Little Things Count

Part 2: A is for Accountant
In the last blog (that you hopefully read) I discussed research suggesting that the mere colour of a persons clothing can strongly influence whether members of the opposite sex desire to date and have physical relations with them. And of course most people would be likely to be completely unaware of this. Thus, sometimes in life we can be a little ignorant about what is causing us to feel the way we do. However, the question is, does this really matter? Finding a woman slightly more attractive just because she has a red scarf draped around her neck isn’t really that big in the grand scheme of things is it? One could argue that it is, especially if you end up marrying that woman because the effect of the red scarf added that little bit more attraction that made you so intrigued by her. But this is all a bit hypothetical.

Slightly more dramatically research does suggest that extremely subtle factors could have significant influence on what we end up doing with the rest of our lives. Pelham et al 2002 report a series of studies based on previously well established findings that most people tend to have a favourable view of themselves and thus tend to prefer people, places and things they associate with themselves. Based on this, other research has shown that we even tend to have a strong implicit preference for the letters in our own names. Gary seems like to the letter G more so than other letters, and Lucy exhibits behaviour which suggests she has a preference towards the letter L - but this isn’t where it ends.

Pelham et al. were interested in examining whether these preferences towards the letters in our own names can influence major life decisions. Consulting numerous public records, telephone directories, death certificates and professional directories the researchers unearthed some seemingly bizarre results. They found that people were far more likely to live in areas, have careers in and vote for politicians whose names resembled their own first names. Larry is far more likely to be a lawyer than he is a dentist. Whilst the number of dentists named Dennis is disproportionately large.

Additionally, during the Bush-Gore US election individuals whose last names began with B and G were far more likely to contribute to the election funds of the Bush and Gore parties respectively. Out of every woman that gave birth in the state of Texas in 1926, the number of woman later marrying men who shared the same maiden name was 40% above what we would expect by chance.

Collectively these studies appear to suggest that the letters in names have drawn individuals towards certain career choices, election candidates and marriages. And of course nobody knows this is going on. It must be said that it is highly unlikely Larry next door will all of a sudden realise he wants to become a lawyer after several years in hairdressing, as the effect is quite small. But what it does suggest is that the simple letters in names can shift people towards careers that they wouldn’t necessarily have chosen if their parents had opted for a different name. If Chloe had been a Sarah there’s a chance she wouldn’t be cleaning for a living.

It’s fascinating to think that such a small and seemingly meaningless can exert some influence on ones life and to be completely oblivious to it.

Applications

If you happen to know a Susie selling seashells in the Seychelles please forward the link to this blog and take perverse pleasure in watching her reaction.

Little Things Count

Part 1: The colour red
Most of the time you’d think that you bought that bottle of water because you were thirsty and chose that piece of artwork for your unfurnished living room because it is both stylish and a bargain. Sense tells us that we should have a fairly good idea of what is influencing our thoughts and feelings towards something or someone. For example, a previous acquaintance of mine only ever talked about himself, paid no attention to what I had to say and spent much of his time enjoying his own reflection. Thus, I thought that I didn’t particularly like him because of these reasons. However, things aren’t always so obvious. When your eyes catch another’s across a crowded (annoyingly crowded with boys normally), drunken and loud dance floor you can become instantly attracted. It’s a nice feeling, but why am I attracted to Mariya? The dimensions of her face and body? Almost definitely. What about the colour of the scarf she is wearing? Surely not!

A wealth of research suggests that we can often be somewhat ignorant towards what is causing us to the feel the way we do. And it turns out that the colour of Mariya’s scarf (she was wearing a scarf in a club because it was cold if you were wondering) could be quiet important. It could play a much more significant role than you think in influencing whether I do fall head over heels or instead head to the bar for another drink. This two part blog discusses how we can really never be 100% sure as to why we feel the way we do.

If you are both a heterosexual female and in the dating game then my only advice to you is to start wearing the colour red more. The colour red may have particular evolutionary significance when it comes to attraction. Zoologists think that female chimps display heightened redness on their face and genitals in attempt to attract mates during or close to their ovulation period. But what about the colour red in humans? Valentines day is extremely red and women (and men) sometimes like to wear red lipstick. But then again there are many red things that aren’t at all related to attraction: tomatoes and telephone boxes.
A set of experiments by Elliot & Niesta (2008) suggests that red really does matter when it comes to attraction. For example, in one study the researchers showed participants a photo of a fairly attractive girl. This photo remained constant for all participants, apart from the colour of her top; either being red or another colour matched for things like contrast and brightness. Male participants then rated how attractive they found the girl. The results showed that wearing the colour red strongly influenced attraction. Bizarre! Furthermore the influence of this mysterious red effect didn’t just result in a small increase. Wearing the colour red resulted in males reporting that they would be much more likely to ask her on a date and possess a stronger sexual desire towards the lady in red.

An interesting study and introduction to the idea that subtle influences can go a long way, but the length to which small subtle influences can go is far more impressive than just attraction. Why did you end up in the career you find yourself? and with the man you love? Is it because you like them for what and who they are? Or is it because of something much more sinister….. Check for part 2 of this blog for some answers.

Applications so far –

If you are trying to attract a guy don your best red scarf.

If you are trying to attract a girl keep a look out for one dressed in red from head to toe. But no promises, it could mean –
a) she is unconsciously conveying a message of sexual need
b) she has a terrible dress sense

Avoid wearing red when in the company of chimps.