1 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:09,320 Speaker 1: Why do briefly glimpsed people appear to be more attractive? 2 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:14,080 Speaker 1: Why did portrait photographers used to put vaciline on their 3 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: lenses and what does that have to do with Instagram filters? 4 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:22,360 Speaker 1: Why are thirsty people more likely to perceive something as transparent? 5 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:24,680 Speaker 1: And what does any of this have to do with 6 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: mating or optimal decision making or puberty or frogs or 7 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:37,200 Speaker 1: instincts or movie stars. Welcome to another episode of Inner 8 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:41,360 Speaker 1: Cosmos with me David Eagleman. I'm a neuroscientist and an 9 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 1: author at Stanford and in these episodes, we sail deeply 10 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: into our three pound universe to understand the relationship between 11 00:00:50,040 --> 00:01:00,560 Speaker 1: our brains and our lives. Throughout this podcast, we're gonna 12 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:04,119 Speaker 1: try to gain a better understanding of ourselves by practicing 13 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:09,560 Speaker 1: the technique of viewing the familiar as strange. We'll look 14 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: at instincts, things that we do naturally, so naturally that 15 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: we never even think to question them. But digging in 16 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: on these things is how we come to develop a 17 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: deeper understanding of ourselves. And today's episode is about the 18 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:31,119 Speaker 1: absolutely fascinating topic about how our brains determine for us 19 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: what we find beautiful. So beauty is found all around us, 20 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:39,399 Speaker 1: in nature and in art and in music, and a 21 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,399 Speaker 1: good life is full of beautiful moments like a sunset 22 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 1: or a compliment or a child's smile. But our interest 23 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: today is in people, and specifically on the notion of attraction, 24 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 1: So the notion of the movie star whose next movie 25 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: you just can't wait to see, mostly because you find 26 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:03,280 Speaker 1: that person just so magnetically good looking, or the work 27 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: made or the neighbor or the person you knew from 28 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 1: your childhood who's just so amazingly attractive. So what is 29 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: going on in the brain here, What are the signals 30 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:16,799 Speaker 1: that tell you that person is attractive? And what does 31 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:19,960 Speaker 1: all that have to do with the propagation of the species. 32 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: So let's get started. There are hundreds of ways that 33 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:28,480 Speaker 1: a person can be attractive to you, based on their 34 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:32,239 Speaker 1: with or their brawn, or their kindness or their dedication 35 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:34,920 Speaker 1: to a cause or whatever. But what we're going to 36 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:39,080 Speaker 1: zoom in on today is about the first glimpse of someone, 37 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:46,680 Speaker 1: the rapid assessment that takes your breath away, and that 38 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 1: magic moment is actually the end result of a great 39 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:55,639 Speaker 1: deal of computation that your brain is doing under the hood. Now, 40 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:59,639 Speaker 1: to start off, there's plenty of variation in what any 41 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: given person finds beautiful, and there's some amount of variation 42 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: across cultures too, in terms of how people dress and 43 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: how they act, and their bone structure and their facial 44 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 1: structure and all that. But what's interesting is that attractiveness 45 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:17,639 Speaker 1: is not all in the eye of the beholder, and 46 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: beyond the personal and the cultural variations, some of the 47 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: most salient elements of attractiveness are hardwired. When researchers study attractiveness, 48 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 1: even cross culturally, they find a surprising concurrence in what 49 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:39,360 Speaker 1: gets rated highly. There are particular things that draw us, 50 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: and mostly this has to do with largely unconscious signals 51 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 1: of health and fertility. And in a sense, you already 52 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: know this. Just look at the massive popularity of Instagram 53 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 1: and TikTok filters, which are used around the world. These 54 00:03:55,640 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: beautification filters aren't random. Instead, they move things in a 55 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: particular direction such that the photos look better to us, 56 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:07,560 Speaker 1: and they work so much so that many young people 57 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: are totally unwilling to post photos without these filters in place. 58 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:17,359 Speaker 1: So why what are these about? Let's look at this 59 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:20,279 Speaker 1: from the point of view of biology. When you open 60 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: a biology textbook or watch a David Attenborough special, you 61 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: see bower birds or lions, or frogs, or butterflies or fish, 62 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:35,200 Speaker 1: and you see these elaborate mating rituals. And of course, 63 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: being members of the animal kingdom, we can't pretend that 64 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:42,159 Speaker 1: we don't have neural circuitry devoted to the same thing 65 00:04:42,279 --> 00:04:45,479 Speaker 1: as well, because one of the most important drives for 66 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:50,719 Speaker 1: all creatures, including humans, is mate selection. How an animal 67 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:53,760 Speaker 1: chooses who to reproduce with. And we see this all 68 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 1: across the animal kingdom, with feathers, with colors, with pheromones, 69 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:01,720 Speaker 1: with behavioral displays, all all creatures are trying to do 70 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:05,560 Speaker 1: things to make themselves more attractive to mate with. Now 71 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:08,920 Speaker 1: the question is how does this play out in humans. 