Cause and Etect 553. Discussion Questions 1. Based on the tex, dentify what you observe to be the main reasons the ar- Sle denies for this common response to scientific claims, Are there others ‘hat you thin the reader overlooks? “ 2 Inaddition 1o identifying the reasons people rejetwxienific couchusions, the ¢ ‘writer prosides the experiments that supports this conclusion, Wh docs the writer use this evidence and does ichelp hinder him in making is pin ‘3. Tiss fairly sophisticated issue that draws on experimental data but uses 2 more informal se, Identify some of the specific srateges the writer uses to ‘create a more informal sve. What fect des thi se have onthe avalbiity and credibility ofthe essay? 4 Atthe end of the essay the writer discuss political differences in processing such information. Why does the writer adress this sue? Does he take sides or seem more neutral? Does ths help or hinder the effctveness ofthe writing? Toward Key Insights What docs this suggest to yo TWAter about the difficulties of geuing your pos! tion across and what strategies might be necessary to do so? In what ways do ou te these proces shaping your ovn response to new informa tion new idea Suggestions for Writing 1. This essiy discusses the cause for not believing science. Write & paper exp Jing the effects that some af these auses may have on our daly ives or on our politieal ecnssions 2, What are some reasons science might not communicate effectively oly per sons. Examine some ofthe causes that may make people les ike o follow or believe science based on how scence is studied ad reported BeLinpa LuscomBe AND KATE STINCHFIELD Why We Flirt feta et gto on wl pt eaten eo Baas se Sie ee ee Te eects yaaa cee ea fe ea ceoea epee ee Sent a Pe napa panei nay as es car ee parr rele teeter asta ‘Ths etic was published in Time in January 208 eee Th smile! That glance! That rapt attention! We flirt even when we don’t need to, And that can be good.554 Reader Contrary to widespread belief, only wo very specific types of people g, those who are single and those who are married. Single people flirt becg ‘well, they're single and therefore nobody is really contractually obliged t. to them, sleep with them or scratch that difficult-o-reach part ofthe back. ‘married people, they’ a tougher puzzle, They've found themselves asi maybe even superior—mate, had a bit of productive fun with the old game and ensured that at least some of their genes are carried into the next gene toa, They've done their duty evolsionary speaking. Their genome Sif ie, Yay th fdas. pers with the game? ; ‘Anu before fortda, whether gle or married, that you never Nit, beag {in mind that is not ust talk we're dealing with here. It's gestres, stance, oe movement. Notice how you lean forward to the person you're talking to ae} tip up your heels? Notice the quick litle eyebrow raise you make, the tidelong glance coupled with the weak smile you give, the slighty sustained gaze you af fer? If you're a woman, do you feel your head tilting to the side a bt, exposing cither your soft, sensuous neck of, looking at it anather way, your jugular? you're a guy, are you keeping your body in an. open, come-onattack me Position, arms positioned to draw-theseyeto jour impressive lower abdomen? ‘Scientists call ll these litle aet"eoniactreadiness" cues, becaise thy indi. ‘ate, nonverbalfthat you're prepared for physical engagement. (More genera ‘body language is knonm a ‘Nonverbal leakage= Deep in their sous allen. tists are posts Flere cic) ate Epa teats Lnown in humarctholog, circles asthe “heterosexual relationship initiation process” and clsewhere, often fon the sesame college'tampusés; as Scomilig on 0 soricone.” In primal tem, they're physical signals chat you don't intend to dominate, nor do you intend to flee—both useful mess cal Mates need 10 send before they can proceed tothat awkward talking pl i'r the opening line, so to speak, for the open- ing line. E “One of the reasons we ign his way is dat we ca help Wet pro grammed to do it, whether by biology or culture. The biology part has been Investigated by any number of researchers, Ethologist Irenaus Esbl Eibesfeld, then of the Max Planck Institutein- German filmed Aftican tibesifthe 1960s and found thatthe women there did the exact same prolonged stare followed by a head tilt away with alittle smile that he saw in America. (The technical name for the head movements a cant” Except in this case it's more like “can.") Evolutionary biologists would suggest that those individuals who executed firing maneuvers most adeptly were