Trigger warning: this post may cause some discomfort to emotionally unstable and dysfunctional people, and they might go on Twitter tantrums to pretend they got even and had their emotional voids handled. Be warned: this post contains science and objectivity. Read at your own risk. (Or don’t, you can choose that as well — this blog might not be for you.)A new study found out that humans are more attracted to individuals displaying their bodies expansively, because it increases one’s romantic desirability:
Across two field studies of romantic attraction, we demonstrate that postural expansiveness makes humans more romantically appealing. In a field study (n = 144 speed-dates), we coded nonverbal behaviors associated with liking, love, and dominance. Postural expansiveness—expanding the body in physical space—was most predictive of attraction, with each one-unit increase in coded behavior from the video recordings nearly doubling a person’s odds of getting a “yes” response from one’s speed-dating partner. In a subsequent field experiment (n = 3,000), we tested the causality of postural expansion (vs. contraction) on attraction using a popular Global Positioning System-based online-dating application. Mate-seekers rapidly flipped through photographs of potential sexual/date partners, selecting those they desired to meet for a date. Mate-seekers were significantly more likely to select partners displaying an expansive (vs. contractive) nonverbal posture. Mediation analyses demonstrate one plausible mechanism through which expansiveness is appealing: Expansiveness makes the dating candidate appear more dominant. In a dating world in which success sometimes is determined by a split-second decision rendered after a brief interaction or exposure to a static photograph, single persons have very little time to make a good impression. Our research suggests that a nonverbal dominance display increases a person’s chances of being selected as a potential mate.
So manspreading is a non-aggressive, non-verbal mating strategy. It’s sad to see taxpayers’ money being wasted on censorious and anti-romantic campaigns against it.
I bet we can find better use for that money.
(image: Wikipedia… because, somehow, someone thought this bullshit concept was worth an encyclopedia entry)
