Researchers have found out how a person's behavior changes when communicating with a member of the opposite sex and what causes such changes.
Perhaps embellishing reality on a date is not a sign of deceit in general. The joint work of scientists from the University of Rochester and the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya shows that activating the corresponding parts of the brain can force people to act in this way.
In a study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, scientists tested their hypothesis experimentally. The participants were 634 heterosexual people - 328 women and 306 men aged about 25 years.
The authors hypothesized that thoughts of sex, even without eliciting an immediate genital response, could activate the corresponding regions of the brain and cause a person to change their behavior.
The subjects were divided into two groups. One group was presented with neutral stimulus pictures, the other - stimulus pictures with sexual connotation. The participants then had to interact with members of the opposite sex. Scientists conducted four series of experiments.
In the first episode, a pair of participants had to discuss a given topic: for example, discuss a certain candidate for a vacancy, and one of the pair would be "for" hiring, and the other - against. After the discussion, the participants had to rate how inclined they were to agree with the arguments of the opponent. Those subjects who received sexually colored pictures before the conversation were more likely to agree with the arguments of the opponent of the opposite sex.
In the second series, participants filled out a questionnaire to find out their preferences. Afterwards, they were shown neutral or sexually suggestive images. The participants were then asked to chat with strangers (in fact, they were the researchers and their collaborators). After viewing the online profile of the interlocutor, the participant had to fill out his own profile, which his correspondent would see. Participants who received erotically colored stimuli were more inclined to fill out the questionnaire so that their tastes and inclinations were more similar and in tune with the unknown forum member. Their descriptions were less correlated with their own preferences, which were previously recorded in the questionnaire.
In episodes three and four, the scientists tested whether those who were shown erotic images would lie more about the number of alleged partners. The question about the number of previous sexual partners was included in the questionnaire, and then this “accidentally” was brought up in the chat. It turned out that both men and women, if they had previously received sexual stimuli, downplayed the number of ex-partners in online dialogue with supposedly attractive strangers of the opposite sex. Fun fact: seven is the number "ex" they used most often.
Promotional video:
The work shows that a person who, upon contact with an attractive counterpart, exposes himself in a pleasant light for the interlocutor, begins to agree and change habits to please him or her, does not necessarily do this deliberately, insidiously and with the aim of obtaining real benefits. With a high probability, unconscious impulses dictated by the activation of ancient brain mechanisms make him act in this way.
Author: Polina Gershberg