Deep-seated cultural cues play a role in snagging a romantic partner at a party.
THE MATING GAME: HOLIDAY PARTY SPECIAL
By Regina Nuzzo
Special to the Times
Los Angeles Times – Health Section
December 8, 2008
Wondering what to wear at the holiday party to lure a new love for ‘09? That expensive, sequiny dress? A handsome new holly-green vest and some knock-’em-dead after-shave? Too bad fashion writers don’t read science journals. Instead of just lecturing on clothing, perfume and makeup, they could draw on research from human mating for their tips on boosting one’s attractiveness at holiday parties — ones that don’t involve buying a thing.
Details such as the color of the walls, who you stand next to, whether the crab cakes at the buffet run out early — strange to say — may change how others perceive us in small (yet potentially useful) ways. “People are differentially attractive under different circumstances,” says David M. Buss, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin and author of “The Evolution of Desire.”
