John Tierney, writing for the New York Times:
To see how female students react to a rival, researchers brought pairs of them into a laboratory at McMaster University for what was ostensibly a discussion about female friendships. But the real experiment began when another young woman entered the room asking where to find one of the researchers.
This woman had been chosen by the researchers, Tracy Vaillancourt and Aanchal Sharma, because she “embodied qualities considered attractive from an evolutionary perspective,” meaning a “low waist-to-hip ratio, clear skin, large breasts.” Sometimes, she wore a T-shirt and jeans, other times a tightfitting, low-cut blouse and short skirt.
Read on to find out the predictable result.
I’m glad to see this research is happening, but this piece is full of conclusions that seem highly speculative given the data, including many entirely hypothetical mechanisms of action presented as fact. A bit disappointing.