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PROFESSOR: The topic for lecture
for the next couple of

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days is going to be romantic
love or mating behavior or the

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interaction thereof or
something like that.

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And I just learned the
Shakespeare Ensemble is doing

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Taming of the Shrew.

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When?

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AUDIENCE: The nights of
Friday, Saturday and

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[UNINTELLIGIBLE PHRASE]

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PROFESSOR: Tonight, tomorrow
night, and Saturday at?

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AUDIENCE: 8 o'clock.

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PROFESSOR: 8 o'clock.

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Where?

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AUDIENCE: Little
Kresge Theater.

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PROFESSOR: Little
Kresge Theater.

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We should probably assign
it like as homework or

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something like that.

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But you can go after
today's lecture.

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You can go and try to apply
evolutionary psychological

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theory to Taming of the
Shrew if you like.

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And you can tell Bianca
how you liked it.

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All right, enough Shakespeare.

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Shakespeare shows up again
maybe later today.

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Shhh.

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Let me tell you about Chris and
Terry here who are having

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an argument.

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I realize this is sort of a
working memory exercise, too.

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So you have to pay
attention to the

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particular details here.

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So Chris and Terry are
having an argument.

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They've been going together
for about a year.

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They don't live together,
they do sleep together.

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Chris accuses Terry-- so Chris
accuses Terry-- of seeing

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someone else on the side.

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Terry doesn't want
to talk about it.

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Chris says that Terry never
wants to talk about anything.

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Terry shouts that well, maybe
there is somebody else on the

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side and says, well it's not
like there's been much

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activity in this relationship
lately anyway.

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And Chris snorts that
there's more to a

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relationship than just sex.

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All right, you got that?

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And you will have noticed, even
Kristen-- who stayed up

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all night cheering the Red Sox--
will have noticed that

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Chris and Terry are deliberately
ambiguous as to

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the sex of who is who.

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They could of course
be the same sex.

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And that reminds me to say ahead
a time, I'm going to

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talk almost exclusively for the
next two days, next two

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lectures about heterosexual
relationships.

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Lots of fascinating stuff
to say about same sex

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relationships, like so many
topics in introductory psych,

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it's just one I'm not
going to get to.

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So if we assume that Chris and
Terry are male and female, one

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of them is male and one
of them is female.

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And I don't remember which side
I was gestering too, so I

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don't remember-- was this
Chris or Terry?

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AUDIENCE: Terry.

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PROFESSOR: That was Terry.

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This was Chris.

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OK, so how many people vote that
Terry is the male person?

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How many vote that Chris
is the male person?

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How many vote that I got
lost in the details?

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I can't remember who's
who anymore?

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All right, well quick review.

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Chris accuses Terry of seeing
someone on the side.

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Terry doesn't want
to talk about it.

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Chris says Terry never
wants to talk.

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Terry shouts that there may be
somebody on the side and there

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hasn't been much activity and
Chris says there's more to a

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relationship than sex.

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How many vote Terry is male?

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How many vote Chris is male?

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Gee, there seems to be a fairly
strong asymmetry there,

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which is capturing something
of the cliche that man are

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just interested in sex and
women are interested in

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commitment or something
like that.

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This is sort of a cartoon
version recognizing that--

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actually, we sort of backed
off what I was saying last

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time about talking about
individual differences and now

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we're talking about
on average.

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Again, recognizing that there's
vast variations in

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relationships between
men and women.

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Is there any truth to this
sort of asymmetry?

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If there is, how in the world
would you explain it?

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That's the job for
today's lecture.

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Well, I mean, there's lots
of anecdotal evidence.

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How about a little bit of data
evidence from one of my

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favorite experiments in the
annals of experiments that you

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can't see how they ever got it
passed-- oh, does it say IRB

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on the handout?

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IRB stands for Institutional
Review Board.

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You don't have to worry about
that bit of jargon, but those

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are the people who look at
experimental protocols and

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decide whether it's permissible
to do this.

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So if you volunteered to be a
subject in our lab-- please

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do, we need subjects,
talk to Kristen--

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anyway, if you do we'll have you
sign a 7 page consent form

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because they're really worried
about the damage we can do to

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you looking at little
red and green bars

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on a computer screen.

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So you have to imagine how
this experiment ever got

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passed the IRB, though it does
seem like a good one for

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reality TV perhaps.

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Anyway, so here you are, you're
wandering around on

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campus, and an attractive member
of the opposite sex

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approaches you and asks you
one of these 3 questions.

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I should note that I was
explaining this to my wife

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this morning and she got
confused and thought this was

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a multiple choice test.

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It's not a multiple
choice test, which

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would be even weirder.

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So the percentages don't
need to add up to 100.

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That's important.

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But this person comes up to
you and asks you either--

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says something to the effect
of, I've seen you around

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campus and you're really
an attractive person.

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Would you go on a
date with me?

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That's question 1.

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Would you come back to my
apartment with me or would you

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have sex with me?

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What I can't find out is what
happens after the subject

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gives an answer, right?

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This is a quite famous
experiment, but the original

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experiment is published in a
very obscure journal and I

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don't actually have a
copy of the article.

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So we've got these
3 questions.

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There's the date question, the
apartment question, and the

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sex question.

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And so we'll plot percent
yes here.

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OK, if you are a woman person,
what do you think, what

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percentage of women said, yes,
I'll go on a date with you

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would you think?

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AUDIENCE: 50%.

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PROFESSOR: What?

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PROFESSOR: 50%

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PROFESSOR: 50%.

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That sounded terribly
authoritative.

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Is that because it's written
down in the book or something?

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AUDIENCE: I read it.

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PROFESSOR: You read it.

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It's not in [? Blightman ?]
is it?

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AUDIENCE: No, it's
on the website.

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PROFESSOR: It's on
the website.

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Oh, the articles
on the website?

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AUDIENCE: Yeah.

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PROFESSOR: Wait a second.

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I thought I didn't find
the original article.

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AUDIENCE: [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

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PROFESSOR: What?

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AUDIENCE: An article
[UNINTELLIGIBLE].

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PROFESSOR: Oh, OK.

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Well 50%.

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Thank you.

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This-- whoops 50% doesn't
go all the way up.

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OK, 50%.

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This kind of takes the guess
work out of it a bit.

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AUDIENCE: I won't
answer anymore.

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PROFESSOR: I thought we could
find out if you memorized all

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the percentages.

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So all right, if you're not a
good person who went and read

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everything on the website-- all
right, how many women do

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you think were willing to go
back to the guy's apartment?

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[INTERPOSING VOICES]

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PROFESSOR: 2, 9 sounds great.

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The average is about 6.

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So 50, 6.

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Number or percentage of women
who said sure, I will

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have sex with you?

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AUDIENCE: 1.

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AUDIENCE: Zero.

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PROFESSOR: Zero would
be a good, kshht.

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Now the IRB or sort of the
sequel issue here that you'd

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love to know the answer to is,
how many times the guy got

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like punched or reported to the

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campus police or something.

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But now, look.

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Do I have any color chalk?

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No, we'll just have to go
for hatched bars today.

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So that's the female data.

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Let's start at the
other end here.

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What percentage of guys
approached by a woman who

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said, I think you're
attractive.

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Would you like to have
sex, said yes?

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AUDIENCE: 75.

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PROFESSOR: She said she wasn't
going to be answering anymore.

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Yeah, OK.

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It's 75%.

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It's also interesting to see
what happens with the rest of

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the questions.

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If you ask, would you go back to
the apartment with me that

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drops to about, I think, 67%.

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And if you ask, would you
go on a date with

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me it drops to 50.

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So, now look the world is
full of interesting

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asymmetries in data.

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Even sex differences in say
mathematical ability or

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something like that.

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Sex differences in most
stuff look like this.

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There's a data point with an
error bar and there's another

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data point with an error bar
and you say, oh yeah, look.

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There's a significant sex
difference if we run 8.5

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million subjects.

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00:10:43,620 --> 00:10:46,320
You don't get data like
this most of the time.

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00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:49,590
This is like a huge asymmetry.

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00:10:49,590 --> 00:10:53,660
So one interesting question
is, why is this huge?

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00:10:53,660 --> 00:10:56,960
And another interesting question
is this apparently

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counter intuitive slope to the
male data where you're more

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00:11:01,700 --> 00:11:03,970
likely if you're a guy
to say, oh sure.

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00:11:03,970 --> 00:11:09,660
I'll have sex with you right
now, but I don't actually want

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00:11:09,660 --> 00:11:11,660
to go on a date with you.

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Which is on the face of it,
perhaps a little odd.

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00:11:15,230 --> 00:11:18,080
But we'll come back to
try to explain that.

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00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:21,670
There are multiple ways.

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00:11:21,670 --> 00:11:25,390
So this is not some weird
isolated data point where

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00:11:25,390 --> 00:11:28,060
people just did a very odd--
it's an odd experiment.

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00:11:28,060 --> 00:11:31,280
Here, this is the one that you
really wonder about what the

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00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:34,580
next sentence was,
you know, hi.

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00:11:34,580 --> 00:11:36,960
You're very attractive, would
you have sex with me?

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00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:37,880
Oh yes, sure.

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00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:39,140
Just kidding.

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00:11:44,630 --> 00:11:49,310
It's a very odd experiment, but
a very interesting one.

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00:11:49,310 --> 00:11:51,730
Yes, Mara knows the answer
to the rest of--

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00:11:51,730 --> 00:11:53,702
AUDIENCE: We have a question.

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00:11:53,702 --> 00:11:55,618
Did they control for the
attractiveness of the

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00:11:55,618 --> 00:11:55,792
questioner?

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00:11:55,792 --> 00:11:57,650
I mean, what if--

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PROFESSOR: Well, the
description--

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00:11:59,620 --> 00:12:02,110
my expert witness can probably
tell me better because she's

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00:12:02,110 --> 00:12:04,420
read this more recently
apparently, the description I

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00:12:04,420 --> 00:12:07,610
think is simply that
the experimenter --

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00:12:07,610 --> 00:12:09,450
this experimenter's confederate
is described as

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00:12:09,450 --> 00:12:10,610
being attractive.

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00:12:10,610 --> 00:12:11,970
AUDIENCE: Well, I'm
just saying--

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00:12:11,970 --> 00:12:12,850
pROFESSOR: But look.

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00:12:12,850 --> 00:12:14,130
Do the intuition.

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00:12:14,130 --> 00:12:16,340
You can only do the real
intuition for the sex that you

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00:12:16,340 --> 00:12:17,600
happen to belong to.

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00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:22,250
But ask yourself, really
attractive guy comes up and

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00:12:22,250 --> 00:12:24,740
says, would you like to have sex
with me right now, do you

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00:12:24,740 --> 00:12:27,350
think the point moves
a lot off zero?

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00:12:27,350 --> 00:12:29,320
And short of--

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00:12:31,940 --> 00:12:38,040
I don't know-- nonhuman woman,
it's not clear how much that

247
00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:39,560
point moves either.

248
00:12:42,350 --> 00:12:43,680
I don't know.

249
00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:45,820
And it's not one of
these things.

250
00:12:45,820 --> 00:12:50,270
Also, by the way, I do not
recommend you know

251
00:12:50,270 --> 00:12:51,060
when you go off into--

252
00:12:51,060 --> 00:12:53,970
course 15 seems to be the place
where they like to do

253
00:12:53,970 --> 00:12:55,680
survey experiments and
stuff like that.

254
00:12:55,680 --> 00:12:58,400
I don't recommend this one as
one to try because I really do

255
00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:01,000
think that it's hard to imagine
how to do this without

256
00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:03,530
getting into serious trouble.

257
00:13:03,530 --> 00:13:05,530
Fascinating as the
experiment is.

258
00:13:05,530 --> 00:13:09,640
Other efforts to get it the same
point have been done in

259
00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:12,930
sort of more indirect fashion,
so you can be your subject in

260
00:13:12,930 --> 00:13:17,540
this one, which was one where
you were asked to rate a

261
00:13:17,540 --> 00:13:24,550
variety of events as being
positive or negative--

262
00:13:24,550 --> 00:13:26,800
effectively positive or
negative-- if this happened.

263
00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:31,280
And the most salient one seems
to me to be one where the

264
00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:36,590
description was you're on
a crowded subway car, an

265
00:13:36,590 --> 00:13:41,460
attractive member of the sex
to which you are attracted

266
00:13:41,460 --> 00:13:46,900
begins to surreptitiuosly touch
you on the subway car.

267
00:13:46,900 --> 00:13:50,620
Is this a positive or
a negative event?

268
00:13:50,620 --> 00:13:56,590
The answer in the data is women
overwhelmingly say eww,

269
00:13:56,590 --> 00:13:58,670
that's kind of creepy
and negative.

270
00:13:58,670 --> 00:14:00,570
This is not good.

271
00:14:00,570 --> 00:14:05,030
And guys fairly overwhelmingly
say, yeah.

272
00:14:05,030 --> 00:14:09,260
What's the problem here?

273
00:14:09,260 --> 00:14:14,010
Again, you get a hugely
asymmetrical result and what

274
00:14:14,010 --> 00:14:18,730
we want to do is try to account
for that asymmetry.

275
00:14:18,730 --> 00:14:22,440
Now assuming that you have not
been entirely comatose for the

276
00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:25,910
first half of the course you
will recognize that the broad

277
00:14:25,910 --> 00:14:31,070
classes of explanation are going
to be nature nurture

278
00:14:31,070 --> 00:14:34,790
kinds of things and of course,
it's always a combination.

279
00:14:34,790 --> 00:14:39,690
In particular, today what I'm
going to talk about is a

280
00:14:39,690 --> 00:14:43,830
biological account and that's
the account coming out of

281
00:14:43,830 --> 00:14:45,560
evolutionary psychology.

