Fact of the day

Fact of the day

Information is the most powerful weapon.

Fact N° 2385
Women generally perceive men interested in casual sex as low-status and uninviting.
A series of four studies by the University of Michigan's Dr. Terri Conley found that when men are approached by an imagined "attractive member of the opposite sex" who offers a sexual encounter, men thought positively of the theoretical woman, while women rated the imagined man as low-status, cold, unlikely to be sexually skilled, and downright dangerous. In fact, when being offered a blunt, unsolicited sexual invitation, women were almost as likely to say yes to another woman as to a man, in part because they concluded that the other woman would at least be sexually skilled.
Fact N° 2386
Sleep deprivation makes you less likely to consider moral consequences.
A recent study tasked 71 Norwegian military cadets with taking the "Defining Issues Test," an exam that judges stages of moral reasoning before and after sleep deprivation. Most of the cadets scored highly at first, but when they were substantially sleep-deprived, their behavior became robotic; they followed the rules for making moral decisions, but without engaging in any complex planning or problem-solving for moral situations. Cadets who scored poorly in the first place were unaffected by sleep deprivation.
Fact N° 2387
Being checked out makes women worse at math.
Women who feel they're being judged for attractiveness -- with the standard up-and-down evaluating look, for example -- tend to underperform compared to women who don't feel the same pressure. In a study published in the Journal of Social Issues, researchers invited male and female subjects to an interview followed by a series of 12 math problems. In some of the interviews, research assistants were told to noticeably ogle their opposite-sex subjects first. Women who received this treatment got an average of fewer than five out of 12 correct answers on the math test; women who didn't averaged six. Male subjects were unaffected.
Fact N° 2388
Laughter increases pain tolerance.
A study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society tested subjects' tolerance to painful stimuli before and after they watched comedy shows or stand-up routines. Subjects exposed to comedy could tolerate around 10% more pain than those who weren't. The results were dose-dependent; people who laughed more could tolerate more. Furthermore, it appears to be laughter in particular, and not other positive feelings, that elicits this response. A similar experiment found no such effect on pain tolerance when provoking generally happy, feel-good emotions.
Fact N° 2389
Rich women prefer older men.
Psychologists conducting a study in Scotland found that men are generally more likely to consider physical attractiveness in their partners, while women are more likely to consider a partner's ability to provide. The researchers anticipated that women who were financially stable (and so were not in need of a provider partner) would be more likely to mirror men's interest in young partners. They instead found the opposite; higher incomes made women prefer (attractive) older men, and made men prefer younger women.
Fact N° 2390
The residual effects of alcohol can persist for years.
A study by Neurobehavioral Research Inc. examined participants using a three-part test similar to a standard sobriety test (e.g. walking a line, then repeating the task with eyes closed). Two of the three groups of participants had been alcoholics (the third was a non-alcoholic control group), but they differed in how long they'd been sober; one group had only quit drinking weeks before, while another group had been sober for an average of seven years. The recently-sober group performed the worst, but even the years-sober group performed substantially worse than the group that had never been alcoholics.
Fact N° 2391
Optimism is partially genetic.
Scientists at UCLA have identified an oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) that appears to be linked to a genetic predisposition for optimism and self-esteem. Oxytocin is a sex hormone that is also produced by breastfeeding women; it evokes feelings of contentedness and pleasure. The UCLA researchers determined, through genetic testing and questionnaires issued to 326 participants, that variants of the receptor gene have different functions. People with two "A" variants are more likely to experience depression, while people with two "G" variants are genetically predisposed to positivity and more effective stress management.

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