男性更喜欢胸部大的女性，金发蓝眼睛的美女更迷人；即使男性们知道这些可以通过整容、染发和彩色隐形眼镜而实现，但他们仍旧为此着迷，这是为什么？在过去的历史中，人类社会大多实行一夫多妻制，很重要的原因是男性比女性高大；但是为什么越到现代的文明社会，越是一夫一妻制呢？相信很多男性都梦想着回到过去的一夫多妻制社会，可事实上那样真的对男性有利吗？不妨和Psytopic一起探索人性真相的误区。-psytopic.com
人性是每个人都热衷的一个话题，但是没有人能给人类天性下定义。每当我们坠入爱河，夫妻之间发生争吵，对进入我国的移民感到心烦不满，或者只是上教堂，从某种程度上来说，我们表现着人类独一无二的从人类动物性进化而来的—人性。
这意味着两件事。第一，我们的思想、感觉和行为不但是我们一生所经历的个人体验和环境产生的，而且是数百万年前我们的祖先所经历体验的。其次，我们的思想、感觉和行为在很大范围上，为所有男性和女性共享，尽管存在很大的文化差异。
人类行为既是我们先天的人性的产物也是我们个人的经验和体验的环境的产物。但是，本文中强调的是对人类行为的生物性影响，因为大多数社会科学家认为人类行为的发展似乎停止在颈部，似乎我们的行为更像是完全的环境和社会产物。比较而言，不断进步的心理学者看到了人性的心理适应性选择，这种选择过程以特定的方式，通过让我们倾向于考虑感觉，而经常在有意识情况下不断思考解决生存和繁衍的问题。我们偏爱糖果和肥肉就是一种发展的心理机制。我们并非一直选择喜欢糖果和肥肉，只是他们味道可口。
本文一些观点的含义相对于我们的理想，可能看起来很不道德，或者还很讨厌。但是我们把他们公布出来时因为他们是事实，有科学依据。不管喜不喜欢人性，这些都只是简单的政治性错误。
本文由Alan S. Miller Ph.D., Satoshi Kanazawa Ph.D改编自《为什么美人有更多的女儿》，由Psytopic成员Lisa翻译。（Alan S. Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa著，Perigee于2007年9月出版。）
1.男性喜欢丰乳肥臀（也是女性的目标）
早在电视出现以前——15、16世纪的意大利，也可能是两千年以前——女性都染着一头金发。最近一项研究表明（仅在西方媒体文化中曝光），事实上伊朗女性比美国女性更加在乎她们的外在形象，也希望减肥。这很难将15世纪的意大利和21世纪的伊朗人的偏好和渴求归结于媒体导向的社会化进程。
女性希望长得像芭比娃娃—年轻，小蛮腰，丰满的胸部，一头长长的金发还有蓝色的眼睛——这是意识导向，也是对男性希望和长得像芭比的女性结婚的明智回应。在这些特征背后包含着进化逻辑。
男性特别喜欢年轻的女性，因为他们喜欢健康的而不是衰老的女性。而健康的正确导向便是身体的魅力；另外还有头发。健康的女性有一头光泽亮丽的头发，而病人的没有光泽。因为头发生长缓慢，倚肩长发可以揭露一个女性近几年的健康状况。
男性也普遍偏爱低“腰臀比例”的女性。他们更喜欢女性健康丰满；因为她们有大量的内在的生殖荷尔蒙，更容易在年龄更小时怀上孩子。所以当男性看到细腰的女性时，已在不自觉中融入了更健康丰满的原因。
直到最近，对进化心理学来说，男性为什么喜欢大胸女性，还是个让人感到神秘的话题，因为女性的胸大和乳汁分泌能力并没有关系。但是哈佛的人类学家Frank Marlowe认为，相比小胸部，更大的胸部更重，胸部更显下垂，也更显老。所以对男性而言，男性可以更容易用眼睛判断一个女性的年龄（和她的生殖能力）（PSYTOPIC注：胸部大并且年纪小的女性，则更具生育能力）——这似乎暗示了男性觉得大胸女性更有吸引力的原因。
在对异性进行选择的时候，男性会更喜欢细腰的女性，这和他们喜欢大胸的女性可能是出于相同的原因。一项对波兰女性进行的最新研究表明，大胸细腰女性生殖能力最强，具体表现为：她们拥有两倍于普通女性的生殖荷尔蒙水平（雌二醇和黄体酮）。