282
00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:48,470
Evolutionary psychology, the
application of evolutionary

283
00:14:48,470 --> 00:14:54,530
theory to the topics in
psychology is very prevalent,

284
00:14:54,530 --> 00:14:56,950
very important these days.

285
00:14:56,950 --> 00:15:01,700
It gets applied to a huge range
of topics, some of which

286
00:15:01,700 --> 00:15:04,400
it probably doesn't have
much to say about.

287
00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:07,660
But if there's anything that
it's got a lot to say about

288
00:15:07,660 --> 00:15:10,050
it's probably human
mating behavior.

289
00:15:12,870 --> 00:15:15,500
And so that's why I'll talk
about evolutionary psychology

290
00:15:15,500 --> 00:15:18,540
in this particular context.

291
00:15:18,540 --> 00:15:20,760
This is not to say it's the
only way of accounting for

292
00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:22,880
mating behavior, but it's
a particularly--

293
00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:25,870
I think, it's very hard to
argue that these sort of

294
00:15:25,870 --> 00:15:31,110
biological forces don't have
some shaping influence on the

295
00:15:31,110 --> 00:15:35,840
way that we select mates and I
want to try cashing out that

296
00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:36,950
argument today.

297
00:15:36,950 --> 00:15:42,700
If you want to read more about
it there are several--

298
00:15:42,700 --> 00:15:47,550
I put reference to several
books on the handout.

299
00:15:47,550 --> 00:15:51,860
All of which I put on there
because they talk about the

300
00:15:51,860 --> 00:15:53,850
topic, but they're
all good reads.

301
00:15:53,850 --> 00:15:56,070
My current favorite actually
is the [? Bowmeister ?]

302
00:15:56,070 --> 00:15:57,930
and [? Tyce ?] one.

303
00:15:57,930 --> 00:16:00,480
It's less of one of the ones
that's sort of been on the

304
00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:04,140
bestseller list, but it's a
beautifully written book on

305
00:16:04,140 --> 00:16:09,110
this topic if you're
interested.

306
00:16:09,110 --> 00:16:13,520
All right, so let's run down the
basic evolutionary psych

307
00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:18,240
argument and then attempts to
see how it might account for

308
00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:23,010
the sort of data that
we see in this area.

309
00:16:23,010 --> 00:16:29,310
If you are operating within
this sort of evolutionary

310
00:16:29,310 --> 00:16:32,960
framework your goal as an
organism is to do what?

311
00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:34,560
AUDIENCE: Pass on the genes.

312
00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:35,400
PROFESSOR: Pass on your genes.

313
00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:37,980
You've got to propagate your
genes in some fashion.

314
00:16:40,810 --> 00:16:44,120
You want to get that genetic
material into future

315
00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:45,790
generations.

316
00:16:45,790 --> 00:16:47,040
And how you going to do that?

317
00:16:49,810 --> 00:16:53,670
Weren't you paying attention
in high school?

318
00:16:53,670 --> 00:16:56,590
There are several ways, but
sexual reproduction is

319
00:16:56,590 --> 00:16:59,500
considered perhaps the
most direct of these.

320
00:16:59,500 --> 00:17:01,350
It's not the only
one, by the way.

321
00:17:01,350 --> 00:17:08,570
It's important to point out that
if you think that again,

322
00:17:08,570 --> 00:17:10,840
by the way, all of this stuff
is presumably operating at a

323
00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:13,740
very unconscious implicit
kind of level.

324
00:17:13,740 --> 00:17:19,100
Nobody assums that people are
wandering around the dating

325
00:17:19,100 --> 00:17:21,630
scene saying, got to
pass on my genes.

326
00:17:21,630 --> 00:17:23,810
How am I going to do that?

327
00:17:23,810 --> 00:17:30,150
But the forces, the forces that
are shaping that behavior

328
00:17:30,150 --> 00:17:36,280
are within this viewpoint shaped
by this drive to pass

329
00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,100
on genetic material into
the next generation.

330
00:17:39,100 --> 00:17:42,770
You can also propagate
your genes by taking

331
00:17:42,770 --> 00:17:46,040
care of your relations.

332
00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:53,290
So if you've got a brother or
sister with kids, those kids

333
00:17:53,290 --> 00:17:57,250
are genetically related to you
and if you nurture them, if

334
00:17:57,250 --> 00:17:59,930
you pay for their college
education or something,

335
00:17:59,930 --> 00:18:02,080
they're not as genetically
related to you as your own

336
00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:04,200
children, but they're
genetically related to you.

337
00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:07,660
And so you can do the
propagation thing indirectly

338
00:18:07,660 --> 00:18:12,250
rather than through just regular
old-fashioned sexual

339
00:18:12,250 --> 00:18:13,170
reproduction.

340
00:18:13,170 --> 00:18:17,800
This, by the way, is one of
the arguments offered by

341
00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:23,280
evolutionary psychologists for
the persistence of same sex

342
00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:24,190
relationships.

343
00:18:24,190 --> 00:18:28,690
Same sex relationships are a
problem from this evolutionary

344
00:18:28,690 --> 00:18:30,760
point of view because
they don't lead

345
00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:32,620
to offspring, right?

346
00:18:32,620 --> 00:18:37,900
Whatever else is going on, they
don't lead to offspring.

347
00:18:37,900 --> 00:18:40,940
I don't know if there's any data
for it, perhaps because I

348
00:18:40,940 --> 00:18:45,600
haven't looked, but one of the
arguments that has been put

349
00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:49,640
forward from time to time are
things like oh, gay men make

350
00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:52,390
great uncles.

351
00:18:52,390 --> 00:18:54,690
They're not going to have kids
of their own, but they take

352
00:18:54,690 --> 00:18:58,660
care of their sister's kids
and that's why it's not

353
00:18:58,660 --> 00:19:05,370
selected out-- it's not selected
against by evolution.

354
00:19:05,370 --> 00:19:11,350
In any case, sticking with this
sort of mainline tail,

355
00:19:11,350 --> 00:19:13,260
you want to propagate
your genes.

356
00:19:13,260 --> 00:19:17,090
Sexual reproduction is
a good way to do it.

357
00:19:17,090 --> 00:19:22,840
Now the thing about sex
is you get pregnant.

358
00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:26,300
Actually only 1/2 of
you get pregnant.

359
00:19:26,300 --> 00:19:28,940
It was sort of an ambiguous
sentence.

360
00:19:28,940 --> 00:19:31,530
This is 1/2 of you, plural,
get pregnant.

361
00:19:31,530 --> 00:19:36,410
Not 1/2 of you as an individual
get pregnant.

362
00:19:36,410 --> 00:19:39,520
You never know what people
learn in high school.

363
00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:46,400
In any case, it is that fact,
that's the key fact this story

364
00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:48,100
that produces the asymmetry.

365
00:19:48,100 --> 00:19:51,150
Women get pregnant, men
don't get pregnant.

366
00:19:51,150 --> 00:19:52,670
Why is that important?

367
00:19:52,670 --> 00:19:58,120
Well, that's important because
being pregnant ties you up for

368
00:19:58,120 --> 00:20:05,450
9 months, being pregnant for 9
months at a time greatly is a

369
00:20:05,450 --> 00:20:10,970
profound rate-limiting step on
how many kids you can have.

370
00:20:10,970 --> 00:20:17,280
And then if you're a human
and not a spider or

371
00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:18,410
something like that.

372
00:20:18,410 --> 00:20:22,560
Once the kid is born or hatched
or whatever you still

373
00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:23,430
got a problem here.

374
00:20:23,430 --> 00:20:26,770
You want this little bundle of
genes to do something for you

375
00:20:26,770 --> 00:20:28,950
in evolutionary terms, you
got to keep it alive.

376
00:20:28,950 --> 00:20:30,920
So it's not just the 9 months.

377
00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:35,390
There's a long time, long term
commitment to this little

378
00:20:35,390 --> 00:20:38,620
evolutionary project that
you've gotten into.

379
00:20:38,620 --> 00:20:42,360
The same constraints do not
necessarily apply to men.

380
00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:45,100
Certainly the rate-limiting step
does not apply because in

381
00:20:45,100 --> 00:20:49,480
principle guys can go off and
have a gazillion babies--

382
00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:51,790
that's a technical term--

383
00:20:51,790 --> 00:20:55,990
as long as they can find the
requisite gazillion women.

384
00:20:55,990 --> 00:20:59,710
The rate-limiting step for man
is just how many women can you

385
00:20:59,710 --> 00:21:01,090
successfully impregnate?

386
00:21:03,900 --> 00:21:08,750
We're not talking in what is
right in social, civilized

387
00:21:08,750 --> 00:21:10,480
world or something
like that, right?

388
00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:11,860
But we're just talking
about the biology of

389
00:21:11,860 --> 00:21:13,080
the situation here.

390
00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:16,040
The men don't get pregnant.

391
00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:20,390
If you get woman 1 pregnant
today you can get woman 2

392
00:21:20,390 --> 00:21:22,410
pregnant tomorrow
in principle.

393
00:21:22,410 --> 00:21:23,940
That's not true for the woman.

394
00:21:23,940 --> 00:21:26,880
If you are a woman and you get
pregnant today you don't get

395
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:29,270
to get pregnant again
tomorrow.

396
00:21:29,270 --> 00:21:30,420
That doesn't work.

397
00:21:30,420 --> 00:21:35,500
So fundamental difference, the
evolutionary psych argument is

398
00:21:35,500 --> 00:21:37,120
that this should produce
fundamental

399
00:21:37,120 --> 00:21:38,640
differences in behavior.

400
00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:42,310
In particular, if your goal is
to get as many successful

401
00:21:42,310 --> 00:21:46,280
bundles of genes into the next
generation as possible guys

402
00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:49,660
should be inclined to have sex
early and often with as many

403
00:21:49,660 --> 00:21:52,830
partners as possible because
that's going to produce lots

404
00:21:52,830 --> 00:21:53,980
and lots of babies.

405
00:21:53,980 --> 00:21:57,750
Women should be looking for
something more like a

406
00:21:57,750 --> 00:22:03,410
commitment because it's a lot
easier to take care of this

407
00:22:03,410 --> 00:22:06,830
little bundle of joy if somebody
else's helping out.

408
00:22:06,830 --> 00:22:10,300
Either helping take care of the
kid or at the very least,

409
00:22:10,300 --> 00:22:13,380
providing resources for this.

410
00:22:13,380 --> 00:22:16,550
It's an expensive business
raising a kid, not just an

411
00:22:16,550 --> 00:22:19,660
expensive business if your a
nice middle class kid and

412
00:22:19,660 --> 00:22:22,110
you're expecting to go to MIT
or something like that.

413
00:22:22,110 --> 00:22:23,610
It's an expensive
business period.

414
00:22:23,610 --> 00:22:26,920
You gotta feed the kid, you
gotta keep it warm, and so on.

415
00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:28,710
Resources are required.

416
00:22:28,710 --> 00:22:37,920
And it is in your interest as
the woman to have guys around,

417
00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:41,040
at least a guy around who's
going to provide resources.

418
00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:43,810
Now, you can make up
other stories.

419
00:22:43,810 --> 00:22:46,690
You could make up a story that
says it would be in the

420
00:22:46,690 --> 00:22:51,220
woman's interest to have
multiple mates who are kept in

421
00:22:51,220 --> 00:22:54,940
some doubts about who the father
is so that they all

422
00:22:54,940 --> 00:22:58,720
provide resource.

423
00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:01,550
That sounds funny, but there's
no reason why that story and

424
00:23:01,550 --> 00:23:05,340
there are species where
that seems to--

425
00:23:05,340 --> 00:23:07,970
you can almost always find an
animal where it works out.

426
00:23:07,970 --> 00:23:13,680
If humans were a polyandrous
species, a species where

427
00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:19,570
females had multiple mates at
the same time that would

428
00:23:19,570 --> 00:23:22,660
require explanation and you
could try explaining it the

429
00:23:22,660 --> 00:23:23,440
same terms.

430
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:30,940
As it turns out across cultures
the pattern is either

431
00:23:30,940 --> 00:23:35,770
one male, one female or one
male, several females.

432
00:23:35,770 --> 00:23:41,180
That there are much rarer
instances of one female, many

433
00:23:41,180 --> 00:23:45,640
males in human populations.

434
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:52,540
So the mainline story is that
the constraints of biology are

435
00:23:52,540 --> 00:23:56,600
going to incline the population
to a population of

436
00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:05,830
males who are interested in
frequent sex and whenever.

437
00:24:05,830 --> 00:24:10,780
And women who are going to be
looking for a mate who's

438
00:24:10,780 --> 00:24:12,640
willing to make some
sort of commitment.

439
00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:18,090
Now is there any evidence
for evolutionary forces,

440
00:24:18,090 --> 00:24:22,300
biological constraints on mate
selection in humans?

441
00:24:22,300 --> 00:24:25,100
Quite apart from these
questions about who

442
00:24:25,100 --> 00:24:26,850
wants sex and when.

443
00:24:26,850 --> 00:24:30,450
Is there any evidence
for this at all?

444
00:24:30,450 --> 00:24:33,080
The answer is yes.

445
00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:37,390
If I give some examples it's
sort of surprising that this

446
00:24:37,390 --> 00:24:41,280
was ever controversial.

447
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:42,530
Well, let's give an example.

448
00:24:42,530 --> 00:24:46,170
For example, if you're looking
for evidence that something

449
00:24:46,170 --> 00:24:49,190
has these sort of biological,
evolutionary roots what you're

450
00:24:49,190 --> 00:24:52,990
looking for is something
that is

451
00:24:52,990 --> 00:24:55,370
ubiquitous in human societies.

452
00:24:55,370 --> 00:25:02,160
You don't want something where
it's deemed attractive in one

453
00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:05,360
population or desirable in one
population and not in another

454
00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:05,920
population.