72 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:13,320 Speaker 1: Needless to say, the reason you exist is because every 73 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 1: single one of your ancestors successfully mate it. That's the 74 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: single reason that you are here. Our species is so 75 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: successful at reproduction that we've taken over the entire planet 76 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:30,239 Speaker 1: and the whole history of our species. Reproduction is driven 77 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:34,599 Speaker 1: by attraction, judgments and issues of mate choice. Now, the 78 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 1: very first thing that blows my mind is how these 79 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:42,840 Speaker 1: algorithms for finding something attractive get programmed into the genes, 80 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:47,640 Speaker 1: which unfold the wiring of the brain and allow us 81 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:51,479 Speaker 1: to grow up and have this attraction and sexual drive. 82 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:56,279 Speaker 1: Because the weird thing is we inherit this psychological drive 83 00:05:56,360 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: for sexual interaction, but it doesn't kick in for years. 84 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:05,800 Speaker 1: Is like thirteen years. So somehow the psychological machine code 85 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: is pre programmed genetically, but it gets archived for years 86 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: and years. So let's think about that. Everything that we 87 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:18,800 Speaker 1: study in biology happens on the scale of milliseconds. You've 88 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:21,839 Speaker 1: heard me talk about electrical spikes and neurons these last 89 00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 1: one millisecond, and gene expression and chemical reactions and cells 90 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:29,159 Speaker 1: and the CREB cycle and so on. All these things 91 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: are trucking along at the nanosecond time scale. So the 92 00:06:33,120 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: idea of programming something out of this material that takes 93 00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:41,839 Speaker 1: thirteen years to unpack is mind blowing. Now, how do 94 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:47,160 Speaker 1: we know that sexuality isn't something that's learned? Well, Sometimes 95 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:50,680 Speaker 1: young children get damage to their brains, usually via an 96 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: infection that leads to encephalitis, and then they end up 97 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:57,520 Speaker 1: doing things that look like sexual acts, even though they're 98 00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:00,360 Speaker 1: too young to understand what they're doing. They end up 99 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 1: expressing these programs too early. And that's how we know 100 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:08,440 Speaker 1: that these programs are in there, just waiting to be unpacked. 101 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 1: So for everyone else, for whom this program unpacks at 102 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: the right time. Once we've hit puberty, suddenly kids find 103 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 1: themselves paying attention to body parts that they never paid 104 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 1: much attention to before. If you draw a curvy line 105 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:27,040 Speaker 1: and show it to a seven year old boy and 106 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,920 Speaker 1: ask him to describe what he sees, he'll describe it 107 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:34,480 Speaker 1: as mountains or an ocean wave or something. But show 108 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:38,520 Speaker 1: him this exact same curved line when he's thirteen, and 109 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 1: he can't help but interpret the line as breasts and 110 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 1: buttocks and so on. Nothing changed in the outside world, 111 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:48,840 Speaker 1: but his brain changed on the inside such that the 112 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:53,680 Speaker 1: interpretation of the world changes. So we are hardwired. We're 113 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 1: preprogrammed to, at the right time be attracted to others, 114 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:01,240 Speaker 1: like frogs to smell or by, or flies to colors, 115 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: or bower birds to a good nest and so on, 116 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: And suddenly it sucks up a lot of our mental energy. 117 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:09,960 Speaker 1: And I'm stating the obvious here. This is because there 118 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:16,120 Speaker 1: are few pressures as important as the evolutionary pressure to mate. Now, 119 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 1: something that's wild about this pre programming is that it 120 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:24,240 Speaker 1: is very species specific. You don't find a horse's lips 121 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: kissable or a monkey's eyes something that you want to 122 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 1: gaze into romantically. But from a biologist's point of view, 123 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 1: they're not that different. They accomplish the same function using 124 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:40,600 Speaker 1: the same machinery running on the same biological program. So 125 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: what's the difference. The difference is that you are pre 126 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:48,800 Speaker 1: programmed to be mesmerized by the equipment of your own species, 127 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 1: and not by the wrong keys to a different lock, 128 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:55,840 Speaker 1: even though they're so similar biologically. Now, note that to 129 00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:59,440 