金发很特别，因为金发会跟随年龄神奇地变化。典型的例子，就是年轻的女孩有一头亮丽的金发，当她渐渐变老时头发就变成棕色。所以，喜欢金发女郎的男性，其实也在不自觉中寻找更年轻的女性当配偶（而且，一般而言，越健康，生殖能力越强）。不相符的是，斯堪的纳维亚和北欧的金发，可能是女性为其年轻而作的广告的选择，因为她们的身体只能隐藏在厚厚的衣服里。
蓝眼睛女性其实和绿眼睛或者棕色眼睛的女性没什么不同。尽管大家对蓝眼睛的偏好很普遍，不管是男性还是女性。一种说法认为当一个人在他喜欢的事物面前瞳孔会放大。例如，当看到小孩时，女性和婴儿（男性不是）的瞳孔会自然的放大。瞳孔放大是对兴趣和爱好事物的最诚实的指示。而蓝色眼睛的瞳孔尺寸很容易观察到。蓝眼睛的人被认为最具吸引力的潜在配偶，因为我们很容易知道他们是不是对我们感兴趣。
最具讽刺意味的是，上面可用说没有一点是绝对真实的，持久的。通过整形、戴假发、抽脂、丰胸、染发、彩色隐形眼镜等，不考虑年龄，任何女性都可以具有以上定义理想美女的特质。且男性为之倾倒。男性肯定知道那些结实的、大胸女性并不是15岁，但是他们仍旧为她们着迷，因为他们产生了心理机制，并被那些祖先存在的环境中而没有的现代发明愚弄了。
2.人类天生就是一夫多妻/一妻多夫
除西方文明史外，人类天生都是一夫多妻制。一妻多夫（一个女性与多个男性结婚）很少见，但是一夫多妻（一个男性和多个女性结婚）在人类社会中很常见，即使是一夫一妻制的犹太——基督传统也只是婚姻唯一的自然形式。我们知道人类历史上大都实行一夫多妻制是因为男性比女性高大。
在灵长类和非灵长类动物中，一夫多妻的程度是由其物种内雄性与雌性的差别程度决定的。该物种的一夫多妻程度越大，两性体型之间的差别就越大。通常，男性比女性高10%重20%；这人类历史上存在少量一夫多妻制的原因。
相对于一夫一妻，一夫多妻创造了更大的男性适应性差异（在生殖游戏中，“胜利者”和“失败者”的差距），而不是女性适应性差异。男性之间的男性适应性差异给男性在求偶中造成更大的压力。只有更高更大的男性能赢得求偶机会。在成对的物种类，如人类，男女共同抚养孩子，女性更倾向于和高大的男性结婚，因为他们能提供更好的物质保护以对抗掠夺者和其他男性。
在贫富差距十分大的社会里，女性（及她们的小孩）能共享少数有钱男性；半个、四分之一个、甚至十分之一个有钱男性也比整个没钱男性好。正如George Bernard Shaw所言，“母性本能引导女性倾向于拥有十分之一个头等男性而不是整个的三等男性。”尽管实事上人类天性是一夫多妻制，大多数工业社会都是一夫一妻制，因为相对于中世纪的祖先而言，现代男性差不多平等地占有资源。（从狩猎到农耕社会，社会越发展，不平等也随之增长。而工业化则倾向于减少这种不平等。）
3. 大多数女性从一夫多妻中获益，而大多数男性从一夫一妻制中获益
当男性间的资源不平等——这种情况存在于每一个人类社会——大多数女性从一夫多妻制中获益：女性们可以共享一个富有的男性。而在一夫一妻制中，她们有时不得不和穷小子结婚。
唯一的例外是那些人见人爱的女性。在一夫一妻制中，她们可以独占最富有的男性；而在一夫多妻制中，她们不得不和其他一般的女性共享同一位男性。但是，对于男性却完全相反。一夫一妻制保证了每个男性都可以找到老婆。事实上，一般的男性只能和一般的女性结婚，但是总比没有老婆要强的多。
在一夫一妻制的社会中，男性想像着在一夫多妻制社会中会过得更好。他们没有意识到的是，对于绝大多数一般般的男性而言，一夫多妻制意味着没有老婆，或者，幸运点的人，可能娶到一个远远不如其在一夫一妻制社会中能娶到的老婆。
(未完待续)
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Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
By:Alan S. Miller Ph.D., Satoshi Kanazawa Ph.D.