455
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:08,160
That can be very culturally
determined.

456
00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:11,590
So I don't know of much in the
way of great evolutionary

457
00:25:11,590 --> 00:25:14,650
psych arguments in favor of
which bits of your body should

458
00:25:14,650 --> 00:25:17,370
be pierced.

459
00:25:17,370 --> 00:25:20,750
That seems to be the sort of
thing that some groups think

460
00:25:20,750 --> 00:25:22,710
this is attractive and some
groups think that is

461
00:25:22,710 --> 00:25:23,930
attractive and yeah--

462
00:25:23,930 --> 00:25:28,800
but across human cultures
there is a consistent

463
00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:33,950
preference for mates who are
young and healthy as opposed

464
00:25:33,950 --> 00:25:36,320
to mates who are old and sick.

465
00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:44,480
There is no place where the
ideal of attractiveness is an

466
00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:46,980
old person with a disease.

467
00:25:46,980 --> 00:25:48,230
It just isn't the case.

468
00:25:48,230 --> 00:25:51,170
Now it almost sounds
funny, but--

469
00:25:55,810 --> 00:25:56,890
I got a house full of books.

470
00:25:56,890 --> 00:25:58,590
I like to collect books.

471
00:25:58,590 --> 00:26:02,480
It turns out that the books I
like best are pretty old and

472
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:06,280
diseased and that's not weird.

473
00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,860
That doesn't strike
people as odd.

474
00:26:09,860 --> 00:26:12,630
You do need to explain, it
doesn't take much work to

475
00:26:12,630 --> 00:26:15,870
explain why there's a preference
for young, healthy

476
00:26:15,870 --> 00:26:17,200
mates over old diseased mates.

477
00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:19,980
If you think that this has
something to do with a drive

478
00:26:19,980 --> 00:26:22,880
towards reproduction you're much
more likely to reproduce

479
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:24,710
successfully with a young,
healthy make.

480
00:26:27,310 --> 00:26:34,070
The reason that these topics
have been controversial has

481
00:26:34,070 --> 00:26:37,660
less to do with the science of
the situation or it has had

482
00:26:37,660 --> 00:26:40,160
less to do with the science of
the situation than with the

483
00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:41,720
politics of the situation.

484
00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:46,680
It is possible, as in the
IQ case to go from

485
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:51,340
uncontroversial or fairly
straightforward bits of

486
00:26:51,340 --> 00:26:56,890
science to undesirable or
at least controversial

487
00:26:56,890 --> 00:26:59,530
conclusions in a more
political realm.

488
00:26:59,530 --> 00:27:04,900
So the sorts of things if you
agree, if you are forced by

489
00:27:04,900 --> 00:27:09,070
the data to say look, there's
a whopping asymmetry between

490
00:27:09,070 --> 00:27:13,650
males and females
in this area.

491
00:27:13,650 --> 00:27:15,930
It is perhaps--

492
00:27:15,930 --> 00:27:20,910
the concern is-- that it's a
slippery slope from here to

493
00:27:20,910 --> 00:27:24,120
saying well, it's OK to pay
women less than men.

494
00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:26,680
The actual causal chain between
this particular

495
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:29,340
factoid in paying women less
than men is not immediately

496
00:27:29,340 --> 00:27:31,530
obvious to me as I'm saying
it right here.

497
00:27:31,530 --> 00:27:37,850
But the reason that this is
politically controversial is

498
00:27:37,850 --> 00:27:41,640
because anything that
acknowledges a difference,

499
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:44,620
some sort of biological
difference between say men and

500
00:27:44,620 --> 00:27:49,180
women can in principle be used
as a defense for social

501
00:27:49,180 --> 00:27:54,160
inequalities that you may
not find desirable.

502
00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:57,130
But that's really a
separate question.

503
00:27:57,130 --> 00:28:00,270
The scientific question or the
psychological question is are

504
00:28:00,270 --> 00:28:00,990
there differences?

505
00:28:00,990 --> 00:28:06,230
There certainly seem to be data
differences and where did

506
00:28:06,230 --> 00:28:07,480
they come from?

507
00:28:10,950 --> 00:28:13,480
There are other sort of
universal preferences that

508
00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:19,950
seem to reflect this desire for
a mate who is likely to be

509
00:28:19,950 --> 00:28:26,440
a good partner in
reproduction.

510
00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,650
What is it that makes
a face attractive?

511
00:28:29,650 --> 00:28:31,780
Well, one of the things that is

512
00:28:31,780 --> 00:28:35,320
attractive is facial symmetry.

513
00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:42,390
That all else being equal it's
considered to be better--

514
00:28:42,390 --> 00:28:44,840
you're consider to be more
attractive-- a face is rated

515
00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:47,000
as more attractive if it's
symmetrical than if it's

516
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:47,990
asymmetrical.

517
00:28:47,990 --> 00:28:49,270
Why is that?

518
00:28:49,270 --> 00:28:53,170
Most of the things that are
likely to produce noticeable

519
00:28:53,170 --> 00:29:02,350
asymmetries in the face are
things that suggest either a

520
00:29:02,350 --> 00:29:06,130
genetic deformity of some
sort or an accident.

521
00:29:10,270 --> 00:29:14,180
Neither of them are going to
be great advertisements for

522
00:29:14,180 --> 00:29:16,740
reproductive success.

523
00:29:16,740 --> 00:29:21,200
Imagine somebody with half a
face, you know intuitively

524
00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:23,820
that either you're watching
a sci-fi movie or there's

525
00:29:23,820 --> 00:29:27,850
something fundamentally
wrong here.

526
00:29:27,850 --> 00:29:31,560
Oh, what is an attractive face
in general is an interesting--

527
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:33,900
I didn't put all those
references on the handout.

528
00:29:33,900 --> 00:29:35,920
There's an interesting
literature on what makes an

529
00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:40,970
attractive face that is worth
a little side note.

530
00:29:49,150 --> 00:29:50,040
You could have two theories.

531
00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:53,680
One theory would be attractive
is one end of a scale that

532
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:56,300
runs from ugly to gorgeous.

533
00:29:56,300 --> 00:29:58,680
That all those hollywood actors
and actresses are

534
00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:01,840
pegged out here on the gorgeous
end of some scale.

535
00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:11,010
The alternative theory is that
it is average faces--

536
00:30:11,010 --> 00:30:15,510
that an average face is what's
normal, is what's deemed

537
00:30:15,510 --> 00:30:16,760
attractive.

538
00:30:19,140 --> 00:30:21,870
The original evidence for this
comes from a photographic

539
00:30:21,870 --> 00:30:24,000
technique where what you did was
you took a whole bunch of

540
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:29,070
photographs and superimposed
them to make a composite face

541
00:30:29,070 --> 00:30:31,940
and you found that those were
rated as more attractive than

542
00:30:31,940 --> 00:30:35,340
individual faces as a whole.

543
00:30:35,340 --> 00:30:39,510
And this was being done by
clever techniques back-- oh, I

544
00:30:39,510 --> 00:30:43,190
think in early part of
the 20th century.

545
00:30:43,190 --> 00:30:46,520
And it's gotten a lot easier now
that we've got computers

546
00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:48,020
to do these sort of things.

547
00:30:48,020 --> 00:30:52,570
The difficulty, one of the
things that made this research

548
00:30:52,570 --> 00:30:55,850
a little tricky is that one
thing that averaging faces

549
00:30:55,850 --> 00:30:58,780
does is it does wonders
for your complexion.

550
00:31:03,940 --> 00:31:06,090
Everybody's nose is in more or
less the same place, but

551
00:31:06,090 --> 00:31:07,730
everybody's zit is not.

552
00:31:07,730 --> 00:31:11,080
And so if you average 100 faces
you get people with

553
00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:13,750
gorgeous complexions and there's
some part of that

554
00:31:13,750 --> 00:31:17,170
effect that just comes from the
fact that they look like

555
00:31:17,170 --> 00:31:19,730
they had really healthy skin.

556
00:31:19,730 --> 00:31:22,450
It's a debate that jumps back
and forth, if you turn out to

557
00:31:22,450 --> 00:31:25,070
be deeply interested in what
makes a face attractive send

558
00:31:25,070 --> 00:31:27,880
me a note, I'll send you the
reference since I see I didn't

559
00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:30,980
put them on the handout.

560
00:31:30,980 --> 00:31:33,610
We can ask for a couple of other
things that suggests

561
00:31:33,610 --> 00:31:36,450
these universals across
human populations.

562
00:31:43,470 --> 00:31:45,850
What's more desirable
in a mate?

563
00:31:45,850 --> 00:31:48,275
Richer or poorer?

564
00:31:48,275 --> 00:31:49,300
AUDIENCE: Richer.

565
00:31:49,300 --> 00:31:52,410
PROFESSOR: Richer, that's
easy enough.

566
00:31:52,410 --> 00:31:56,450
Is that preference the same
for men and women?

567
00:31:56,450 --> 00:31:58,450
Who's more interested
in finding--

568
00:31:58,450 --> 00:31:59,970
I'll tell you the answer--

569
00:31:59,970 --> 00:32:03,840
it's not the same, how many
vote that it's men who are

570
00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:06,870
more interested in finding
a wealthy mate?

571
00:32:06,870 --> 00:32:08,880
How many vote that it's women?

572
00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:12,730
You got the right intuition
and the evolutionary psych

573
00:32:12,730 --> 00:32:15,560
story there is the
resource story.

574
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:22,930
That what you're looking for
is evidence of resource.

575
00:32:22,930 --> 00:32:27,170
Is this guy going to help me
feed all those hundreds of

576
00:32:27,170 --> 00:32:31,650
babies that he thinks
we're going to have?

577
00:32:31,650 --> 00:32:34,430
And this is also presumed
to be--

578
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:41,810
why is it that driving, cruising
around town in the

579
00:32:41,810 --> 00:32:44,940
fancy car, you know
what's that about?

580
00:32:44,940 --> 00:32:47,570
That's a peacock tail effect.

581
00:32:47,570 --> 00:32:50,660
I think I already described
the peacock tail effect

582
00:32:50,660 --> 00:32:51,530
earlier in the course.

583
00:32:51,530 --> 00:32:56,220
The idea is I'm showing off my
resources, I've got so much

584
00:32:56,220 --> 00:32:58,690
money that I can buy
this stupid car.

585
00:32:58,690 --> 00:33:05,860
My hubcaps cost more than your
house, which is why you want

586
00:33:05,860 --> 00:33:08,480
to mate with me.

587
00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:10,650
This is presumed to be
the way that they--

588
00:33:10,650 --> 00:33:14,560
OK, how about age of spouse?

589
00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:17,570
Or age of mate?

590
00:33:17,570 --> 00:33:22,500
On average, if you are
a male, you want a--

591
00:33:22,500 --> 00:33:25,300
and this is very importantly on
average, because it's not

592
00:33:25,300 --> 00:33:29,610
to say, well, let's get
the data point first.

593
00:33:29,610 --> 00:33:33,020
If you're a male, on average how
many people vote that you

594
00:33:33,020 --> 00:33:36,470
were looking for
a mate who is--

595
00:33:36,470 --> 00:33:38,650
well, this is a 3 alternative
forced choice, you got to vote

596
00:33:38,650 --> 00:33:40,760
for one of them: little
older, exactly the

597
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:41,940
same age, little younger.

598
00:33:41,940 --> 00:33:44,640
How many vote for
little older?

599
00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:47,900
How many vote for just
the same age?

600
00:33:47,900 --> 00:33:50,200
How many vote for a
little younger?

601
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:54,150
OK, got that intuition right.

602
00:33:54,150 --> 00:33:59,400
So males on average, in culture
after culture seek

603
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:01,400
mates who are a little
younger.

604
00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:03,590
The amount varies culturally.

605
00:34:03,590 --> 00:34:06,200
In some cultures it's
significantly younger.

606
00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:10,400
In some cultures it only a
couple of years, but it is

607
00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:15,780
across cultures younger.

608
00:34:15,780 --> 00:34:18,610
OK, so the point I was going
to make before is you're

609
00:34:18,610 --> 00:34:23,260
sitting there saying, my
girlfriend is like 2 years

610
00:34:23,260 --> 00:34:25,330
older than me.

611
00:34:25,330 --> 00:34:27,110
This does not mean
that you are some

612
00:34:27,110 --> 00:34:28,590
sort of genetic misfit.

613
00:34:28,590 --> 00:34:33,540
It means that we're back to
talking about the mean value

614
00:34:33,540 --> 00:34:39,150
and all of these things have
a distribution around them.

615
00:34:39,150 --> 00:34:46,550
It would be considered odd if
your choice in mates was, I

616
00:34:46,550 --> 00:34:50,750
only date women who are 60
years older than me.

617
00:34:50,750 --> 00:34:54,730
That would be considered
unusual, but that should be

618
00:34:54,730 --> 00:34:56,120
way, way out on one
tail of it.

619
00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:59,190
But typically, the mean of
that distribution lies a

620
00:34:59,190 --> 00:35:00,790
little younger.

621
00:35:00,790 --> 00:35:03,150
OK, why is that the case?

622
00:35:03,150 --> 00:35:05,920
If you're following this
evolutionary psych story, why

623
00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:10,372
do males seek females who
are slightly younger?

624
00:35:10,372 --> 00:35:11,910
AUDIENCE: They can
have more babies.

625
00:35:11,910 --> 00:35:15,450
PROFESSOR: More babies, right.

626
00:35:15,450 --> 00:35:18,710
The males may not be limited
in principle by the same

627
00:35:18,710 --> 00:35:20,980
rate-limiting step, but if
you're in a culture that's

628
00:35:20,980 --> 00:35:25,460
going to limit you to 1 woman
you better get 1 woman who's

629
00:35:25,460 --> 00:35:29,150
going to produced the maximum
number of babies.