Speaker 1: the frog or the monkey or the turkey vulture, their 130 00:08:59,559 --> 00:09:03,240 Speaker 1: mate is the most magnetic thing in their world. You 131 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:06,320 Speaker 1: could stand all day naked in front of a frog 132 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:08,480 Speaker 1: and it just wouldn't care at all. It would have 133 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: zero interest in you. But if you stick the right 134 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: frog in front of it, that's the most wonderful, magnetic, 135 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:21,080 Speaker 1: dizzying thing in the world, and they'll expend great effort 136 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:26,319 Speaker 1: to get over there. So this notion of attractiveness drives everything, 137 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:31,120 Speaker 1: But you typically don't have conscious access to the details 138 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:34,640 Speaker 1: running under the hood. I mentioned in an earlier episode 139 00:09:34,679 --> 00:09:38,360 Speaker 1: about the unconscious brain. An experiment in which men were 140 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 1: asked to rank the attractiveness of different women's faces and photographs. 141 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:46,040 Speaker 1: So the men flipped through all these photographs and ranked 142 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:50,320 Speaker 1: each one from one to ten. Unbeknownst to the men, 143 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:53,920 Speaker 1: in half the photos the women's eyes were dilated, but 144 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: in the other half they weren't, and the men were 145 00:09:56,840 --> 00:10:00,720 Speaker 1: consistently more attracted to the women with di dilated eyes. 146 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:04,720 Speaker 1: But the men didn't have any insight into their decision making. 147 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:07,960 Speaker 1: None of them said, oh, I noticed that her pupils 148 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:11,120 Speaker 1: were two millimeters larger in this photo than this other one. Instead, 149 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:14,920 Speaker 1: they simply felt more drawn towards some women than others, 150 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:18,680 Speaker 1: for reasons they couldn't put a finger on. In the 151 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:23,680 Speaker 1: largely inaccessible workings of their brains, something new that a 152 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:29,320 Speaker 1: woman's dilated eyes correlates with sexual excitement. Their brains knew this, 153 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:33,840 Speaker 1: but the men did not, not explicitly. They also presumably 154 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:38,600 Speaker 1: didn't know that their feelings of attraction are deeply hardwired, 155 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:42,880 Speaker 1: steered in the right direction by programs carved over millions 156 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 1: of years of natural selection. So when the men were 157 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:49,120 Speaker 1: picking up their pencil and making their choices, they didn't 158 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:53,280 Speaker 1: know that the choice was not theirs. Really, but instead 159 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:57,760 Speaker 1: the choice of successful programs that had been burned deep 160 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:01,440 Speaker 1: into the brain's circuitry over the course of hundreds of 161 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:23,240 Speaker 1: thousands of generations. The great psychologist William James was one 162 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:26,360 Speaker 1: of the first to really point to the hidden nature 163 00:11:26,520 --> 00:11:31,199 Speaker 1: of instincts, and he suggested that we coax instincts into 164 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:34,560 Speaker 1: the light by a simple mental exercise. Try to make 165 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:40,160 Speaker 1: the natural theme strange by asking the why of any 166 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:43,080 Speaker 1: instinctive human act. So I'm going to read you an 167 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:46,560 Speaker 1: incredible passage that he wrote in eighteen ninety, and it 168 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:50,760 Speaker 1: goes like this quote, Why do we smile when pleased 169 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:54,280 Speaker 1: and not scowl? Why are we unable to talk to 170 00:11:54,400 --> 00:11:57,240 Speaker 1: a crowd as we talk to a single friend. Why 171 00:11:57,280 --> 00:12:01,040 Speaker 1: does a particular maiden turn our wits so upside down? 172 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:04,560 Speaker 1: The common man can only say, of course we smile. 173 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:07,880 Speaker 1: Of course our heart palpitates at the sight of a crowd. 174 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:12,000 Speaker 1: Of course we love the maiden, that beautiful soul clad 175 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:15,960 Speaker 1: in the perfect form, so palpably and flagrantly made for 176 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:20,760 Speaker 1: all eternity to be loved. And so probably does each 177 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:24,280 Speaker 1: animal feel about the particular things it tends to do 178 00:12:24,679 --> 00:12:28,680 Speaker 1: in the presence of particular objects. To the lion. It 179 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:31,520 Speaker 1: is the lioness which is made to be loved to 180 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:35,720 Speaker 1: the bear, the she bear to the bruty. Hen the 181 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:39,280 Speaker 1: notion would probably seem monstrous that there would be a 182 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:41,760 Speaker 1: creature in the world to whom a nest full of 183 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:46,480 Speaker 1: eggs was not the utterly fascinating and precious, and never 184 00:12:46,559 --> 00:12:49,240 Speaker 1: to be too much sad upon object which it is 185 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 1: to her. Thus we may be sure that, however mysterious 186 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:58,320 Speaker 1: some animal's instincts may appear to us, our instincts will 187 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 1: appear no less mysterious to them end quote. So our 188 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:08,560 Speaker 1: most hardwired instincts have usually been left out of the 189 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:11,600 Speaker 1: spotlight of inquiry because we don't think to ask them, 190 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: and because psychologists have spent a lot of time working 191 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:20,400 Speaker 1: to understand uniquely human acts like higher cognition, or how 192 00:13:20,440 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 1: things go wrong like human mental disorders. But the most