, for instance, or the KKK and the National Association of Realtors. In their latest Freakonomics column in the New York Times Magazine, they combine another seemingly unlikely pair of ideas: price theory and sexual preference. What does one have to do with the other? And what does it matter?



    Changing Teams

    Our latest New York Times column asks whether sexuality responds to prices. Not just sexual behavior, but even sexual orientation. What Andy Francis (the author of the study our column is primarily based on) finds may surprise you, unless you are an economist. Read more about our column here.