630
00:35:29,150 --> 00:35:32,700
So you better start young.

631
00:35:32,700 --> 00:35:37,320
So, if you are a woman,
same multiple choice.

632
00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:39,820
If you are a women,
the average--

633
00:35:39,820 --> 00:35:42,440
across cultures women prefer--

634
00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:44,405
how many vote that women
prefer males who

635
00:35:44,405 --> 00:35:46,900
are slightly older?

636
00:35:46,900 --> 00:35:49,100
Exactly the same age?

637
00:35:49,100 --> 00:35:51,090
Slightly younger?

638
00:35:51,090 --> 00:35:52,190
You got the right intuition.

639
00:35:52,190 --> 00:35:54,010
Again, it's very convenient
that this is the

640
00:35:54,010 --> 00:35:54,730
way it works out.

641
00:35:54,730 --> 00:36:00,220
It's really bad news if
everybody wants younger mates.

642
00:36:00,220 --> 00:36:02,930
That doesn't work well.

643
00:36:02,930 --> 00:36:06,610
But actually, we'll come back
to that in the next lecture.

644
00:36:06,610 --> 00:36:10,200
I'll just put that out there
as a problem to solve.

645
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:17,710
Everybody does want to max out
on the attractive, rich

646
00:36:17,710 --> 00:36:22,330
gorgeous thing, but most of us
aren't going to get that.

647
00:36:24,970 --> 00:36:28,200
It's one male to one female
roughly speaking.

648
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:32,740
We can't all have that
person, it just isn't

649
00:36:32,740 --> 00:36:33,700
going to work well.

650
00:36:33,700 --> 00:36:36,830
So we'll have to solve
that next week.

651
00:36:36,830 --> 00:36:41,800
OK, why do females want males
who are slightly older?

652
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:43,310
AUDIENCE: Maturity.

653
00:36:43,310 --> 00:36:44,680
PROFESSOR: Maturity--
good luck.

654
00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:54,910
The evolutionary psych
argument is

655
00:36:54,910 --> 00:36:56,010
the resource argument.

656
00:36:56,010 --> 00:36:59,610
I'm sure maturity doesn't
hurt either, but it's

657
00:36:59,610 --> 00:37:01,030
the resource argument.

658
00:37:01,030 --> 00:37:06,220
A guy has had a chance to
accumulate more resource if

659
00:37:06,220 --> 00:37:08,290
he's a little older.

660
00:37:08,290 --> 00:37:11,050
And so you've got
these endless--

661
00:37:11,050 --> 00:37:14,180
sometimes, literally endless--
big, thick 19th century

662
00:37:14,180 --> 00:37:18,470
romance novels that you read in
English lit at some point

663
00:37:18,470 --> 00:37:23,420
where he loves her but they
can't get together for 800

664
00:37:23,420 --> 00:37:26,220
pages because he's got to go
out and collect resource in

665
00:37:26,220 --> 00:37:32,180
some fashion until he can come
back and show daddy that he

666
00:37:32,180 --> 00:37:35,150
can support the daughter.

667
00:37:35,150 --> 00:37:37,540
The alternative version of the
19th century romance is the

668
00:37:37,540 --> 00:37:41,260
interview where daddy
asks, how much money

669
00:37:41,260 --> 00:37:43,260
your daddy left you.

670
00:37:43,260 --> 00:37:47,980
Oh, yes, I have a
thousand pounds.

671
00:37:47,980 --> 00:37:49,160
They're all English novels.

672
00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:51,610
A thousand pounds a year
in the funds or

673
00:37:51,610 --> 00:37:52,260
something like that.

674
00:37:52,260 --> 00:37:53,990
That's resource, that's good.

675
00:37:56,500 --> 00:37:58,550
Oh, there's one exception.

676
00:37:58,550 --> 00:38:02,620
There is a population
of males who seeks

677
00:38:02,620 --> 00:38:05,540
slightly older women.

678
00:38:05,540 --> 00:38:07,520
Who is that population?

679
00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:08,570
[? AUDIENCE: Teenagers. ?]

680
00:38:08,570 --> 00:38:12,260
PROFESSOR: Exactly.

681
00:38:12,260 --> 00:38:13,830
There's this cruel sick chortle

682
00:38:13,830 --> 00:38:16,120
that we just got from--

683
00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:18,200
all the answers given to
that were by women.

684
00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:24,070
All of whom were snickering
about it, which is harsh.

685
00:38:24,070 --> 00:38:27,980
But it's teenage males,
particularly young teenage

686
00:38:27,980 --> 00:38:33,680
males who develop crushes on
slightly older or maybe quite

687
00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:35,130
a bit older women.

688
00:38:35,130 --> 00:38:36,850
Why?

689
00:38:36,850 --> 00:38:38,217
What's that about?

690
00:38:38,217 --> 00:38:39,112
AUDIENCE: [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

691
00:38:39,112 --> 00:38:40,600
AUDIENCE: They're fertile.

692
00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:42,840
PROFESSOR: They're
fertile, exactly.

693
00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:47,080
Now, I mean, the kid
doesn't know this.

694
00:38:47,080 --> 00:38:48,940
Oh, I think I'd better
fall in love with

695
00:38:48,940 --> 00:38:50,220
somebody who's fertile.

696
00:38:53,470 --> 00:38:55,860
That's presumably not what's
operating at any sort of

697
00:38:55,860 --> 00:39:02,400
conscious level here, but if
evolutionary forces drive you

698
00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:08,930
to look for a mate who's going
to be fertile and you're an

699
00:39:08,930 --> 00:39:13,280
early adolescent male,
9-year-old girls are not the

700
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:16,300
population of choice.

701
00:39:16,300 --> 00:39:22,160
And you may notice that even the
example gives you a sort

702
00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:24,320
of a eww kind of feeling.

703
00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:27,510
We have a sort of a gut, built
in reaction that there are

704
00:39:27,510 --> 00:39:30,330
some relationships that
are OK and some

705
00:39:30,330 --> 00:39:32,780
relationships that are odd.

706
00:39:32,780 --> 00:39:40,090
And so relationships and in
particular, relationships--

707
00:39:40,090 --> 00:39:43,960
guys can go and pursue
fertile females.

708
00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:44,670
That's OK.

709
00:39:44,670 --> 00:39:47,760
That can be shown in
the airline movie.

710
00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:50,790
Again, we don't have the airline
movie, the headline

711
00:39:50,790 --> 00:39:55,430
comes up the search for the
fertile woman, but ask

712
00:39:55,430 --> 00:39:59,030
yourself who it is-- who
romantic comedies are about?

713
00:39:59,030 --> 00:40:03,540
You wouldn't put a movie on
the airlines for family

714
00:40:03,540 --> 00:40:07,720
consumption about some guys
unrequited passion for a

715
00:40:07,720 --> 00:40:08,540
9-year-old girl.

716
00:40:08,540 --> 00:40:10,680
It would seem icky.

717
00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:12,800
That there's something
wrong there.

718
00:40:16,420 --> 00:40:17,280
Why?

719
00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:19,920
Presumably this has something
to do with the

720
00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:23,920
same sort of forces.

721
00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:33,320
OK, so let's move on a bit to
this, elaborate on this issue

722
00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:37,030
a bit, who should be faithful
in relations?

723
00:40:37,030 --> 00:40:39,700
Who should cheat?

724
00:40:39,700 --> 00:40:42,890
So let's start with guys.

725
00:40:42,890 --> 00:40:45,360
Now recognize here, by the
way, that we are talking

726
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:48,160
again, within the
context of this

727
00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:50,710
evolutionary psych viewpoint.

728
00:40:50,710 --> 00:40:55,020
We are not saying who should
cheat in your relationship

729
00:40:55,020 --> 00:40:58,110
right now with the person
sitting next to you or

730
00:40:58,110 --> 00:40:58,940
something like that.

731
00:40:58,940 --> 00:41:01,540
Or who does society say
it's OK to cheat with.

732
00:41:01,540 --> 00:41:05,450
But in terms of this theory
about evolutionary forces

733
00:41:05,450 --> 00:41:09,640
working on mate selection, who
should have an evolutionary

734
00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:10,580
drive to cheat?

735
00:41:10,580 --> 00:41:11,815
Should guys?

736
00:41:11,815 --> 00:41:12,380
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

737
00:41:12,380 --> 00:41:13,630
PROFESSOR: Yeah, right.

738
00:41:13,630 --> 00:41:16,600
That's a pretty straightforward
argument.

739
00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:20,890
That if you can get away with
it, if you can have a few no

740
00:41:20,890 --> 00:41:23,570
cost babies somewhere--

741
00:41:23,570 --> 00:41:24,050
great.

742
00:41:24,050 --> 00:41:27,010
You've done your evolutionary
work.

743
00:41:27,010 --> 00:41:30,920
Look if we switched to a
different context of cultural,

744
00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:35,290
civilized world kind of you may
be a jerk, but you're an

745
00:41:35,290 --> 00:41:39,490
evolutionary successful jerk.

746
00:41:39,490 --> 00:41:42,470
OK, how about women?

747
00:41:42,470 --> 00:41:47,650
Should women be unfaithful
and play around?

748
00:41:47,650 --> 00:41:49,490
AUDIENCE: Yes.

749
00:41:49,490 --> 00:41:51,690
PROFESSOR: OK, yes argument.

750
00:41:51,690 --> 00:41:52,650
What's the yes argument?

751
00:41:52,650 --> 00:41:55,062
Again, from an evolutionary
point of view.

752
00:41:55,062 --> 00:41:57,070
AUDIENCE: Like a
stronger mate.

753
00:41:57,070 --> 00:41:58,790
PROFESSOR: Yeah, you might
get a stronger mate.

754
00:41:58,790 --> 00:42:02,120
You're hedging your
genetic bets.

755
00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:09,020
If you are going to link up with
this guy, maybe he turns

756
00:42:09,020 --> 00:42:11,600
out to be a genetic dud.

757
00:42:11,600 --> 00:42:16,500
If you just have your 18 babies
with him you know, how

758
00:42:16,500 --> 00:42:18,860
good is that?

759
00:42:18,860 --> 00:42:23,740
But if you spread it around a
bit, your genes are the same

760
00:42:23,740 --> 00:42:25,410
in all cases, who cares?

761
00:42:25,410 --> 00:42:27,600
You're always get your
half of the package.

762
00:42:27,600 --> 00:42:32,300
And so you might as well mix it
up a bit and so that's the

763
00:42:32,300 --> 00:42:33,550
yes argument.

764
00:42:39,370 --> 00:42:41,610
Any other yes arguments?

765
00:42:41,610 --> 00:42:43,490
Yep?

766
00:42:43,490 --> 00:42:46,033
AUDIENCE: You could have sex
with a guy with better genes,

767
00:42:46,033 --> 00:42:50,050
but remain more faithful to the
guy with more resource.

768
00:42:50,050 --> 00:42:50,660
PROFESSOR: Yes, OK.

769
00:42:50,660 --> 00:42:53,910
This is a particular version of
the more general argument.

770
00:42:53,910 --> 00:42:55,760
There's a resource
argument here.

771
00:42:55,760 --> 00:42:59,290
He's giving a particular
version, which is go have sex

772
00:42:59,290 --> 00:43:03,040
with the guy with the good genes
and snooker the guy with

773
00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:06,360
the good resources
and convince him

774
00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:07,050
that it's his kid.

775
00:43:07,050 --> 00:43:11,770
So he devotes the resources
to raise his genes.

776
00:43:11,770 --> 00:43:19,460
More generally, you might just
play around, just shop around

777
00:43:19,460 --> 00:43:22,870
because you get more resources
in general.

778
00:43:22,870 --> 00:43:26,030
Guys will give you stuff in
some fashion or other.

779
00:43:26,030 --> 00:43:29,730
So there might be sort of a
quasi economic-- go out and

780
00:43:29,730 --> 00:43:33,560
get the goodies kind
of bargain.

781
00:43:33,560 --> 00:43:35,600
OK, those are good
yes arguments.

782
00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:37,610
How about no arguments?

783
00:43:37,610 --> 00:43:40,580
Against the notion of--

784
00:43:40,580 --> 00:43:41,020
yeah?

785
00:43:41,020 --> 00:43:43,000
AUDIENCE: You could lose
the resources.

786
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:44,620
PROFESSOR: You could
lose the resources.

787
00:43:44,620 --> 00:43:46,220
Why would you lose
the resources?

788
00:43:46,220 --> 00:43:47,540
What's the guy's problem?

789
00:43:47,540 --> 00:43:49,560
AUDIENCE: Not his kid.

790
00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:51,610
PROFESSOR: It's not his kid.

791
00:43:51,610 --> 00:43:55,390
And this is a crucial issue.

792
00:43:55,390 --> 00:43:58,950
Again, another part of this
fundamental asymmetry.

793
00:43:58,950 --> 00:44:01,420
Because it's the woman
who gets pres--

794
00:44:01,420 --> 00:44:02,710
president right.

795
00:44:02,710 --> 00:44:08,830
The woman who gets pregnant,
she always knows

796
00:44:08,830 --> 00:44:10,310
who the mother is.

797
00:44:10,310 --> 00:44:11,840
Actually, he knows who
the mother is, too.

798
00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:13,510
There's no doubt about
who the mother is.

799
00:44:18,070 --> 00:44:22,790
The maternal genes are not
an issue here, paternal

800
00:44:22,790 --> 00:44:24,620
genes are an issue.

801
00:44:27,190 --> 00:44:32,580
And doubts about paternity
have a variety of

802
00:44:32,580 --> 00:44:34,410
consequences.

803
00:44:34,410 --> 00:44:40,430
Male sexual jealousy is a real
and potentially dangerous

804
00:44:40,430 --> 00:44:41,580
phenomenon.