automatic, 193 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:29,520 Speaker 1: effortless acts, those that require the most specialized in complex 194 00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:32,560 Speaker 1: neural circuitry, they've been in front of us all along, 195 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:35,959 Speaker 1: and in the case of today's exploration, that's the notion 196 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:39,360 Speaker 1: of sexual attraction. Now, before I get back to that, 197 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:42,680 Speaker 1: I want to make a general neuroscience point. The more 198 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:46,520 Speaker 1: obvious and effortless something seems, the more we need to 199 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:49,720 Speaker 1: suspect that it seems that way only because of the 200 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:54,280 Speaker 1: massive circuitry that's living behind it. Take something like seeing, 201 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:59,280 Speaker 1: the active seeing is so easy and rapid precisely because 202 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:02,960 Speaker 1: we have so much circuitry dedicated to it. About a 203 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:06,600 Speaker 1: third of the brain is devoted to vision. The more 204 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:10,559 Speaker 1: effortless something seems, the more we can be pretty sure 205 00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:13,040 Speaker 1: that there's a lot of cycles being burned under the 206 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 1: hood to make it appear so. And the same principle 207 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:20,600 Speaker 1: applies to our sexual attractions. Our lust circuits are not 208 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:24,680 Speaker 1: driven by the shiny faced frog because we cannot mate 209 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:27,000 Speaker 1: with frogs and they have nothing to do with our 210 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:30,560 Speaker 1: genetic future. On the other hand, we do care quite 211 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:34,480 Speaker 1: a bit about subtle human body language, or the dilation 212 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:37,840 Speaker 1: of eyes or the fleshing of skin, because those things 213 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:43,160 Speaker 1: broadcast important information about something that could impact our genetic future. 214 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 1: We live inside the fish bowl of our instincts, and 215 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:51,000 Speaker 1: we typically have as little perception of them as the 216 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:54,880 Speaker 1: fish does of its water. So our sense of beauty 217 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:59,640 Speaker 1: and attraction is burned deeply and inaccessibly into the brain, 218 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: all with the purpose of accomplishing something biologically useful. So 219 00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 1: think about the most beautiful person you know, just magnetic, 220 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:12,360 Speaker 1: just some shouldn't say kuhah. When that person walks into 221 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 1: the room. The geography of the room changes a bit 222 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:19,720 Speaker 1: as everyone turns to look. Our brains are exquisitely honed 223 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:23,800 Speaker 1: to pick up on those signals. Simply because of small 224 00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:29,440 Speaker 1: details of symmetry and structure, that person enjoys a destiny 225 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:34,000 Speaker 1: of greater popularity and faster promotions and a more successful career. 226 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:37,520 Speaker 1: Our sense of attraction is not something just to be 227 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:41,240 Speaker 1: studied by the pens of poets, but instead, our sense 228 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:45,760 Speaker 1: of beauty results from specific signals that plug into dedicated 229 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:49,320 Speaker 1: neural software the key in the lock. So I'll share 230 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 1: with you some data, and this is all research that 231 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:55,920 Speaker 1: scientists have performed in the laboratory and published peer reviewed 232 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:58,320 Speaker 1: papers on. I will say that there seems to be 233 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:01,680 Speaker 1: more literature on what males attractive. But keep in mind 234 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:04,200 Speaker 1: that even though it's often said that males are more 235 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:07,760 Speaker 1: visually driven, much of this research goes the other way too. 236 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:10,240 Speaker 1: And if you hear this data and you think, well, wait, 237 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: what about our gay friends, keep in mind that the 238 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:17,320 Speaker 1: drive of attraction is deeply built into our psychology, and 239 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:20,760 Speaker 1: sometimes the gender someone is attracted to can switch, but 240 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:24,920 Speaker 1: the fundamental drives in the brain remain the same. This 241 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:28,840 Speaker 1: is because the drive to reproduce is really the most 242 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:32,760 Speaker 1: ancient brain circuitry we have, So even if someone does 243 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: not reproduce personally, they're still equipped with and driven by 244 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:40,400 Speaker 1: the same circuitry which drives them towards sex. So let's 245 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:42,280 Speaker 1: return to what I said at the beginning, which is 246 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:46,360 Speaker 1: that the signals driving us are generally correlated with signals 247 00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:50,560 Speaker 1: of health and fertility. So until puberty, the faces and 248 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 1: body shapes of boys and girls are essentially similar. But 249 00:16:55,040 --> 00:17:00,000 Speaker 1: the rise in estrogen in pubescent girls gives them fuller lifts, 250 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:04,960 Speaker 1: while testosterone and boys produces a more prominent chin and 251 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:09,680 Speaker 1: a larger nose and a fuller jaw. Estrogen causes the 252 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:14,679 Speaker 1: growth of breasts and buttocks, while testosterone encourages the growth 253 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:20,480 Speaker 1: of muscles and broad shoulders. So for a female, full lips, 254 