Steven Pinker -- How the Mind Works - Hampshire High Italian ...

470 | HOW THE MIND WORKSone in the next two years, and four or five over their lifetimes. Menwanted two sex partners within the month, eight in the next two years,and eighteen over their lifetimes. Would you consider having sex with adesirable partner that you had known for five years? For two years? For amonth? For a week? Women said "probably yes" for a man they hadknown for a year or more, "neutral" for one they had known for sixmonths, and "definitely not" for someone they had known a week orless. Men said "probably yes" as long as they had known the woman fora week. How short a time would a man have to know a woman before hewould definitely not have sex with her? Buss never found out; his scaledid not go down past "one hour." When Buss presented these findings ata university and explained them in terms of parental investment andsexual selection, a young woman raised her hand and said, "ProfessorBuss, I have a simpler explanation of your data." Yes, he said, what is it?"Men are slime."Are men really slime, or are they just trying to look like slime? Perhapsin questionnaires men try to exaggerate their studliness but womenwant to avoid looking easy. The psychologists R. D. Clark and ElaineHatfield hired attractive men and women to approach strangers of theopposite sex on a college campus and say to them, "I have been noticingyou around campus. I find you very attractive," and then ask one of threequestions: (a) "Would you go out with me tonight?" (b) "Would you comeover to my apartment tonight?" (c) "Would you go to bed with metonight?" Half the women consented to a date. Half the men consentedto a date. Six percent of the women consented to go to the stooge's apartment.Sixty-nine percent of the men consented to go to the stooge'sapartment. None of the women consented to sex. Seventy-five percent ofthe men consented to sex. Of the remaining twenty-five percent, manywere apologetic, asking for a rain check or explaining that they couldn'tbecause their fiancee was in town. The results have been replicated inseveral states. When the studies were conducted, contraception waswidely available and safe-sex practices were heavily publicized, so theresults cannot be dismissed simply because women might be more cautiousabout pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.An awakening of male sexual desire by a new partner is known asthe Coolidge effect, after a famous anecdote. One day President CalvinCoolidge and his wife were visiting a government farm and were takenon separate tours. When Mrs. Coolidge was shown the chicken pens,she asked whether the rooster copulated more than once a day. "Dozens