805
00:44:41,580 --> 00:44:47,010
In fact, I don't think there
are any states where it's

806
00:44:47,010 --> 00:44:49,180
still the case--

807
00:44:49,180 --> 00:44:53,650
there were states where it was
the case that killing an

808
00:44:53,650 --> 00:44:58,620
unfaithful wife was
not murder.

809
00:44:58,620 --> 00:45:00,810
I don't think it was ever
the other way around.

810
00:45:00,810 --> 00:45:03,040
You couldn't kill your
unfaithful husband, but

811
00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:09,050
killing the unfaithful wife
wasn't necessarily a laudable

812
00:45:09,050 --> 00:45:11,510
act, but it wasn't murder
in the way that killing

813
00:45:11,510 --> 00:45:13,260
somebody else was.

814
00:45:13,260 --> 00:45:15,800
I don't believe that-- anybody
happen to know that they come

815
00:45:15,800 --> 00:45:18,570
from a state where you can still
do that with impunity?

816
00:45:21,710 --> 00:45:23,930
I think Louisiana
was the last.

817
00:45:28,220 --> 00:45:32,760
Oh, and there are interesting
wrinkles on this.

818
00:45:36,100 --> 00:45:41,690
When a baby is born the first
question anybody asks is, is

819
00:45:41,690 --> 00:45:42,650
it a boy or girl?

820
00:45:42,650 --> 00:45:46,760
Which is an interesting factoid
in its own right, but

821
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:49,550
sort of the second topic of
conversation is, who does the

822
00:45:49,550 --> 00:45:51,380
kid look like?

823
00:45:51,380 --> 00:45:54,260
And what's the answer?

824
00:45:54,260 --> 00:46:00,760
The answer is a bias towards
saying that the kid looks like

825
00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:02,450
the father.

826
00:46:02,450 --> 00:46:05,270
Now why should that
be the case?

827
00:46:05,270 --> 00:46:07,260
And it turns out that
the bias is strong--

828
00:46:07,260 --> 00:46:08,990
it depends who's giving
the answer.

829
00:46:08,990 --> 00:46:12,170
The answer by the
wife's family--

830
00:46:12,170 --> 00:46:14,310
by the mother's family--

831
00:46:14,310 --> 00:46:19,520
is more skewed towards saying
it looks like the father.

832
00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:22,780
And there are at least two
reasons why this is the case.

833
00:46:22,780 --> 00:46:25,760
One of them seems to be an
effort-- again, quite

834
00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:29,600
unconscious to prove to the dad
you don't have to say it

835
00:46:29,600 --> 00:46:32,080
looks like the mother, we
know who the mother is.

836
00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:34,760
Saying it looks like the father
is reassuring to the

837
00:46:34,760 --> 00:46:39,270
father who might otherwise deny
resource to this kid or

838
00:46:39,270 --> 00:46:40,550
go out and kill the
mother-- something

839
00:46:40,550 --> 00:46:42,230
inconvenient like that.

840
00:46:42,230 --> 00:46:44,750
So it's important to believe
that this is

841
00:46:44,750 --> 00:46:46,460
your bundle of genes.

842
00:46:46,460 --> 00:46:50,360
The guy is in theoretical
doubt, the

843
00:46:50,360 --> 00:46:51,720
woman is not in doubt.

844
00:46:51,720 --> 00:46:55,300
The other reason why it may be
true is there is some evidence

845
00:46:55,300 --> 00:47:00,010
that babies actually look more
like their fathers when

846
00:47:00,010 --> 00:47:04,260
they're young and that this
wears off with age.

847
00:47:04,260 --> 00:47:07,400
If this is true it would be an
interesting argument for this

848
00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:12,430
evolutionary pressure because
babies who looked clearly like

849
00:47:12,430 --> 00:47:18,000
dad probably had a little edge
because dad looked at this

850
00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:21,000
little bundle of joy and
said, it's mine.

851
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:28,270
And if the kid looked like the
milkman or something, the kid

852
00:47:28,270 --> 00:47:29,400
may not have--

853
00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:32,050
actually, can you even use that
as an example anymore?

854
00:47:32,050 --> 00:47:35,230
Are there still milkmen
out there?

855
00:47:35,230 --> 00:47:38,910
It used to be.

856
00:47:38,910 --> 00:47:40,660
It's a sort of an anachronism,
like talking

857
00:47:40,660 --> 00:47:44,560
about dialing the phone.

858
00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:49,540
This is a very mid 50s kind of
anachronistic sort of cliche

859
00:47:49,540 --> 00:47:53,410
about the woman who would be
at home, the milkman, who

860
00:47:53,410 --> 00:47:57,190
would be the man who delivered
the milk since you didn't go

861
00:47:57,190 --> 00:47:59,330
to the supermarket
to buy milk--

862
00:47:59,330 --> 00:48:03,230
it came to your house and then
various other things happened

863
00:48:03,230 --> 00:48:05,740
and anyway.

864
00:48:05,740 --> 00:48:10,670
So much for cultural
enlightenment here.

865
00:48:10,670 --> 00:48:17,090
So in any case, there's a
pressure for women to be

866
00:48:17,090 --> 00:48:23,040
faithful because of basically,
in some fashion because of the

867
00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:33,400
danger of alienating the male
in some way or other.

868
00:48:33,400 --> 00:48:37,290
There's a problem here,
sort of a problem.

869
00:48:37,290 --> 00:48:40,650
There's a potential
problem with this.

870
00:48:40,650 --> 00:48:43,450
If you think about it we've
just come up with a theory

871
00:48:43,450 --> 00:48:47,180
that explains why women
should be faithful and

872
00:48:47,180 --> 00:48:48,550
shouldn't be faithful.

873
00:48:48,550 --> 00:48:53,860
And in fact, we could elaborate
on this and say that

874
00:48:53,860 --> 00:48:59,440
the evolutionary pressures
should cause--

875
00:48:59,440 --> 00:49:01,410
you could argue that the
evolutionary pressures could

876
00:49:01,410 --> 00:49:05,630
push women to have less of a
sex drive therefore, making

877
00:49:05,630 --> 00:49:08,700
them more likely to remain
faithful or you could have it

878
00:49:08,700 --> 00:49:10,790
explain that they have just
the same sex drive, but

879
00:49:10,790 --> 00:49:12,810
they're supposed to deny
the existence.

880
00:49:12,810 --> 00:49:14,920
You can have a lot of different
explanations.

881
00:49:17,810 --> 00:49:21,290
This is a problem with the
theory, a theory that explains

882
00:49:21,290 --> 00:49:25,950
all possible outcomes isn't
a great theory.

883
00:49:25,950 --> 00:49:29,660
On the other hand, in human
mating behavior all the

884
00:49:29,660 --> 00:49:32,220
possible outcomes
are out there.

885
00:49:32,220 --> 00:49:34,350
So you don't want to have a
theory that just explains one

886
00:49:34,350 --> 00:49:35,480
thing because that
wouldn't be an

887
00:49:35,480 --> 00:49:37,520
adequate theory here either.

888
00:49:37,520 --> 00:49:40,930
I think the fairer thing to say
about evolutionary theory

889
00:49:40,930 --> 00:49:45,410
is that it hasn't reached a
degree of sophistication where

890
00:49:45,410 --> 00:49:51,410
it can explain in detail when
a woman should or should not

891
00:49:51,410 --> 00:49:53,340
be faithful.

892
00:49:53,340 --> 00:49:56,850
There are examples elsewhere
of these sort of trade-off

893
00:49:56,850 --> 00:50:00,850
situations that evolutionary
sorts of theories explain

894
00:50:00,850 --> 00:50:01,620
rather well.

895
00:50:01,620 --> 00:50:05,250
So an example, sort
of in the same

896
00:50:05,250 --> 00:50:07,440
ballpark, comes from cuckoos.

897
00:50:07,440 --> 00:50:09,490
You know about cuckoos?

898
00:50:09,490 --> 00:50:11,740
Cuckoos are nasty birds.

899
00:50:11,740 --> 00:50:15,700
Cuckoos like to lay their eggs
in somebody else's nest

900
00:50:15,700 --> 00:50:19,610
because this business of raising
kids is resource

901
00:50:19,610 --> 00:50:24,010
intensive and if you can get
somebody else to do it, great.

902
00:50:24,010 --> 00:50:28,110
So cuckoos lay their eggs in
somebody else's nest and it

903
00:50:28,110 --> 00:50:36,040
gets better from there because
the cuckoo egg hatches early

904
00:50:36,040 --> 00:50:40,380
and the cuckoo chick has this
lovely reflex where what it

905
00:50:40,380 --> 00:50:44,075
does is it arches its little
cuckoo back and kicks the

906
00:50:44,075 --> 00:50:45,160
other eggs out.

907
00:50:45,160 --> 00:50:51,340
So it kills off its adopted
siblings and then it sits

908
00:50:51,340 --> 00:50:56,140
there making I'm hungry noises
and gets fed by genetically

909
00:50:56,140 --> 00:50:57,390
unrelated birds.

910
00:51:00,280 --> 00:51:03,160
There's an obvious
problem here.

911
00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:06,660
It's in the cuckoos interest to
do this, but you can't have

912
00:51:06,660 --> 00:51:08,150
too many cuckoos.

913
00:51:08,150 --> 00:51:12,500
If cuckoos do this to every
nest then there's no next

914
00:51:12,500 --> 00:51:15,100
generation because there's
nobody left dumb enough to

915
00:51:15,100 --> 00:51:18,130
raise your kids in the
next generation.

916
00:51:18,130 --> 00:51:22,310
So there's an equilibrium, you
can write down equations for

917
00:51:22,310 --> 00:51:28,010
this that say a healthy
population can tolerate this

918
00:51:28,010 --> 00:51:31,530
many cuckoos; this
many cheaters.

919
00:51:31,530 --> 00:51:36,090
You might ask by the way, why
the stupid bird-- the stupid

920
00:51:36,090 --> 00:51:42,480
sparrow or whatever who's got
a cuckoo in her nest doesn't

921
00:51:42,480 --> 00:51:44,820
say, get out of here.

922
00:51:44,820 --> 00:51:52,920
And the problem seems to be that
the cuckoo behaves as a

923
00:51:52,920 --> 00:51:57,580
sort of a supernormal
baby stimulus.

924
00:51:57,580 --> 00:52:03,370
You as a mommy sparrow or daddy
sparrow-- you are built

925
00:52:03,370 --> 00:52:05,550
to say, oh, look at that.

926
00:52:05,550 --> 00:52:08,210
It's cute, it's a baby,
I want to feed it.

927
00:52:08,210 --> 00:52:11,990
And your success is whether
this thing is growing.

928
00:52:11,990 --> 00:52:14,900
And here's this honking,
huge cuckoo baby.

929
00:52:14,900 --> 00:52:16,790
Wow, I hit the jackpot.

930
00:52:16,790 --> 00:52:18,540
I got the greatest baby
in the world.

931
00:52:18,540 --> 00:52:21,480
Doesn't happen to be genetically
related to me, but

932
00:52:21,480 --> 00:52:23,170
it's a great baby.

933
00:52:23,170 --> 00:52:26,660
And so I stuff it
full of worms.

934
00:52:26,660 --> 00:52:29,660
Last year there was an article
about a species of I don't

935
00:52:29,660 --> 00:52:32,370
remember what, but some other
non cuckoo bird that has

936
00:52:32,370 --> 00:52:36,910
learned now how to recognize or
has evolved the ability to

937
00:52:36,910 --> 00:52:41,620
recognize the cuckoos and you
can't lay your cuckoo eggs in

938
00:52:41,620 --> 00:52:45,400
those nests because that species
will get rid of you

939
00:52:45,400 --> 00:52:46,440
and preserve their own.

940
00:52:46,440 --> 00:52:49,550
But anyway, there's an
equilibrium state here.

941
00:52:49,550 --> 00:52:52,350
You have a balance
that tolerates a

942
00:52:52,350 --> 00:52:54,860
certain amount of cheating.

943
00:52:54,860 --> 00:53:01,130
The same thing happens in human
relationships though the

944
00:53:01,130 --> 00:53:03,410
details are much more
complicated to work out.

945
00:53:03,410 --> 00:53:05,730
But do people lie?

946
00:53:05,730 --> 00:53:07,290
AUDIENCE: Yes.

947
00:53:07,290 --> 00:53:08,500
PROFESSOR: Yeah, sure.

948
00:53:08,500 --> 00:53:10,590
Do people lie all the time?

949
00:53:10,590 --> 00:53:12,250
No, you can't do that.

950
00:53:12,250 --> 00:53:17,740
You can't have an arbitrary
relationship between truth and

951
00:53:17,740 --> 00:53:21,130
udderances cannot have arbitrary
truth value because

952
00:53:21,130 --> 00:53:23,730
then there wouldn't be any
point to communication.

953
00:53:23,730 --> 00:53:29,670
So on average people as a whole
have to tell the truth.

954
00:53:29,670 --> 00:53:31,980
Does everybody have to tell
the same amount of truth?

955
00:53:31,980 --> 00:53:37,810
No, the population can tolerate
some amount of real

956
00:53:37,810 --> 00:53:39,240
liars, right?

957
00:53:39,240 --> 00:53:43,600
Pathological, lying through
their teeth all the time.

958
00:53:43,600 --> 00:53:45,360
Oh yes, I love you baby.

959
00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:47,730
I will devote all my
resources to you.

960
00:53:47,730 --> 00:53:52,445
Liars, or whatever realm it is,
but again, there's going

961
00:53:52,445 --> 00:53:56,030
to be an equilibrium equation
there somewhere.

962
00:53:56,030 --> 00:53:59,890
Not as well worked out as with
cuckoos that says, we can only

963
00:53:59,890 --> 00:54:02,470
tolerate so many liars.

