"Sociology" via urban oral tradition

[nminusone]

I had an IM conversation with my friend Z about her Theory of Hotties:

z: you know what they say?
me: nope
z: if you have 1 hottie
z: then all the other hotties want you
me: is that how that works?
z: [Z's boyfriend] and i are convinced

Comments

subject of a fair bit of research

[he_who_wanders]

There is a bnch of work in mate selection in the Psychology for this subject check out:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10966?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=dn10966
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/175/12/1573

The consensus seems to be yes once you have a a hot/attractive GF other women want you more.

Re: subject of a fair bit of research

[nminusone]

Very interesting, thanks! The key phrase seems to be "mate choice copying"... sort of like branding for people. ;) (As in "brand name recognition", not "hot metal meets skin"!) I'll have to look for similar research on male perceptions of female attractiveness; I wonder how the effect compares.

Thinking back to when I was monogamous, I always noticed that a lot more women seemed interested in me when I was involved, even when the other women had no obvious way of knowing I had a girlfriend. I always chalked it up to differences in my mood and attitude, but maybe they could just tell somehow.

[madbodger]

Yep. After N split with her BF (who was you), she couldn't get a date to save her life.
Then I hooked up with her, and then the boys came from the voodvork out!

When you have my spamp of approval, everybody wants you!