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:25,800 Speaker 1: full buttocks, narrow waste. This broadcasts a clear message I'm 255 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:30,720 Speaker 1: full of estrogen and fertile. For a male, it's the 256 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:34,840 Speaker 1: full jaw, the stubble, the broad chest. This is the 257 00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:38,600 Speaker 1: kind of stuff that we're programmed to find beautiful. The 258 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:43,320 Speaker 1: external signs tell us something about the internal, and our 259 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:47,360 Speaker 1: neural programs are so ingrained that there's not much variation 260 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:53,000 Speaker 1: across the population. Researchers have measured a surprisingly narrow range 261 00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:57,440 Speaker 1: of the female proportions that males find most attractive. The 262 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:01,240 Speaker 1: optimal ratio between the waist and hips is typically between 263 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:05,960 Speaker 1: point sixty seven and point eight. Back when Playboy centerfolds 264 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:09,400 Speaker 1: were a thing, researchers studied those and found that their 265 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:13,680 Speaker 1: waist hip ratios remained at about point seven over time, 266 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:17,000 Speaker 1: even over the decades as the average weight of a 267 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:21,440 Speaker 1: centerfold moved up or down. As women grow older, their 268 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:26,000 Speaker 1: features change in ways that depart from these proportions, their 269 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:30,400 Speaker 1: middles sticking, their lips thin, their breasts sag, and so on, 270 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:33,840 Speaker 1: all of which broadcasts the visual signal that they are 271 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:37,640 Speaker 1: past peak fertility. So a young man ends up being 272 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:41,160 Speaker 1: less attracted to an elderly woman than to a young 273 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:45,760 Speaker 1: adult woman. His neural circuits have a clear mission reproduce, 274 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:50,040 Speaker 1: and his conscious mind receives only the need to know headline, 275 00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:54,280 Speaker 1: she's really attractive, and nothing more. All these computations are 276 00:18:54,359 --> 00:18:59,760 Speaker 1: performed unconsciously. Now, males are often more visually driven than females, 277 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:03,800 Speaker 1: but women are nonetheless subject to the same internal forces. 278 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 1: They are drawn by the attractive features that flag the 279 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:11,840 Speaker 1: maturity of manhood. Now, an interesting twist is that a 280 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:16,520 Speaker 1: woman's preferences can change depending on the time of month. 281 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:21,480 Speaker 1: Women prefer masculine looking men when they're ovulating, but when 282 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:25,600 Speaker 1: they're not ovulating, the data suggests that they prefer softer features, 283 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:30,159 Speaker 1: which presumably flag more social and caring behavior. Although the 284 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:35,360 Speaker 1: programs of seduction and pursuit run almost entirely unconsciously, the 285 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:38,640 Speaker 1: endgame is obvious to everyone, and this is why millions 286 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 1: of people shell out billions of dollars for facelifts and 287 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:47,040 Speaker 1: tummy tucks and implants and light bosuction and botox. They're 288 00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:52,199 Speaker 1: working to tap into that strong correlation in other people's 289 00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:57,600 Speaker 1: brains between their external and internal. They're working to maintain 290 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:23,560 Speaker 1: the keys that unlock the pro programs in other people's brains. So, 291 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:27,240 Speaker 1: as I've said, we have almost no direct access into 292 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:32,800 Speaker 1: the mechanics of our attractions. Instead, visual information plugs into 293 00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:37,240 Speaker 1: ancient neural modules that drive our behavior. Recall that experiment 294 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:39,840 Speaker 1: that I just mentioned when men ranked the beauty of 295 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 1: women's faces. They found the women with dilated eyes more 296 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:47,600 Speaker 1: attractive because dilated eyes signal sexual interest, but the men 297 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:51,119 Speaker 1: had no conscious access to their decision making process. Now 298 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:53,240 Speaker 1: I'll give you another piece of data which is sort 299 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:57,199 Speaker 1: of mind blowing and demonstrates how deeply and unconsciously we 300 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:01,520 Speaker 1: pick up on signals. First, consider this strange fact that 301 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:06,120 Speaker 1: human females are unique among primates and that they participate 302 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:10,760 Speaker 1: in mating year round. They don't broadcast any special signal 303 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:14,119 Speaker 1: to publicize when they are fertile, and this is totally 304 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:18,720 Speaker 1: different from other primates who have these periodic cycles of 305 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:22,840 Speaker 1: being in heat. All other female mammals give off clear 306 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:26,080 Speaker 1: signals when they're in heat. For example, in female babboons, 307 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:29,920 Speaker 1: the rear end turns bright pink, which is an unmistakable 308 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:34,199 Speaker 1: and irresistible invitation for a male baboon. Human females just 309 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:37,359 Speaker 1: don't give off signals like this, or don't they. It 310 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:40,720 Speaker 1: turns out that a woman is considered to be most 311 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:44,840 Speaker 1: beautiful just at the peak of fertility in her menstrual cycle, 312 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:48,560 Speaker 1: about ten days before mensi's. This is true whether she 313 