Are you the right piece to the puzzle?Since the main directive of man is to survive and reproduce - do you have what the other needs to provide the best results in your current (or future) environment?
If the blending of genes adds to a greater chance of fighting off a greater number of diseases and illnesses,
Are your genes the best fit for the survival of the species?
Are your phenotypical traits more likely to be valued in your current (or future) environment?
Is your current knowledge of any benefit to your prospective mates?
Are your current skills of any benefit beyond your immediate surroundings?
Maybe we are all attracted to that which we cannot see - only that which we notice on a subconscious level.
(Pale whites living in sun drenched areas being attracted to those with a better ability to process Vitamin D (which, in turn, aids in the processing of Calcium), or Black people eating a Western diet being attracted to someone white for their supposed ability to better stave off cardiovascular disorders - as examples.)
Maybe everyone is attracted to looks - only on a subconscious level.
IThe highest correlation coefficents in studies of spouses, around +0.9 are for religion, ethnic background, race, and socioeconomic status.
ReplyDeleteI know.
ReplyDeleteBut maybe there is something deeper that we don't even know that we know.
But the scientists have found that we respond to the scent of different MHC proteins. There was all the speculation recently that women being on the pill pick the wrong partners because of changes in their appreciation for different prospective partners MHC scent.
ReplyDeleteAnd more research about lap dancers getting better gratuities if they were not on the pill and were ovulating whilst pill users got the same gratuities as women that were menstruating. We do have a very efficient but subtle scent detecting mechanism that is separate from the sense of smell that we possess. Nerve 0 I have heard it called.
@ doll - Great examples. Exactly the question I was asking.
ReplyDeleteJared Diamond and others have pointed that there are things we aren't even aware. A very high percentage of couples have high correlation coefficents for things as bizarre as length of middle finger and width of the earlobe. Things like that have come up in several studies.
ReplyDelete