964
00:54:02,470 --> 00:54:06,430
So you could ask the question,
is there motivation for guys

965
00:54:06,430 --> 00:54:10,120
to lie in relationships?

966
00:54:10,120 --> 00:54:11,650
Are you seeing anybody else?

967
00:54:11,650 --> 00:54:14,670
Oh no, not me.

968
00:54:14,670 --> 00:54:20,870
If everybody lies about that
the game falls apart.

969
00:54:20,870 --> 00:54:24,310
If some people lie about it
they get away with it.

970
00:54:24,310 --> 00:54:27,370
So the population as a
whole will tolerate

971
00:54:27,370 --> 00:54:30,080
some subset of cheaters.

972
00:54:33,610 --> 00:54:38,010
One can have the hope-- the
theoretical hope that another

973
00:54:38,010 --> 00:54:41,025
few generations of work in the
area and you'd be able to

974
00:54:41,025 --> 00:54:42,290
write the equation.

975
00:54:42,290 --> 00:54:47,540
You'll be able to say, look,
a population like an

976
00:54:47,540 --> 00:54:53,840
undergraduate population can
tolerate 10% cheaters.

977
00:54:53,840 --> 00:54:56,930
If we've got 11% cheaters we
have to invoke the dean's

978
00:54:56,930 --> 00:54:59,780
office or something and throw
them out because the

979
00:54:59,780 --> 00:55:01,990
population will crash otherwise
or something.

980
00:55:01,990 --> 00:55:03,530
Anyway, we're nowhere
near that point.

981
00:55:03,530 --> 00:55:06,260
At this point we can't
write the equations.

982
00:55:06,260 --> 00:55:08,260
But that seems to be the
way you get to the

983
00:55:08,260 --> 00:55:11,580
solution to the problem.

984
00:55:11,580 --> 00:55:15,000
That the theory at the moment
predicts kind of everything.

985
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:16,410
The theory also doesn't
predict the

986
00:55:16,410 --> 00:55:17,500
full range of behavior.

987
00:55:17,500 --> 00:55:22,000
I see I've got these problems
listed on the handout.

988
00:55:22,000 --> 00:55:26,520
In particular, it's explaining
group behavior, explaining the

989
00:55:26,520 --> 00:55:28,870
behavior of individuals is
something that I'll get to in

990
00:55:28,870 --> 00:55:29,770
the next lecture.

991
00:55:29,770 --> 00:55:31,310
Actually, I'll get to
some of it later

992
00:55:31,310 --> 00:55:33,520
in the present lecture.

993
00:55:33,520 --> 00:55:36,240
And the third problem, let me
say a bit about that before we

994
00:55:36,240 --> 00:55:38,790
take a break.

995
00:55:38,790 --> 00:55:41,940
Is that civilization may
have changed the rules.

996
00:55:41,940 --> 00:55:44,900
One of the most striking--

997
00:55:44,900 --> 00:55:46,060
there's several examples
of this.

998
00:55:46,060 --> 00:55:49,500
One of them is if you were
operating in a sort of a

999
00:55:49,500 --> 00:55:53,470
purely Darwinian kind of a
world that would be very

1000
00:55:53,470 --> 00:55:57,900
difficult probably, but very
different than operating in a

1001
00:55:57,900 --> 00:56:03,130
world where you are being told
explicitly what is and is not

1002
00:56:03,130 --> 00:56:04,800
appropriate sexual behavior.

1003
00:56:04,800 --> 00:56:11,200
You're being told explicitly
that your genes, your

1004
00:56:11,200 --> 00:56:13,680
evolutionary history if you're
a male may be saying go off

1005
00:56:13,680 --> 00:56:15,390
and mate with everybody
under the sun.

1006
00:56:15,390 --> 00:56:18,940
But there are societal
strictures

1007
00:56:18,940 --> 00:56:21,250
that say, not really.

1008
00:56:21,250 --> 00:56:24,430
That's just not quite
really right.

1009
00:56:24,430 --> 00:56:26,580
So that complicates things,
but a more interesting

1010
00:56:26,580 --> 00:56:32,160
complication arises more
recently in history with the

1011
00:56:32,160 --> 00:56:36,800
advent of artificial
contraception.

1012
00:56:36,800 --> 00:56:44,200
If the fundamental route to
these asymmetries is that

1013
00:56:44,200 --> 00:56:46,420
women get pregnant--

1014
00:56:46,420 --> 00:56:48,790
that sex makes you pregnant and
it's only women that get

1015
00:56:48,790 --> 00:56:54,490
pregnant, what happens if you
decouple sex from pregnancy?

1016
00:56:54,490 --> 00:56:57,220
Does it change the game?

1017
00:56:57,220 --> 00:56:59,710
Well, potentially yes.

1018
00:56:59,710 --> 00:57:04,460
It has not made these
asymmetries disappear.

1019
00:57:04,460 --> 00:57:07,570
That's a topic that I
will actually return

1020
00:57:07,570 --> 00:57:09,730
to in a later lecture.

1021
00:57:09,730 --> 00:57:12,430
It's not made these asymmetries
disappear and that

1022
00:57:12,430 --> 00:57:18,560
suggests that forces that
shaped our brains, the

1023
00:57:18,560 --> 00:57:21,080
evolutionary forces that shaped
our brains over long

1024
00:57:21,080 --> 00:57:28,330
periods of time still operate
even though the rules of the

1025
00:57:28,330 --> 00:57:29,960
game have changed somewhat.

1026
00:57:29,960 --> 00:57:33,430
You can get an intuitive
feeling for this--

1027
00:57:33,430 --> 00:57:36,470
let's return to the question
of female fidelity.

1028
00:57:36,470 --> 00:57:37,560
Should a woman cheat?

1029
00:57:37,560 --> 00:57:41,960
Well, part of the answer to why
a female might be inclined

1030
00:57:41,960 --> 00:57:45,460
not to cheat in a relationship
was that the male might be

1031
00:57:45,460 --> 00:57:48,780
jealous and that would have
a variety of possible bad

1032
00:57:48,780 --> 00:57:51,330
consequences; withdrawal of
resources or potentially

1033
00:57:51,330 --> 00:57:55,370
violence in some fashion,
something bad might happen.

1034
00:57:55,370 --> 00:58:00,290
OK, how much do you think that
those bad consequences are

1035
00:58:00,290 --> 00:58:01,870
ameliorated.

1036
00:58:01,870 --> 00:58:05,300
If when she's confronted, you
know, did you cheat on me?

1037
00:58:05,300 --> 00:58:09,580
Yes, I cheated on you, but
it's OK because we took

1038
00:58:09,580 --> 00:58:11,820
precautions.

1039
00:58:11,820 --> 00:58:14,310
Do you think that makes a
difference in the argument?

1040
00:58:14,310 --> 00:58:15,540
AUDIENCE: No.

1041
00:58:15,540 --> 00:58:19,820
PROFESSOR: No, intuitively it
doesn't seem likely that it

1042
00:58:19,820 --> 00:58:21,310
makes a difference.

1043
00:58:21,310 --> 00:58:30,340
Suggesting that the forces
that are driving these

1044
00:58:30,340 --> 00:58:34,620
questions of who should cheat
and who shouldn't cheat are

1045
00:58:34,620 --> 00:58:38,470
walled off from knowledge about
modern contraception.

1046
00:58:38,470 --> 00:58:43,220
In sort of the way that the
forces that are driving taste

1047
00:58:43,220 --> 00:58:46,150
aversions are walled off of what
you know about what it is

1048
00:58:46,150 --> 00:58:46,990
that made you sick.

1049
00:58:46,990 --> 00:58:49,510
Remember from earlier in the
course, you got sick because

1050
00:58:49,510 --> 00:58:52,200
you got the flu, but you ate a
tuna fish sandwich the day

1051
00:58:52,200 --> 00:58:54,770
before you got the flu and now
you can't eat tuna fish

1052
00:58:54,770 --> 00:58:58,210
anymore because this little
chunk of brain said, tuna fish

1053
00:58:58,210 --> 00:59:01,620
poisoned us, we never
eat it again.

1054
00:59:01,620 --> 00:59:03,070
Same sort of story.

1055
00:59:03,070 --> 00:59:05,150
Somewhere in the brain
is a chunk of

1056
00:59:05,150 --> 00:59:07,460
brain that is saying--

1057
00:59:07,460 --> 00:59:10,530
chunk of guy brain that
is saying, need to

1058
00:59:10,530 --> 00:59:13,030
know woman is faithful.

1059
00:59:13,030 --> 00:59:13,690
Why?

1060
00:59:13,690 --> 00:59:16,650
Well, because I need to know
whose genes they are.

1061
00:59:16,650 --> 00:59:17,660
Woman isn't pregnant.

1062
00:59:17,660 --> 00:59:20,550
I don't care.

1063
00:59:20,550 --> 00:59:24,440
I'm a very simple little chunk
of brain, I just need to know

1064
00:59:24,440 --> 00:59:32,210
woman is faithful or I have
unhappy things happen in me.

1065
00:59:32,210 --> 00:59:37,930
So the persistence of these
sorts of asymmetries and these

1066
00:59:37,930 --> 00:59:41,650
sorts of behaviors is another
argument that can be used to

1067
00:59:41,650 --> 00:59:46,300
argue that these
are deep seated

1068
00:59:46,300 --> 00:59:48,250
behaviors with evolution.

1069
00:59:48,250 --> 00:59:53,190
Oh, I should say, by the way,
that these are explanations

1070
00:59:53,190 --> 00:59:56,920
not excuses in any way
shape or form.

1071
00:59:56,920 --> 01:00:01,250
Coming home and flipping to the
other side of this right?

1072
01:00:01,250 --> 01:00:02,410
You're the guy this time.

1073
01:00:02,410 --> 01:00:03,460
Did your cheat?

1074
01:00:03,460 --> 01:00:06,780
Yes, but that's OK because I
have deep seated evolutionary

1075
01:00:06,780 --> 01:00:10,720
forces within me that make it
necessary for me to cheat.

1076
01:00:10,720 --> 01:00:12,900
That's an interesting
explanation, but it's not an

1077
01:00:12,900 --> 01:00:18,490
excuse in a relationship any
more than it's an excuse.

1078
01:00:18,490 --> 01:00:24,890
Yes, I hit my girlfriend
because I was jealous.

1079
01:00:24,890 --> 01:00:28,060
You know, great, lovely, we have
these great evolutionary

1080
01:00:28,060 --> 01:00:28,710
arguments for it.

1081
01:00:28,710 --> 01:00:30,090
That's not an excuse.

1082
01:00:30,090 --> 01:00:33,160
That's where you get into again,
why these things are

1083
01:00:33,160 --> 01:00:39,030
politically controversial, is
the possibility of turning

1084
01:00:39,030 --> 01:00:42,140
explanation into excuse.

1085
01:00:42,140 --> 01:00:46,160
You can decide well, to use an
example that I will probably

1086
01:00:46,160 --> 01:00:51,890
use again, it's a little
like saying, look

1087
01:00:51,890 --> 01:00:53,220
gravity is a force.

1088
01:00:53,220 --> 01:00:55,960
You can't thwart gravity,
so I'm just

1089
01:00:55,960 --> 01:00:59,420
going to lie here forever.

1090
01:00:59,420 --> 01:01:00,330
Oops, lost the glasses.

1091
01:01:00,330 --> 01:01:01,520
Where'd the glasses go?

1092
01:01:01,520 --> 01:01:05,080
That's a really stupid argument
and it's similarly

1093
01:01:05,080 --> 01:01:08,800
stupid to say biology is a
powerful force, therefore I

1094
01:01:08,800 --> 01:01:11,590
had to do whatever.

1095
01:01:11,590 --> 01:01:13,600
There are other powerful
forces out there in

1096
01:01:13,600 --> 01:01:16,760
civilization: morality, culture,
whatever are powerful

1097
01:01:16,760 --> 01:01:20,470
forces and if they say don't do
it, it may be hard work not

1098
01:01:20,470 --> 01:01:22,460
to do it, but that doesn't
mean you shouldn't do it.

1099
01:01:22,460 --> 01:01:25,350
Or you should do-- whatever,
you got the basic idea.

1100
01:01:25,350 --> 01:01:28,540
Well on that sentence with way
too many double negatives in

1101
01:01:28,540 --> 01:01:33,280
it, let us take a brief break
and then I'll turn to the

1102
01:01:33,280 --> 01:01:35,060
question of individual
behavior.

1103
01:01:38,340 --> 01:01:45,180
[INTERPOSING VOICES]

1104
01:02:11,190 --> 01:02:12,440
PROFESSOR: Oh, thank you.

1105
01:02:37,750 --> 01:02:38,420
AUDIENCE: Should we
do it before--

1106
01:02:38,420 --> 01:02:40,675
I mean, after they come back
from the break maybe?

1107
01:02:40,675 --> 01:02:43,290
Or would you prefer
at the end?

1108
01:02:45,830 --> 01:02:46,290
PROFESSOR: We [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1109
01:02:46,290 --> 01:02:48,495
AUDIENCE: Basically what it is
we're doing the comedy passes,

1110
01:02:48,495 --> 01:02:50,540
whoever wants one we just
have to pass them out.

1111
01:02:50,540 --> 01:02:53,635
PROFESSOR: Oh no, if you're
going to pass stuff out, be

1112
01:02:53,635 --> 01:02:54,010
here at the end.

1113
01:02:54,010 --> 01:02:55,260
[INTERPOSING VOICES]

1114
01:02:57,840 --> 01:03:02,440
PROFESSOR: Yep, I'll
do my best.

1115
01:03:02,440 --> 01:03:03,690
Will it be funny?

1116
01:03:05,740 --> 01:03:08,350
Quick, funny announcement.