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:51,560 Speaker 1: is judged by men or by women, and it's not 314 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,360 Speaker 1: a matter of how she acts. It's perceived this way, 315 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:57,399 Speaker 1: even if people are just looking at her photograph, so 316 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:02,600 Speaker 1: her good looks broadcast her level of fertility. Her signals 317 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 1: are more subtle than the baboons, but they only need 318 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:10,359 Speaker 1: to be clear enough to tickle the dedicated, unconscious machinery 319 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,560 Speaker 1: of the males in the room. If the signals can 320 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:17,240 Speaker 1: reach those circuits, the mission is accomplished. The signals also 321 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:21,320 Speaker 1: reach the circuitry of other females. Women are quite sensitive 322 00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:25,280 Speaker 1: to the effect of other women's cycles, perhaps because this 323 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:29,360 Speaker 1: lets them assess their competitors when competing for mates. It's 324 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:32,480 Speaker 1: not yet clear what the tip offs for fertility are. 325 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:35,919 Speaker 1: They may include some qualities of the skin, or the 326 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:39,920 Speaker 1: fact that a women's ears and breasts become more symmetrical 327 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:43,960 Speaker 1: in the days leading up to ovulation. Whatever the constellation 328 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:47,760 Speaker 1: of clues are, our brains are engineered to latch on. 329 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:51,119 Speaker 1: Even while the conscious mind has no axis. Your mind 330 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:56,879 Speaker 1: simply senses the almighty and inexplicable tug of desire. The 331 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,880 Speaker 1: effects of ovulation and beauty are not not just assessed 332 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,680 Speaker 1: in the laboratory. They are measurable in real life situations. 333 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:07,280 Speaker 1: Some years ago I'm not making this up. There was 334 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 1: a study by scientists who counted up the tips made 335 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:16,200 Speaker 1: by exotic dancers at the local strip clubs and correlated 336 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:20,119 Speaker 1: this with the menstrual cycles of the dancers. And what 337 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:24,639 Speaker 1: they found is that during peak fertility, dancers raked in 338 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,560 Speaker 1: an average of sixty eight dollars an hour. When they 339 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:31,359 Speaker 1: were menstruating, they earned only about thirty five dollars, and 340 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:35,360 Speaker 1: in between they averaged about fifty two dollars. So although 341 00:23:35,359 --> 00:23:40,240 Speaker 1: these women were presumably acting flirtatiously throughout the month, their 342 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:45,840 Speaker 1: change in fertility was broadcast to hopeful customers by changes 343 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:50,760 Speaker 1: in body odor, skin, wasted, hip ratio, and possibly their 344 00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:55,560 Speaker 1: own confidence as well. Now, interestingly, dancers on birth control 345 00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:59,160 Speaker 1: didn't show any clear peak in performance and earned only 346 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:02,560 Speaker 1: a monthly average of thirty seven dollars per hour versus 347 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:05,760 Speaker 1: an average of fifty three dollars per hour for dancers 348 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:10,479 Speaker 1: not on birth control. Presumably they earned less because the 349 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:16,760 Speaker 1: pill leads to hormonal changes and cues indicative of early pregnancy, 350 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:20,800 Speaker 1: and so the dancers were presumably slightly less magnetic to 351 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:24,520 Speaker 1: the customers in the club. All this research drives home 352 00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:28,920 Speaker 1: the point that the pulls we feel are built deeply 353 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:32,080 Speaker 1: into our neural machinery. We don't have conscious access to 354 00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:36,760 Speaker 1: the programs and can only surface these issues with careful studies. 355 00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:39,880 Speaker 1: And the part that's always amazed me is how subtle 356 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:42,359 Speaker 1: these signals are. The brain is picking up on these 357 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:46,959 Speaker 1: really small signals. So think again about that really attractive 358 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:51,119 Speaker 1: person you know, and imagine that you measured the distance 359 00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:54,320 Speaker 1: between his or her eyes and nose length and lip 360 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:57,760 Speaker 1: thickness and chin shape and so on. If you compare 361 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:01,560 Speaker 1: those measurements to those of a a not so attractive 362 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:04,480 Speaker 1: person you know, you would find that the differences are 363 00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:08,480 Speaker 1: really subtle, like a centimeter here, a centimeter there, But 364 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:12,000 Speaker 1: it makes a big difference in your final judgment. So 365 00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:15,040 Speaker 1: imagine you took these two people, one attractive, one not 366 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:19,320 Speaker 1: so attractive, and showed them to a space alien. That 367 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:22,919 Speaker 1: two humans would look indistinguishable to the alien in the 368 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:26,520 Speaker 1: same way that attractive and unattractive space aliens would be 369 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: difficult for you to tell apart, But the small differences 370 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:32,960 Speaker 1: within your own species, these have a great deal of 371 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,480 Speaker 1: effect in your brain. As an example of tiny differences, 372 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:40,000 Speaker 1: just consider that some people might find the site of 373 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:44,399 Speaker 