10 inconvenient truths of human nature

I report an interesting article in Psychology Today on the work of Alan S. Miller (Ph.D) and Satoshi Kanazawa (Ph.D) which carry a brief summary. I apologize in advance for the likely typos , everything has been written quickly. Human behavior is produced both the innate human nature that the individual experiences and environment. Evolutionary psychologists , in fact, see human nature as a series of adaptations that often operate beyond conscious thought , and that improve the chances of survival and reproduction predisposing to think or feel in a certain way. "The implications of some ideas in this article may seem immoral , contrary to our ideals, or offensive . We affirm because the are true, supported by documented scientific evidence . Like it or not , human nature is simply not politically correct . " 1 . Men like sexy blondes bombs Men prefer young women in part because they tend to be healthier . An accurate indicator of health is the attraction that can arouse , another is the hair . The hair of a healthy person are brighter , and a woman who wears her hair shoulder-length can reveal the state of his health for several years. In addition, men have a universal preference for women who have a low ratio of hips - life measures . For this type of women is more simple and have children before the other , because they possess a greater amount of hormones essential for reproduction. The males are unconsciously looking for healthy and fertile women when they seek women with a low waist . The reason why men prefer big breasts , according to the anthropologist Frank Marlowe , is that large breasts tend to yield more visibly with age and this enables man to assess the age and state of health of a woman at first sight. Another explanation (which derives from a study of Polish women ) is that they tend to be more fertile for the highest level of reproductive hormones ( estradiol and progesterone) . Her blond hair have the unique property to radically change with age. Typically, a young girl with the flaxen hair will become a woman with darker hair (slightly light brown ) . So this is the attitude of the unconscious men to seek younger partners ( and therefore presumably more healthy and fertile ) . The preference for blue eyes seems universal , and probably comes from the fact that on the eyes with blue irises is easier to identify the degree of dilation of the pupils ( a clear indicator of interest) . All this , however, is no longer valid : cosmetic surgery, dyes , facelifts are now fairly common . But even if we know consciously that attractive blonde girl with big breasts is not necessarily a fifteen evolved psychological mechanisms that we continue to make us find appealing. 2 . Humans are naturally polygamous History of Western civilization aside, polygamy has always been widespread in human societies . From the anthropological point of view we know that the degree of polygamy of a species is strongly related to the degree in which the males are higher than females. More polygamy is widespread in a species , the greater the disparity in size between the sexes. Typically, men are 10% higher for women and 20% heavier , this suggests that we evolved as a species moderately polygamous . In contrast to monogamy , polygamy leads to a higher variance of adaptation (fitness variance ) among males , because it allows a few to monopolize all the females in the group. This also creates more pressure and competition on males . Moreover, given that the human species split the bond between man and woman for the breeding of small , women tend to prefer mates tall and strong to ensure protection . In modern society often these factors have been replaced by economic well-being . 3 . Most women benefit from polygamy , while men from monogamy In conditions of scarcity , many women ( with exception of those highly desirable ) can share a wealthy man . It's better than being linked to undesirable men . Conversely, for men monogamy ensures a companion, while polygamy is likely that all women are " monipolizzate " by the more attractive males . A man will find a woman undesirable undesirable , but better than not finding any. 4 . (...) 5 . Having sons reduces the likelihood of divorce Since the reproductive value of a man is given by its well-being , status and power ( while a woman is determined mainly on the attractiveness and youth ), the father must make sure that a child will inherit this value , however little they possess . Instead , parents can do little to keep a young daughter or make it more attractive physically. The continued presence of the father becomes crucial for the child , but not so necessary for her daughter. 6 . Beautiful people have more daughters The Trivers - Willard hypothesis ( which proved correct ) says that wealthy parents of high social status have more children , while poor parents of low status have more daughters. In general , if the parents have the traits that go to their offspring and that are more suitable for male children , you will have a chance to have more other sons. As a result , parents who have beauty as a characteristic trait , the other will have a chance to have more daughters than sons (in the case ddegli Americans : 56%). 7 . What do they have in common with Bill Gates and Paul McCartney criminals The expressions of the competitive desires , whose ultimate function is to increase reproductive success , have a peak between late adolescence and adulthood , then dropped between 20 and 30 years before settling in middle age. Crime and creativity can be this kind of expressions. The reason for the decay of these desires , is that evolution has programmed us to be competitive immediately after puberty and then become more cautious after the birth of their first child . With the arrival of the children the task becomes to look after them and protect them. " What they have in common Bill Gates, Paul McCartney, and the criminals ( in fact, all the men in the story) concerns a key concept in evolutionary biology : the choice of females . Women always say no to men. Men have had to conquer foreign lands , win battles and wars , compose symphonies , write books and sonnets , paint the ceilings of cathedrals, make scientific discoveries , play in rock bands , and write new computer software in order to impress women so that consent to have sex with them. Men have built ( and destroyed) civilization in order to impress women, so that they could say yes . " 8 . The midlife crisis is a kind of myth Many men go through your mid-life crisis , but this is not about the fact that they have reached the age of 50 . Regard to their wife. From the perspective of evolutionary psychology , the crisis is caused by the menopause of the wife ceases to be fertile man then comes the desire to attract younger companions . All this for a matter of evolution. A 50 -year-old not married a 25 -year-old will not have a midlife crisis, while will have a 25 -year-old married to a 50 -year-old . 9 . And ' natural for a politician to risk everything for an affair (but only if it is male " The men chase political power , consciously or unconsciously , to have more reproductive success with a large number of women. " 10 . Men sexually harass women because they are not sexist The problem of sexual harassment has grown with the access of women to the workforce , side by side with their male colleagues . Studies demonstrate unequivocally that men are far more interested in short-term casual sex women . "Abuse , intimidation, and degradation are all part of the repertoire of tactics employed in competitive situations . In other words , men do not treat women differently from males [...] but the opposite. " CONCLUSIONS An interesting read , although in my opinion does not have the final word for each topic . In particular, I have many reservations on the last point and the ways in which the above-mentioned study was conducted . However , as always, èsempre better to read than to ignore.