1117
01:03:08,350 --> 01:03:10,670
All right, so be here
in about 20 minutes.

1118
01:03:10,670 --> 01:03:12,590
AUDIENCE: Yeah, no problem.

1119
01:03:15,410 --> 01:03:18,310
PROFESSOR: So, let
me elaborate.

1120
01:03:18,310 --> 01:03:20,070
I realized looking at the
handout that I didn't

1121
01:03:20,070 --> 01:03:26,650
elaborate particularly well on
this problem 2 part about

1122
01:03:26,650 --> 01:03:30,640
these evolutionary theories not
explaining the full range

1123
01:03:30,640 --> 01:03:33,250
of behavior well.

1124
01:03:33,250 --> 01:03:39,840
So it explains perhaps--

1125
01:03:39,840 --> 01:03:42,970
the theory as elaborated thus
far explains for instance, why

1126
01:03:42,970 --> 01:03:46,690
you might be attracted to one
person or another, but it

1127
01:03:46,690 --> 01:03:50,010
doesn't explain what you do
in any particular way.

1128
01:03:50,010 --> 01:03:56,410
So you see an attractive,
potential mate, if you're

1129
01:03:56,410 --> 01:03:58,780
birds you might do some sort
of weird mating dance or

1130
01:03:58,780 --> 01:04:00,730
something like that.

1131
01:04:00,730 --> 01:04:03,910
If you're a human you might do
some weird mating dance or

1132
01:04:03,910 --> 01:04:05,980
something like that.

1133
01:04:05,980 --> 01:04:09,290
You can ask yourself about what
do you do if there's an

1134
01:04:09,290 --> 01:04:12,600
attractive mate possibility?

1135
01:04:12,600 --> 01:04:16,540
You could dance, you could hang
around, you could act

1136
01:04:16,540 --> 01:04:20,090
pathetic, you could
act non-pathetic.

1137
01:04:20,090 --> 01:04:25,300
You could get person A to talk
to person B and who knows C,

1138
01:04:25,300 --> 01:04:28,540
who's the uncle of D or
something like that.

1139
01:04:31,140 --> 01:04:33,650
Just knowing that there was
evolutionary pressure here

1140
01:04:33,650 --> 01:04:37,700
isn't really a full story about
human mating behavior by

1141
01:04:37,700 --> 01:04:39,820
any stretch of the
imagination.

1142
01:04:39,820 --> 01:04:43,310
What's going to elaborate on
it, you can probably get a

1143
01:04:43,310 --> 01:04:47,710
good piece of mileage from
asking about law of effect

1144
01:04:47,710 --> 01:04:49,040
kinds of things.

1145
01:04:49,040 --> 01:04:53,940
What you do in mating situations
or courtship

1146
01:04:53,940 --> 01:04:57,980
situations is going to be
shaped, at least in part, by

1147
01:04:57,980 --> 01:05:01,540
the schedule of reinforcement.

1148
01:05:01,540 --> 01:05:08,120
You do a mating dance and the
potential mate responds,

1149
01:05:08,120 --> 01:05:10,750
you're going to be inclined to
do that dance more-- it's not

1150
01:05:10,750 --> 01:05:11,580
why birds do it.

1151
01:05:11,580 --> 01:05:14,120
Birds are wired typically to
do the dance, but if you go

1152
01:05:14,120 --> 01:05:17,400
off and do some weird dance
and he or she says,

1153
01:05:17,400 --> 01:05:19,530
hey, this is good.

1154
01:05:19,530 --> 01:05:20,780
You'll do it again.

1155
01:05:25,290 --> 01:05:27,730
The whole ritual, I don't know
what you want to call-- who

1156
01:05:27,730 --> 01:05:32,370
touches who when, where, and how
is also heavily shaped by

1157
01:05:32,370 --> 01:05:35,040
law of effect sorts of things.

1158
01:05:35,040 --> 01:05:38,500
If it's rewarded it
happens again.

1159
01:05:38,500 --> 01:05:41,260
If it's not rewarded it
doesn't happen again.

1160
01:05:41,260 --> 01:05:45,450
More on this later, but I did
want to just say that there's

1161
01:05:45,450 --> 01:05:49,080
nothing in these sort of
evolutionary psych theory that

1162
01:05:49,080 --> 01:05:52,130
really talks to that.

1163
01:05:52,130 --> 01:06:02,990
Now let me go onto try to
say what does talk about

1164
01:06:02,990 --> 01:06:10,970
individual behavior in romantic
relationships.

1165
01:06:10,970 --> 01:06:16,690
You know, to get beyond this
notion of what average

1166
01:06:16,690 --> 01:06:20,720
populations do in a world full
of potential mates, why are

1167
01:06:20,720 --> 01:06:24,610
you attracted to this one now?

1168
01:06:24,610 --> 01:06:28,310
What can we say about that?

1169
01:06:28,310 --> 01:06:30,070
There certainly seems to be
something to explain.

1170
01:06:30,070 --> 01:06:31,760
There are a variety of
candidate sorts of

1171
01:06:31,760 --> 01:06:33,660
theories out there.

1172
01:06:33,660 --> 01:06:39,940
One of them is nicely
encapsulated in shakes-- oh I

1173
01:06:39,940 --> 01:06:44,870
realized I didn't put the most
clear cut piece of citation on

1174
01:06:44,870 --> 01:06:46,280
that quote at the bottom
of page 3--

1175
01:06:46,280 --> 01:06:47,980
That's Midsummer
Night's Dream.

1176
01:06:47,980 --> 01:06:51,380
Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's
Dream and Shakespeare

1177
01:06:51,380 --> 01:06:55,350
has Theseus, Duke of Athens say,
that lovers and madmen

1178
01:06:55,350 --> 01:07:00,010
have such seething brains, such
shaping fantasies that

1179
01:07:00,010 --> 01:07:03,490
apprehend more than cool reason
ever comprehends.

1180
01:07:03,490 --> 01:07:07,310
The lunatic, the lover, and the
poet are of imagination

1181
01:07:07,310 --> 01:07:08,510
all compact.

1182
01:07:08,510 --> 01:07:12,360
This is a theory of romantic
behavior that says you're

1183
01:07:12,360 --> 01:07:15,670
attracted to whom you're
attracted to at the moment and

1184
01:07:15,670 --> 01:07:19,170
you're doing what you're doing
in response to that now

1185
01:07:19,170 --> 01:07:21,040
because you're nuts.

1186
01:07:21,040 --> 01:07:27,740
I mean, basically it's a form of
insanity, and not uncommon

1187
01:07:27,740 --> 01:07:31,170
theory that shows up in
literary circles.

1188
01:07:33,940 --> 01:07:37,540
The place to get some intuitive
feeling for that is

1189
01:07:37,540 --> 01:07:41,650
to remember what it felt like
if you were ever completely

1190
01:07:41,650 --> 01:07:44,350
infatuated with somebody.

1191
01:07:44,350 --> 01:07:46,190
Preferably somebody who
didn't know you were

1192
01:07:46,190 --> 01:07:49,450
infatuated with them.

1193
01:07:49,450 --> 01:07:53,380
Some random other person
across the crowded

1194
01:07:53,380 --> 01:07:55,290
room kind of thing.

1195
01:07:55,290 --> 01:07:57,760
That has the feeling
of being more or

1196
01:07:57,760 --> 01:07:59,880
less, out of your mind.

1197
01:07:59,880 --> 01:08:05,180
But you don't realize at the
time and reams of bad high

1198
01:08:05,180 --> 01:08:09,820
school poetry are written
unders those conditions.

1199
01:08:09,820 --> 01:08:13,710
And if you're very lucky nobody
else gets to see that

1200
01:08:13,710 --> 01:08:15,180
stuff, mostly.

1201
01:08:18,010 --> 01:08:21,730
In my experience, back when I
was in high school-- how many

1202
01:08:21,730 --> 01:08:22,750
people have ever seen
a book called

1203
01:08:22,750 --> 01:08:25,390
Jonathan Livingston Seagull?

1204
01:08:25,390 --> 01:08:27,460
Oh, it's still out there.

1205
01:08:27,460 --> 01:08:29,900
It's very sappy.

1206
01:08:29,900 --> 01:08:33,650
And it was this sort of thing
you gave to somebody who you

1207
01:08:33,650 --> 01:08:38,520
were deeply in love with,
preferably in high school.

1208
01:08:38,520 --> 01:08:43,280
And it turns out that both my
wife and I have copies of this

1209
01:08:43,280 --> 01:08:48,400
book given to us by people other
than each other because

1210
01:08:48,400 --> 01:08:50,750
we didn't know each other in
high school-- both with

1211
01:08:50,750 --> 01:08:58,550
inscriptions so florid that
you just can't read them.

1212
01:08:58,550 --> 01:09:00,410
One of these I mean, why haven't
we destroyed them?

1213
01:09:00,410 --> 01:09:03,170
Well, there's a certain
nostalgia there of some sort

1214
01:09:03,170 --> 01:09:06,350
and you gotta save these things
for your children.

1215
01:09:06,350 --> 01:09:11,650
One day one of my kids is going
to be up in the attic

1216
01:09:11,650 --> 01:09:14,610
and find this thing
and read it and

1217
01:09:14,610 --> 01:09:19,200
fall down dead laughing.

1218
01:09:19,200 --> 01:09:24,000
All right, the relevant question
here is that's not a

1219
01:09:24,000 --> 01:09:29,800
bad theory, why isn't
this the abnormal

1220
01:09:29,800 --> 01:09:31,230
psych part of the course?

1221
01:09:31,230 --> 01:09:34,880
Why aren't we talking about
love in the context of

1222
01:09:34,880 --> 01:09:36,130
psychopathology?

1223
01:09:38,530 --> 01:09:41,250
What's the answer?

1224
01:09:41,250 --> 01:09:43,110
Nobody knows what
the answer is.

1225
01:09:43,110 --> 01:09:43,420
Yep?

1226
01:09:43,420 --> 01:09:45,534
AUDIENCE: Psychopathology
generally deals with things

1227
01:09:45,534 --> 01:09:48,300
that are [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1228
01:09:48,300 --> 01:09:51,460
PROFESSOR: Yeah, there's a
reason it's called abnormal

1229
01:09:51,460 --> 01:09:53,310
psychology as a
[UNINTELLIGIBLE].

1230
01:09:53,310 --> 01:09:58,620
Now look, I don't know quite
what would happen if bad

1231
01:09:58,620 --> 01:10:01,240
people found a way to put
something in the water that

1232
01:10:01,240 --> 01:10:04,270
made us floridly
schizophrenic.

1233
01:10:04,270 --> 01:10:08,090
If it became the majority
state it would still be

1234
01:10:08,090 --> 01:10:11,290
psychopathological probably, but
by and large what we talk

1235
01:10:11,290 --> 01:10:18,020
about in abnormal psychology is
abnormal and being in love

1236
01:10:18,020 --> 01:10:20,980
may be a sort of insanity, but
it's a very-- well look,

1237
01:10:20,980 --> 01:10:22,460
Shakespeare knew this too.

1238
01:10:22,460 --> 01:10:25,780
So if we borrow from As You
Like It, we have the

1239
01:10:25,780 --> 01:10:33,400
explanation of this given in
this case by Rosalind in As

1240
01:10:33,400 --> 01:10:36,850
You Like It saying that love
is merely madness, merely a

1241
01:10:36,850 --> 01:10:39,860
madness and I tell you, deserves
a dark house and a

1242
01:10:39,860 --> 01:10:41,180
whip as madman do.

1243
01:10:41,180 --> 01:10:43,000
Which tells you something
about Elizabethan

1244
01:10:43,000 --> 01:10:45,830
psychotherapy.

1245
01:10:45,830 --> 01:10:49,500
The reason they are not so
punished and cured, which also

1246
01:10:49,500 --> 01:10:52,620
tells you something about
Elizabethan psychotherapy; the

1247
01:10:52,620 --> 01:10:55,910
notion was not that you were
just being nasty to crazy

1248
01:10:55,910 --> 01:10:58,750
people, but that being
nasty was curative.

1249
01:10:58,750 --> 01:11:01,230
The reason they are not so
punished and cured is that the

1250
01:11:01,230 --> 01:11:06,180
lunacy is so ordinary that the
whippers are in love too.

1251
01:11:06,180 --> 01:11:08,970
It doesn't make any real sense,
it's not a useful

1252
01:11:08,970 --> 01:11:13,260
theory to say that being in
love is a form of insanity

1253
01:11:13,260 --> 01:11:17,700
because it's essentially a
universal form of insanity.

1254
01:11:17,700 --> 01:11:23,630
You might think that there's
nothing much to say in an

1255
01:11:23,630 --> 01:11:25,850
intro psych class about this
at all and that the whole

1256
01:11:25,850 --> 01:11:30,170
topic is kind of best left
to Shakespeare and

1257
01:11:30,170 --> 01:11:31,360
other literary sources.

1258
01:11:31,360 --> 01:11:35,270
That's actually not a bad
argument, but I think there is

1259
01:11:35,270 --> 01:11:41,130
something useful to be said in
the context of psychology.

1260
01:11:41,130 --> 01:11:44,430
We can switch back to
Shakespeare and ask--

1261
01:11:44,430 --> 01:11:46,710
wait, first we have to check on
how high school education

1262
01:11:46,710 --> 01:11:47,580
is going these days.

1263
01:11:47,580 --> 01:11:49,480
How many people have to read
Romeo and Juliet in high

1264
01:11:49,480 --> 01:11:50,750
school somewhere?

1265
01:11:50,750 --> 01:11:51,580
OK, good.

1266
01:11:51,580 --> 01:11:52,830
Just checking.

1267
01:11:55,630 --> 01:12:01,770
Romeo is looking across a
crowded dancehall here and he

1268
01:12:01,770 --> 01:12:07,130
sees Juliet and he's supposed
to be in love with?