1: a woman in short shorts intoxicating, and a male in 374 00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:48,280 Speaker 1: short shorts less attractive. Even though the two scenes are 375 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:53,159 Speaker 1: hardly different. From a geometrical perspective, male and female legs 376 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: just don't look that different. Both are built on the 377 00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:59,639 Speaker 1: same architecture. They're both hinged limbs made of femurs and 378 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,919 Speaker 1: knee caps and skin and so on, and the differences 379 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,640 Speaker 1: between them are swamped by the similarities. I mean, if 380 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:10,080 Speaker 1: I showed you a female hawk and a male hawk, 381 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:13,080 Speaker 1: you really couldn't tell the difference between them. But other 382 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:18,120 Speaker 1: hawks are exquisitely sensitive to these differences. With all these animals, 383 00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:20,880 Speaker 1: they're so similar that you really have to train up 384 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:24,080 Speaker 1: to see the differences. And this is the point I 385 00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:28,280 Speaker 1: want to make. We are so exquisitely tuned to the 386 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:31,720 Speaker 1: differences in humans, and we don't even realize it. Our 387 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:36,480 Speaker 1: ability to make subtle distinctions is exquisitely fine grained. Our 388 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:40,600 Speaker 1: brains are engineered to accomplish the clear cut task of 389 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:44,359 Speaker 1: mate selection. In pursuit, all of the computation lives under 390 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:48,240 Speaker 1: the surface of conscious awareness. We get to simply enjoy 391 00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:51,440 Speaker 1: the lovely feelings that bubble up. And I'll give you 392 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:56,040 Speaker 1: another example of this attractive misjudgments are not only constructed 393 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:59,920 Speaker 1: by your visual system, but they're influenced as well by smell. 394 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:05,000 Speaker 1: So odor carries a great deal of information, including information 395 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:11,720 Speaker 1: about a potential mate's age, sex, fertility, identity, emotions, health. 396 00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:17,280 Speaker 1: The information is carried by a flotilla of drifting molecules, 397 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:22,560 Speaker 1: so in many animal species, these compounds drive behavior almost entirely. 398 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:27,600 Speaker 1: In humans, the information often flies beneath the radar of 399 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:31,480 Speaker 1: conscious perception, but they nonetheless influence our behavior a bit. 400 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:35,679 Speaker 1: So imagine we give a female mouse a selection of 401 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:40,800 Speaker 1: males to mate with. Her choice is not random. Instead, 402 00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:45,320 Speaker 1: it's based on the interplay between her genetics and the 403 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:48,680 Speaker 1: genetics of her suitors. But how in the world would 404 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:52,440 Speaker 1: she have access to that kind of hidden information about genetics. 405 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:56,000 Speaker 1: While all mammals have a set of genes known as 406 00:27:56,080 --> 00:28:01,880 Speaker 1: the major histocompatibility complex or MHI, these genes are key 407 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:05,760 Speaker 1: players in our immune systems, So given a choice, the 408 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:11,960 Speaker 1: mouse will choose a mate with dissimilar MHC genes. Because 409 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:14,960 Speaker 1: mixing up the gene pool is almost always a good 410 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:18,960 Speaker 1: idea in biology. It keeps genetic defects to a minimum 411 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:22,520 Speaker 1: and leads to a healthy interplay of genes known as 412 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:28,199 Speaker 1: hybrid vigor, So finding genetically distant partners is useful, But 413 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:31,640 Speaker 1: how do mice who are largely blind pull this off 414 00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:40,640 Speaker 1: with their noses? An oregon inside their noses picks up 415 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:44,360 Speaker 1: on pheromones, which are floating chemicals that carry signals through 416 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:48,360 Speaker 1: the air, signals about things like alarm or food trails, 417 00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:52,920 Speaker 1: or sexual readiness, or in this case, genetic similarity or difference. 418 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:57,240 Speaker 1: Now do human sense and respond to pheromones the way 419 00:28:57,320 --> 00:28:59,720 Speaker 1: mice do? This is an area of debate in the 420 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:03,440 Speaker 1: signe literature, but recent work has found receptors in the 421 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,360 Speaker 1: lining of the human nose just like those used in 422 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:11,680 Speaker 1: pheromonal signaling and mice. It's not clear if our receptors 423 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:16,520 Speaker 1: are functional, but the behavioral research is suggestive. So in 424 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:20,240 Speaker 1: a study at the University of bern researchers measured and 425 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: quantified the MHCs of a group of male and female students. 