EXAM 2 Flashcards
The Legendary Lap Dance Study
Miller et al (2007)
University of New Mexico (what is up with them?!?)
Followed two sets of strippers
One set who was on the pill
One set who was off the pill
Tracked how much money made every five hour shift
Tracked dollars earned against their menstrual cycles
The Legendary Lap Dance Study -2
Findings:
Pill users made $193 per shift
Non-Pill users made $276 per shift
Affected by stage of menstrual cycle:
Menstruation phase: $175 per shift
Estrous (Ovulation) phase: $350 per shift
Luteal phase: $250 per shift
The Legendary Lap Dance Study
Findings:
Pill users didn’t dramatically shift over time
No statistically significant change
The Question is WHY?
Thoughts?
The Legendary Lap Dance Study
Researchers offer two likely reasons: 1
Reason #1: Hormonal spikes affect women’s behavior
In this context, the women might engage in behaviors that get them more money
However, these were seasoned professionals (average 6 years experience)
When asked, the women felt confident they weren’t acting differently
The Legendary Lap Dance Study
Reason 2
Reason #2: Hormonal spikes affect women’s sex appeal
Estrogen levels surge leading up to ovulation
Estrogen changes how you look/smell
Fuller lips
Larger pupils
Smoother, softer, “glowing” skin
Evens out complexion
Flesh of ears, fingers, and breasts become more symmetrical
Copulins and other odorants smell better
The Legendary Lap Dance Study
reason 2 continued
Hormonal spikes affect women’s sex appeal (continued)
Men are enticed by this convergence of features
Likely unaware of the extra appeal’s source
Pay to maintain the attention of these “extra attractive” women
Hormones Affecting Appearance
Estrogen Face Study
(Smith et al., 2006)
Tracked the influence of hormones on facial appearance
Took photos of fifty-nine women every week for six weeks
Just faces (not hair, body, or clothes)
Also tested the women to pin-point the timing of their ovulations
Hormones Affecting Appearance pt2
Next, had male and female volunteers rate these faces for attractiveness
Ovulating women rated as more attractive
Made composites of two faces:
Ten ovulating women
Ten non-ovulating women
Ovulating composite won
Hormones Affecting Appearance Bern (2016)
Women read other women’s faces for signs of ovulation (left is ovulating)
Identify ovulating
faces as threatening
(see them as more
likely to steal their mate)
They try to hide their partners from these potential fertile threats
Hormones Affecting Behavior
The Come-and-Get-Me!-Outfit Study
Haelston (2007)
Had volunteers look at full-length photos of 30 women taken at different times during their menstrual cycles
Volunteers judged if the women were trying to look more attractive in one photo more than others
The women in the photos had their heads cropped out (so people didn’t inadvertently rate their facial attractiveness)
Hormones Affecting Behavior
The Come-and-Get-Me!-Outfit Study (cont)
The women in the photos had no idea what the study was about, so had no reason to affect it’s outcome (i.e., knowingly dress certain ways)
More often than not, raters could guess the women’s fertile phase based on her clothes alone
Women in their fertile phase (estrous) showed more skin and tighter, more provocative outfits
Alternatively, wore same clothes as in low-fertility phase, but added frilly or cosmetic touches (e.g., added jewelry)
Hormones Affecting Behavior
The Drugs-Made-Me-Do-It! Study
Bullivant et al (2004)
Matched women’s frequency of erotic fantasies and intensity of sexual desires against their menstrual cycles
Sexual fantasies and desires peaked leading up to ovulation
Hormones Affecting Behavior
The Drugs-Made-Me-Do-It! Study (cont)
Coincided with high estrogen levels, coupled with a brief spike in testosterone
Testosterone ramps up sex drive
Couples usually have 24% more sex during this window than they do during the rest of the month
The problems with knowing such things…
Dinner with friends…
Hormones Affecting Behavior
Who’s-Your-Type? Studies
Depends (at least a little) on where you’re at in your cycle!
Several studies focus on how menstrual cycle affects aesthetic preferences in mate selection for females
Who’s-Your-Type? Studies
Around ovulation, women are at their highest sex-hormone levels
Higher sex drive
Higher sensitivity to/aroused by high-testosterone cues (deep voices, broad shoulders, musculature, dominant behavior)
Roney & Simmons (2008)
Had women rate a series of men based on their physical attractiveness
Then measured these men’s testosterone levels
Also measured these women’s estrogen levels
Finding: The higher the woman’s estrogen level, the more attracted she was to high testosterone men
Face morphing studies
Allow women to morph faces from masculine to feminine to find their ideal
Also measure these same women’s estrogen levels
Finding: The higher a women’s estrogen level (fertile phase), the more she masculinizes the face
Face morphing studies
pt2
The higher the woman’s progesterone level (luteal-phase), the more she feminizes the fac
Also like faces more like their own
Also report higher drives for bonding with current partners
Pillsworth & Haelston, (2006)
Hormones Affecting Behavior
Studied women in happy, satisfying relationships
Around ovulation, women expressed greatest desire for other partners
Especially women who felt their partners could be better looking
Most attracted to macho, domineering types during this stage in their cycles
Pillsworth & Haelston, (2006)
pt 2
Of note, their partners developed counter-strategies during this phase
Smothering their partners with love
During their fertile phases, women reported their partners were at their sweetest, most devote, most loving
Given what we just discussed earlier, what would we actually call this?
Note: Don’t dismiss your partners every caring and romantic gesture as some cheap ploy to keep you from getting knocked up by someone else
Testosterone, Sexual Fantasies, and Desires
Series of interviews compiled on the effects of hormone introduction in transsexuals
The case of FtMs
Changes following uptake of high testosterone levels
The Coolidge Effect
Definition: The phenomenon—seen in nearly every mammalian species in which it has been tested—whereby males exhibit continuous high sexual performance given the introduction of new receptive partners
Some evidence it can occur in females, but to a lesser extent
The Coolidge Effect: Attributed to a joke about President Calvin Coolidge
The President and Mrs. Coolidge were being shown [separately] around an experimental government farm.
When Mrs. Coolidge came to the chicken yard she noticed that a rooster was mating very frequently.
She asked the attendant how often that happened and was told, “Dozens of times each day.”
Mrs. Coolidge said, “Tell that to the President when he comes by.”
Upon being told, President asked, “Same hen every time?”
The reply was, “Oh, no, Mr. President, a different hen every time.”
President: “Tell that to Mrs. Coolidge.”
The Coolidge Effect
Mark Frank is a funny guy
Harem stories
“Now, I’ve never in my life been in a position to test out this theory…”