1269
01:12:07,130 --> 01:12:08,560
AUDIENCE: Rosaline.

1270
01:12:08,560 --> 01:12:09,230
PROFESSOR: Rosaline.

1271
01:12:09,230 --> 01:12:12,810
Good, you got that question
right on the test.

1272
01:12:12,810 --> 01:12:14,970
He's been mooning around about
this woman Rosaline.

1273
01:12:14,970 --> 01:12:18,670
He walks in, he sees Juliet and
it's oh, she doth make the

1274
01:12:18,670 --> 01:12:20,170
[UNINTELLIGIBLE PHRASE].

1275
01:12:20,170 --> 01:12:23,520
You can see why I'm not
a Shakespearian actor.

1276
01:12:23,520 --> 01:12:27,290
She doth teach the torches
to burn bright and

1277
01:12:27,290 --> 01:12:28,540
all that good stuff.

1278
01:12:32,140 --> 01:12:33,580
Why?

1279
01:12:33,580 --> 01:12:35,380
What can you say about it?

1280
01:12:35,380 --> 01:12:36,860
There are a variety of things.

1281
01:12:36,860 --> 01:12:39,100
Well, we can develop what we can
call the chemical theory

1282
01:12:39,100 --> 01:12:39,750
of love here.

1283
01:12:39,750 --> 01:12:42,310
We passed through the insanity
theory, let's work on the

1284
01:12:42,310 --> 01:12:45,060
chemical theory a little bit.

1285
01:12:45,060 --> 01:12:48,180
Chemical theory gets you
a certain distance.

1286
01:12:48,180 --> 01:12:50,070
Oh, I didn't put this on the
handout yet because I wasn't

1287
01:12:50,070 --> 01:12:53,100
convinced I was going
to get here.

1288
01:12:53,100 --> 01:12:55,220
I'll put a few of these terms
on there next time, but you

1289
01:12:55,220 --> 01:12:57,370
could write on the back
of the handout.

1290
01:12:57,370 --> 01:13:02,140
So chemical aspects.

1291
01:13:02,140 --> 01:13:06,540
One thing that's related to
chemical aspects is the

1292
01:13:06,540 --> 01:13:08,570
proximity factor.

1293
01:13:08,570 --> 01:13:15,860
You want to get two things to
interact and make heat, you

1294
01:13:15,860 --> 01:13:17,890
gotta bring them together.

1295
01:13:17,890 --> 01:13:25,650
It sounds trivial, but the scary
version of this is that

1296
01:13:25,650 --> 01:13:30,390
a not insignificant number
of you will meet your

1297
01:13:30,390 --> 01:13:32,980
eventual mate here.

1298
01:13:32,980 --> 01:13:36,680
Not here like in 10-250 right
now, but during your

1299
01:13:36,680 --> 01:13:40,840
undergraduate years at MIT.

1300
01:13:40,840 --> 01:13:45,350
So you know, somebody in this
room may be that person or

1301
01:13:45,350 --> 01:13:46,120
something like that.

1302
01:13:46,120 --> 01:13:50,050
One of the reasons is it's a
great deal easier to fall in

1303
01:13:50,050 --> 01:13:53,760
love with somebody you actually
interact with.

1304
01:13:53,760 --> 01:13:59,060
There are lovely people at Cal
Tech I'm told, but mostly--

1305
01:14:01,690 --> 01:14:04,100
no?

1306
01:14:04,100 --> 01:14:08,210
Well, there are bitter, jealous,
disappointed people

1307
01:14:08,210 --> 01:14:09,960
at Cal Tech I'm told.

1308
01:14:09,960 --> 01:14:13,210
All of whom actually wanted
to go to MIT, but

1309
01:14:13,210 --> 01:14:17,300
anyway, you see the point.

1310
01:14:17,300 --> 01:14:18,550
So proximity helps.

1311
01:14:18,550 --> 01:14:26,470
Now another chemical aspect of
this romantic love business is

1312
01:14:26,470 --> 01:14:30,300
that if you want a chemical
reaction to speed up one of

1313
01:14:30,300 --> 01:14:33,410
the things that's useful to
do is to add heat, right?

1314
01:14:36,100 --> 01:14:38,130
That works, too.

1315
01:14:38,130 --> 01:14:45,600
And it works in not just like
turning up the thermostat, but

1316
01:14:45,600 --> 01:14:52,960
you are more likely to fall in
love with somebody if your

1317
01:14:52,960 --> 01:14:55,220
arousal level is up.

1318
01:14:55,220 --> 01:14:57,690
That seems pretty obvious.

1319
01:14:57,690 --> 01:15:02,260
The non-obvious piece of it is
that you're pretty stupid

1320
01:15:02,260 --> 01:15:05,630
about this and you don't care
too much where the arousal

1321
01:15:05,630 --> 01:15:06,800
comes from.

1322
01:15:06,800 --> 01:15:10,870
The Romeo and Juliet thing
is not a bad example.

1323
01:15:10,870 --> 01:15:14,165
Romeo is which family?

1324
01:15:14,165 --> 01:15:15,230
AUDIENCE: Montague.

1325
01:15:15,230 --> 01:15:16,260
PROFESSOR: Montague.

1326
01:15:16,260 --> 01:15:17,630
That sounds right.

1327
01:15:17,630 --> 01:15:22,080
OK, Romeo is at who's party?

1328
01:15:22,080 --> 01:15:22,830
AUDIENCE: [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1329
01:15:22,830 --> 01:15:25,070
PROFESSOR: Do they want
him at this party?

1330
01:15:25,070 --> 01:15:27,520
What are they going to
do if they find him?

1331
01:15:27,520 --> 01:15:27,960
AUDIENCE: Kill him.

1332
01:15:27,960 --> 01:15:30,460
PROFESSOR: So how does
that make him feel?

1333
01:15:30,460 --> 01:15:31,710
AUDIENCE: Aroused.

1334
01:15:35,950 --> 01:15:41,760
PROFESSOR: His little heart is
going pitter pat, right?

1335
01:15:41,760 --> 01:15:49,750
There is some sense in which
that contributes to--

1336
01:15:49,750 --> 01:15:52,920
that modulates how attractive
you think somebody else is.

1337
01:15:57,220 --> 01:16:00,380
The clearest pop culture
example of this is ask

1338
01:16:00,380 --> 01:16:06,060
yourself about the standard
adventure movie paradigm.

1339
01:16:06,060 --> 01:16:08,940
It's got a guy, it's
got a girl, right?

1340
01:16:08,940 --> 01:16:11,770
Do they like each other at the
beginning of the movie?

1341
01:16:11,770 --> 01:16:12,340
AUDIENCE: No.

1342
01:16:12,340 --> 01:16:14,390
PROFESSOR: What do they do for
the duration of the movie?

1343
01:16:14,390 --> 01:16:17,490
They find themselves in
disasterous situations after

1344
01:16:17,490 --> 01:16:19,440
disasterous situation.

1345
01:16:19,440 --> 01:16:20,360
Do they like each
other during?

1346
01:16:20,360 --> 01:16:24,720
No, no, they spend the whole
movie sniping each other and

1347
01:16:24,720 --> 01:16:26,440
double crosssing each other
and stuff like that.

1348
01:16:26,440 --> 01:16:29,330
The end of the movie they're
both hanging by one fingernail

1349
01:16:29,330 --> 01:16:33,920
from the helicopter over the
volcano or something like that

1350
01:16:33,920 --> 01:16:35,930
and what do they realize?

1351
01:16:35,930 --> 01:16:37,610
We're in love.

1352
01:16:37,610 --> 01:16:38,860
This is great.

1353
01:16:41,120 --> 01:16:44,500
It sounds silly, but the fact
that we have been willing to

1354
01:16:44,500 --> 01:16:48,650
tolerate that plot line forever
suggests that there's

1355
01:16:48,650 --> 01:16:51,340
something to it.

1356
01:16:51,340 --> 01:16:54,120
OK, I got enough time to tell
you about what is arguably one

1357
01:16:54,120 --> 01:16:58,490
of the great experiments in
experimental psychology.

1358
01:16:58,490 --> 01:17:00,480
Did I already tell you about the
shaky bridge experiment?

1359
01:17:00,480 --> 01:17:00,850
AUDIENCE: No.

1360
01:17:00,850 --> 01:17:03,950
PROFESSOR: No, good.

1361
01:17:03,950 --> 01:17:07,870
This is an experiment so good
that I did a pilgrimage to the

1362
01:17:07,870 --> 01:17:12,040
place where it was done, which
turns out to be in Vancouver.

1363
01:17:12,040 --> 01:17:17,760
Vancouver has a park with a deep
gorge and a Raiders of

1364
01:17:17,760 --> 01:17:21,480
the Lost Ark style suspension
bridge going across it.

1365
01:17:21,480 --> 01:17:25,340
Or Shrek, you know with the
donkey going across--

1366
01:17:25,340 --> 01:17:26,590
you know the bridge.

1367
01:17:26,590 --> 01:17:28,780
No volcanoes or dragons
and anything, but

1368
01:17:28,780 --> 01:17:30,400
it's a shaky bridge.

1369
01:17:30,400 --> 01:17:32,010
Here's what they did.

1370
01:17:32,010 --> 01:17:34,420
You're a guy for this
experiment.

1371
01:17:34,420 --> 01:17:40,790
You're a guy and you are walking
across this shaky

1372
01:17:40,790 --> 01:17:46,660
bridge and in the middle of the
bridge you meet a woman.

1373
01:17:46,660 --> 01:17:51,280
And she says, I'm doing a study
for psychology, would

1374
01:17:51,280 --> 01:17:54,120
you fill out my little
questionnaire?

1375
01:17:54,120 --> 01:17:57,250
Well, OK.

1376
01:17:57,250 --> 01:17:59,880
As part of process says, there's
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

1377
01:17:59,880 --> 01:18:03,440
if you want to know more about
this experiment once we've

1378
01:18:03,440 --> 01:18:07,860
collected the data, you
can phone me at this

1379
01:18:07,860 --> 01:18:08,850
number at the lab.

1380
01:18:08,850 --> 01:18:11,480
My name is Sarah.

1381
01:18:11,480 --> 01:18:14,170
OK, so that's group 1.

1382
01:18:14,170 --> 01:18:17,305
Group 2 turns out round the
corner from this shaky bridge,

1383
01:18:17,305 --> 01:18:19,620
there's another bridge over
the same river, it's a big

1384
01:18:19,620 --> 01:18:21,260
concrete slab.

1385
01:18:21,260 --> 01:18:23,600
It don't shake at all.

1386
01:18:23,600 --> 01:18:25,810
You're a different white guy.

1387
01:18:25,810 --> 01:18:26,220
White guy?

1388
01:18:26,220 --> 01:18:27,450
I don't remember if you're
a white guy.

1389
01:18:27,450 --> 01:18:28,740
You're a guy.

1390
01:18:28,740 --> 01:18:33,100
You're walking across the bridge
and you meet a woman

1391
01:18:33,100 --> 01:18:35,110
and same story.

1392
01:18:35,110 --> 01:18:39,540
If you're interested in the
results of this experiment

1393
01:18:39,540 --> 01:18:42,500
phone this number and
ask for Rebecca.

1394
01:18:42,500 --> 01:18:47,110
Needless to say, Rebecca and
Sarah are the same person.

1395
01:18:47,110 --> 01:18:51,890
The only thing that differs is
whether you met her on the

1396
01:18:51,890 --> 01:18:54,820
shaky bridge on the
nonshaky bridge.

1397
01:18:54,820 --> 01:18:58,660
That data are, who calls?

1398
01:18:58,660 --> 01:19:04,210
So your call up the number, some
guy answers, you say is

1399
01:19:04,210 --> 01:19:05,580
Rebecca there?

1400
01:19:05,580 --> 01:19:08,620
And he says, no, no I'll
take a message and

1401
01:19:08,620 --> 01:19:09,500
hangs up the phone.

1402
01:19:09,500 --> 01:19:12,440
Another one for Rebecca.

1403
01:19:12,440 --> 01:19:17,520
It turns out that more guys
who met Sarah on the shaky

1404
01:19:17,520 --> 01:19:22,950
bridge phone in than who met
Rebecca on the solid bridge.

1405
01:19:22,950 --> 01:19:24,550
Why is that?

1406
01:19:24,550 --> 01:19:25,910
The argument--

1407
01:19:25,910 --> 01:19:30,790
this arousal heat argument is,
it's known in the trade as

1408
01:19:30,790 --> 01:19:32,860
misattribution of arousal.

1409
01:19:32,860 --> 01:19:38,370
You walk across the bridge, you
meet a woman person, you

1410
01:19:38,370 --> 01:19:41,520
ask yourself, how do I feel?

1411
01:19:41,520 --> 01:19:43,730
My heart is beating.

1412
01:19:43,730 --> 01:19:45,940
My palms are sweaty.

1413
01:19:45,940 --> 01:19:47,190
It must be love.

1414
01:19:49,640 --> 01:19:52,670
And it's enough of an effect
to change whether or not

1415
01:19:52,670 --> 01:19:57,810
you'll phone up to get the
results of the experiment.

1416
01:19:57,810 --> 01:20:01,020
Look, you shouldn't overstress
the result.

1417
01:20:01,020 --> 01:20:03,430
Nobody's done this particular
experiment, but if you meet a

1418
01:20:03,430 --> 01:20:07,470
chicken in the middle of the
bridge you don't say, my heart

1419
01:20:07,470 --> 01:20:08,210
is beating.

1420
01:20:08,210 --> 01:20:09,490
My palm's are sweaty.

1421
01:20:09,490 --> 01:20:12,310
I love the chicken.

1422
01:20:12,310 --> 01:20:14,020
But it does modulate things.