more successful in swiftly finding a mate and reproducing and that the behavior therefore became widespread in all hu- ‘mans. “A lot of people feel flirting is part of the universal language of how we communicate, especially nonverball,” sas Jefiry Simpson, director of the socal psychology p el ‘Minnesota, Simpson is FE cee orraccom estan during different times of a woman's ovul cleaHis research suggests that women who are ovulating are more af ir men. “The guys they find appealing tend to have characteristics that are attractive in the short term, whic Include some flirtatious be this way, bu it follows of procreating and passing on those have more babies, and so on. Of course, none of this is a conscious choice, just as flirting is not always intentional. “With a lot of it, especially the nonverbal stuff, people may not be fully aware that they're doing i,” says Simpson. "YouCause and Elect S55 {don't see what you look like, People may emit flirtatious eues and not be fully tsrare of how powerful they ate liting with Intent Well some people anyway. But then there are the rest of you. You know who you ate. You're the gentleman who delivered my groceries the other day and sid ‘weliad a problem because Thad 1 be 21 to receive alcohol. You're me when [old that same man that liked a guy who knew his way around a doll (Lame, ! know. [was eatight off guard.) You're che fifty something guy behind me on the plane before Christmas ling his forty something seatmate how sensual her eyes were— actully, hope you're not, because io, you're really skeen. My pointis, once you ‘move into the verbal phase of firtaGon, is prety much all intentional And there are some schools of thought that teach there's nothing wrong vith that. Eliration isa game we play, a dance for which everyone knows the roves. “People can flit outrageously without intending anything,” say inde- pendent sex researcher Timothy Perper, who bas been researching Mrting for So year. “Hiring captures the interest ofthe ather person and sys "Would you. like t play? And one of the most exhilarating things about the game is thatthe normal rules of socal interaction are rubberized, Charity isnot the point. "Flit- ‘ng opene a window of potential. Not yes, not no,” says Perper. "So we engage ‘ourselves inthis complex game of maybe.” The game is nat new. The fist pub- lished guide for how to fir was written about 2,000 years ago, Perper points out, bbya bloke named Ovid. As dating books go, The Av of Loveleaves more recent = publications like The Layguide: Haw to Seduce Women More Beau Than You Ever Drvaned Passibe Na Mater What You Look Like or Hox Much ou Mae in its dust And yes, that's real book Once we've learned the game of maybe, ie becomes second nature tus. Long after we need to pla it, we're stl in there swinging (o to speak) because we're better att than at other games. Flirting sometimes becomes a social fall” back position. “We all learn rules for how to behave in certain situations, and this makes iteasier for people to know how to act, even when nervous,” says Antonia Abbey 3 psychology professor at Wayne State University. Just 25 we learn a kind of script for how to behave in a restaurant of ata business meeting, she = Suggests, we learn a script for talking to the opposite sex. "We often enact these Scripts without even thinking,” she say. “For some women and men, the script ‘may be so well learned that fling sa comfortable strategy for interacting with thers.” In ather words, when in doubs, we flit 1] "The thing that propels many already committed people to ply the art of wwo9, however is often not doubs. I's curiosity. Flirting “isa way of testing one’s tmate-ralue and the posibility of alternativesactually trying to see i someone tight be anilable at an alternative,” says Arthur Aron, profesor of psychology atthe State University of New York at Stony Brook. To evolutionary biologist, the advantages of this are clear- mates de, offspring die, Flirting isa lite lke taking ut mating insurance. 