Human nature is one of those things that everybody talks about but no one can define precisely. Every time we fall in love, fight with our spouse, get upset about the influx of immigrants into our country, or go to church, we are, in part, behaving as a human animal with our own unique evolved nature—human nature.
This means two things. First, our thoughts, feelings, and behavior are produced not only by our individual experiences and environment in our own lifetime but also by what happened to our ancestors millions of years ago. Second, our thoughts, feelings, and behavior are shared, to a large extent, by all men or women, despite seemingly large cultural differences.
Human behavior is a product both of our innate human nature and of our individual experience and environment. In this article, however, we emphasize biological influences on human behavior, because most social scientists explain human behavior as if evolution stops at the neck and as if our behavior is a product almost entirely of environment and socialization. In contrast, evolutionary psychologists see human nature as a collection of psychological adaptations that often operate beneath conscious thinking to solve problems of survival and reproduction by predisposing us to think or feel in certain ways. Our preference for sweets and fats is an evolved psychological mechanism. We do not consciously choose to like sweets and fats; they just taste good to us.
The implications of some of the ideas in this article may seem immoral, contrary to our ideals, or offensive. We state them because they are true, supported by documented scientific evidence. Like it or not, human nature is simply not politically correct.
Adapted from Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters, by Alan S. Miller and Satoshi Kanazawa, to be published by Perigee in September 2007.
1. Men like blond bombshells (and women want to look like them)
Long before TV—in 15th- and 16th- century Italy, and possibly two millennia ago—women were dying their hair blond. A recent study shows that in Iran, where exposure to Western media and culture is limited, women are actually more concerned with their body image, and want to lose more weight, than their American counterparts. It is difficult to ascribe the preferences and desires of women in 15th-century Italy and 21st-century Iran to socialization by media.
Women’s desire to look like Barbie—young with small waist, large breasts, long blond hair, and blue eyes—is a direct, realistic, and sensible response to the desire of men to mate with women who look like her. There is evolutionary logic behind each of these features.
Men prefer young women in part because they tend to be healthier than older women. One accurate indicator of health is physical attractiveness; another is hair. Healthy women have lustrous, shiny hair, whereas the hair of sickly people loses its luster. Because hair grows slowly, shoulder-length hair reveals several years of a woman’s health status.
Men also have a universal preference for women with a low waist-to-hip ratio. They are healthier and more fertile than other women; they have an easier time conceiving a child and do so at earlier ages because they have larger amounts of essential reproductive hormones. Thus men are unconsciously seeking healthier and more fertile women when they seek women with small waists.
Until very recently, it was a mystery to evolutionary psychology why men prefer women with large breasts, since the size of a woman’s breasts has no relationship to her ability to lactate. But Harvard anthropologist Frank Marlowe contends that larger, and hence heavier, breasts sag more conspicuously with age than do smaller breasts. Thus they make it easier for men to judge a woman’s age (and her reproductive value) by sight—suggesting why men find women with large breasts more attractive.
Alternatively, men may prefer women with large breasts for the same reason they prefer women with small waists. A new study of Polish women shows that women with large breasts and tight waists have the greatest fecundity, indicated by their levels of two reproductive hormones (estradiol and progesterone).
Blond hair is unique in that it changes dramatically with age. Typically, young girls with light blond hair become women with brown hair. Thus, men who prefer to mate with blond women are unconsciously attempting to mate with younger (and hence, on average, healthier and more fecund) women. It is no coincidence that blond hair evolved in Scandinavia and northern Europe, probably as an alternative means for women to advertise their youth, as their bodies were concealed under heavy clothing.
Women with blue eyes should not be any different from those with green or brown eyes. Yet preference for blue eyes seems both universal and undeniable—in males as well as females. One explanation is that the human pupil dilates when an individual is exposed to something that she likes. For instance, the pupils of women and infants (but not men) spontaneously dilate when they see babies. Pupil dilation is an honest indicator of interest and attraction. And the size of the pupil is easiest to determine in blue eyes. Blue-eyed people are considered attractive as potential mates because it is easiest to determine whether they are interested in us or not.
The irony is that none of the above is true any longer. Through face-lifts, wigs, liposuction, surgical breast augmentation, hair dye, and color contact lenses, any woman, regardless of age, can have many of the key features that define ideal female beauty. And men fall for them. Men can cognitively understand that many blond women with firm, large breasts are not actually 15 years old, but they still find them attractive because their evolved psychological mechanisms are fooled by modern inventions that did not exist in the ancestral environment.
2. Humans are naturally polygamous
The history of western civilization aside, humans are naturally polygamous. Polyandry (a marriage of one woman to many men) is very rare, but polygyny (the marriage of one man to many women) is widely practiced in human societies, even though Judeo-Christian traditions hold that monogamy is the only natural form of marriage. We know that humans have been polygynous throughout most of history because men are taller than women.
Among primate and nonprimate species, the degree of polygyny highly correlates with the degree to which males of a species are larger than females. The more polygynous the species, the greater the size disparity between the sexes. Typically, human males are 10 percent taller and 20 percent heavier than females. This suggests that, throughout history, humans have been mildly polygynous.
Relative to monogamy, polygyny creates greater fitness variance (the distance between the “winners” and the “losers” in the reproductive game) among males than among females because it allows a few males to monopolize all the females in the group. The greater fitness variance among males creates greater pressure for men to compete with each other for mates. Only big and tall males can win mating opportunities. Among pair-bonding species like humans, in which males and females stay together to raise their children, females also prefer to mate with big and tall males because they can provide better physical protection against predators and other males.
In societies where rich men are much richer than poor men, women (and their children) are better off sharing the few wealthy men; one-half, one-quarter, or even one-tenth of a wealthy man is still better than an entire poor man. As George Bernard Shaw puts it, “The maternal instinct leads a woman to prefer a tenth share in a first-rate man to the exclusive possession of a third-rate one.” Despite the fact that humans are naturally polygynous, most industrial societies are monogamous because men tend to be more or less equal in their resources compared with their ancestors in medieval times. (Inequality tends to increase as society advances in complexity from hunter-gatherer to advanced agrarian societies. Industrialization tends to decrease the level of inequality.)
3. Most women benefit from polygyny, while most men benefit from monogamy
When there is resource inequality among men—the case in every human society—most women benefit from polygyny: women can share a wealthy man. Under monogamy, they are stuck with marrying a poorer man.
The only exceptions are extremely desirable women. Under monogamy, they can monopolize the wealthiest men; under polygyny, they must share the men with other, less desirable women. However, the situation is exactly opposite for men. Monogamy guarantees that every man can find a wife. True, less desirable men can marry only less desirable women, but that’s much better than not marrying anyone at all.
Men in monogamous societies imagine they would be better off under polygyny. What they don’t realize is that, for most men who are not extremely desirable, polygyny means no wife at all, or, if they are lucky, a wife who is much less desirable than one they could get under monogamy.
Copyright belongs to Psychology Today.
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