12" Trworst comes to worst and you don’t sll have it (and yes, I'm sure you do), the very aet of flirting with somone else may bring about renewed attention from your mate, which has advantages all ts aw. So ea win-vin, 15 "Rrting is also emotional capital to be expended in return for something. eke, Not usualy for money, but for the intangibles—a better able, ajuicier cut of ‘meat, the ability to return an unwanted purchase without too many questions. lesa | 556 Reader 4 handy social lubricant, reducing the friction of everyday transactions, and cone, to a strategically imed tip than a romantic overture. Have you ever meta mate Insrdressr who wasn'ta fir? Women goto him to look better. So the beter they feel when they walk out of his salon, the happier they be to go back for a frequery blowout Flirting’ almost mandatory. And if the hairdresser is gay. 0 much the be. ter, since the attention is much les likely o be taken as an untoward advance eet Ws Dangerous Out There Me Becouaide te hardrewer' cht ing ae not emple it le wo wth the wrong pemon and you ran kerk of everyting fom sap i a eral oe come) ae Ame or pa Peters steer sway tal sebig vce ag Vert sa FABhey us rset be ecu on the ark sic OF Rng when ies flour nto Harusment salting ot acuninance rape warn hat fring Pie ueacherna Moat fhe tne freon dow won one pater docs Be ays tue ap bet eae pete fc ioa vt he eang a spgeks and oe gneret because rt what hey ato eae” Bethe mont facnsing rung aborts te dg word Heres hat hall wor nd'ne body ginger beet onllbe ora met porch ruance i slmostimpouible, And tines text and ema ing canbe ‘ae vthoutheng to loo people inte of, an oes done Wither su impeded iy momen ef icfecon on whether he emg Biaagied brit wee oend tall “irc texing ope evoe Gods fascinating thnough vot much eacarch out hee fet”) Abbey Bat tie thing ote: "Feaple ave often more wing to clos iar de HGS Tn he proven nay cone more qlee” Mua rainy the en on sica ke ahod's Married and Fiing ema : group at val sob Marscdbuilaying.com and Maredtandiringeort Fi er thtisacnac appear o bea cuphemimn fr aking dry. A Universo _Flssiga sd off parcpuns na chat oom pulse in Pha Tidy SASS found at wit neni al hove surveyed fel they weve inital spl firing cia compence not eal pero, met third fem venta ad ttaetiaipce ering wih tomecre they chatted with, And all ba two fe SSeS GiaAS ewe on ohare an afae Whether the people wo evenly Chehed wea ioe de i hc intcnion of lng oor got drawn in ye seen fica unceae Whichever the oes sure soem Le aprile place, ferpcopleke the gy bend me onthe preChrsinas igh fo hang ou a7 Re people he finale at leastare not looking fran af. Bt one of tnngs that sc mare rng apart from singe rng at green depres of danger and onan oi The wakes sre bight Be ta greater fen the Uecliiod of anything happening sm Bi {Be coda i faa cncs much header. ris toa commonly the exe th Sui therapies, hat people who cheat are not so much diated wih ar tae Et it thematic td the way tele have tured os: The Pie ac eek more alfrning and rrlising than having someon lin, Teach ou Ue olon, then, that there’ ie that fel le afang a (Sing chee} om) Fg ot decal afta ay of feclng more ave, mo Wal yorederable woe acy endangering the bappnes of anyone) Inee_ortheblane of your hankaccount Sogo shead ani, you cn > pony You might cron yi wih your poneCause and Etlect 557 A Field Guide to Flirting Humans observed ina natural mating habitat—here, the Cack and Bull Pub in Los Angeles and Helm’ Bakery in neighboring Culver Cay—exhibit nearly all the major firing behaviors, whether or not they're Hiring at al. 1, Open Body Position This come-andgetme stance suggests the man is neither about to flee nor ght 2 Raised Eyebrows Upon firs seeing a potential mate, both men and women ‘often briefly rave thelr eyebrows, {4 Head Cant Women frequent tl their head to one side, exposing their neck, and sometimes Bick their hai atthe same time 4. Sastained Eye Contact Men and women both hold the gaze af someone theye interested i for longer than feels quite comfortable. 5. Leaning Forward Both genders tend to lean in toward people theyre attracted i unconsciously point ro them too, even if they're across the 6. Leading Questions A man will often ask a woman questions that allow her to show off her most attractive Features 2, Sideways Glances Often followed by a glance away or down and ashy smile, these coy Tooks are a clas iting behavior for both sexes Discussion Questions 1 Wine itn ei we ring tv oe er erie cents neni otr acces Batre regan ess roc cos ner ry apr og kcal arene aes Be tpn meme ent Seicesiy fe ernst Sterna Waa lr —| cre ceabty ct enn Beas ar essere Senet eect ew ots amc ng bi: Dow i ar aren Toward Key Insights This esa assumes that there are key biological and socal explanations fr simple ‘human behaviors. Does this model seem to get that all human behaviors can be explained? Is that good or bad? [anal ‘What Lins af elects might reading such an explanation of behasior have on readers? Suggestion for Writing Take a cmmen behavior such as “oma ik” antsy ely” and ihr tho ath ut starch ite a ehavior and offer an explanation or th behacin.