426 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 1: The males were then given cotton T shirts to wear 427 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:32,600 Speaker 1: so that their daily sweat soaked into the fabric, and 428 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:37,080 Speaker 1: then later back in the laboratory, females plunged their noses 429 00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:40,440 Speaker 1: into the armpits of these T shirts and picked which 430 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:46,080 Speaker 1: body odor they preferred. The result was exactly like the 431 00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:54,720 Speaker 1: mice they preferred the males with more dissimilar MHCs. So 432 00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:59,920 Speaker 1: apparently our noses also influenced our choices, again flying the 433 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:03,880 Speaker 1: reproduction mission under the radar of consciousness. And I'll just 434 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:08,720 Speaker 1: note that beyond reproduction, human pheromones may also carry invisible 435 00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:14,640 Speaker 1: signals in other situations. For example, newborns preferentially move toward 436 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:18,320 Speaker 1: pads that have been rubbed on their mother's breast rather 437 00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:23,240 Speaker 1: than clean pads, presumably based on pheromonal cues, and the 438 00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:27,720 Speaker 1: length of women's menstrual cycles may change after they sniff 439 00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:32,160 Speaker 1: the armpit sweat of another woman. So again, although pheromones 440 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:36,200 Speaker 1: clearly carry signals, the degree to which they influence human 441 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:40,760 Speaker 1: behavior is unknown. Our cognition is so multilayered that these 442 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:45,680 Speaker 1: cues have been reduced to bit players. Whatever other roles 443 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:49,560 Speaker 1: they have, pheromones serve to remind us that the brain 444 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:55,560 Speaker 1: is continuously evolving. These molecules unmask the presence of outdated 445 00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:58,440 Speaker 1: legacy software. So all this led me to run some 446 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,959 Speaker 1: studies on attractiveness in my laboratory, And this puts us 447 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,280 Speaker 1: back to the question that I posed at the beginning, 448 00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:06,960 Speaker 1: which is what is going on when you first look 449 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:10,800 Speaker 1: at a person and make some rapid judgment about their attractiveness. 450 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:15,600 Speaker 1: Human faces carry an enormous amount of information about emotional 451 00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:19,120 Speaker 1: state and physical well being, and we are programmed to 452 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:22,680 Speaker 1: read faces like books. And in this light, it is 453 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:27,600 Speaker 1: not surprising that we rapidly form initial impressions about someone 454 00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:31,920 Speaker 1: after a brief exposure. And one trait we extract unbelievably 455 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:37,880 Speaker 1: quickly is facial attractiveness. And you've probably noticed that sometimes 456 00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:40,880 Speaker 1: a person passes by you for just a moment and 457 00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:44,400 Speaker 1: your brain screams out that that person is highly attractive, 458 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:46,600 Speaker 1: and then you turn and you take a closer look 459 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:50,240 Speaker 1: and realize that your first judgment was actually wrong, and 460 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:54,479 Speaker 1: your attractiveness rating goes way down. So I started asking 461 00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:56,800 Speaker 1: a number of people about this years ago and found 462 00:31:56,840 --> 00:31:59,760 Speaker 1: that this was a common experience if you pay close 463 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:02,600 Speaker 1: to tension to your perception. So I started to wonder, 464 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:07,320 Speaker 1: is a briefly glimpsed person always more attractive, and if so, 465 00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:10,040 Speaker 1: what is that about from an neural point of view, 466 00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:15,640 Speaker 1: Because there's obviously less visual information that's harvested from a 467 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:19,640 Speaker 1: brief glimpse. So my student Don Vaughan, and I started 468 00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:23,560 Speaker 1: researching this because here's the question. It is not at 469 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:27,880 Speaker 1: all clear why the brain would consistently AerR in one 470 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:31,680 Speaker 1: direction in its attractiveness judgments. In other words, why would 471 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:35,640 Speaker 1: a briefly glimpsed face tend to be interpreted as more 472 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:39,760 Speaker 1: attractive instead of less. After all, in most tasks of 473 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:46,240 Speaker 1: information processing, less information translates to less confidence and less value. 474 00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:49,200 Speaker 1: You wouldn't pay more for a car that you knew 475 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:52,760 Speaker 1: less about. So we had fifty nine people participate in 476 00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:55,880 Speaker 1: the study, half female, half male. Average age was twenty 477 00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:59,520 Speaker 1: eight years old, and everyone rated photographs of either seventy 478 00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:02,880 Speaker 1: five female seventy five mails. So you look at the 479 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:06,240 Speaker 1: computer screen and a photograph is flashed, and all you 480 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:08,760 Speaker 1: need to do is rate the photograph on a scale 481 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:12,040 Speaker 1: from one which is least attractive to ten most attractive, 482 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:14,040 Speaker 1: and then you see the next one in the next one, 483 00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:16,480 Speaker 1: and you do this through all the photographs in random order. 484 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:20,000 Speaker 1: But here's the thing. First, you do this with twenty 485 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:23,120 Speaker 1: five photographs to just acquaint you with the rating scale 486 00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:26,040 Speaker 1: and for us to gather your average ratings. You get 487 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:27,480 Speaker 1: to look at each photo for as long as you 488 00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:30,600 Speaker 1: want no time pressure. Then in the second block, we 489 00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,360 Speaker 1: use twenty five new photographs, and here you keep your 490 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:36,600 Speaker 1: eyes fixed on a red dot in the center of 491 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:40,400 Speaker 1: the screen, and after a random delay, a photograph gets 492 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:42,400 Speaker 1: flashed in the center of the screen for about a 493 00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:45,720 Speaker 1: quarter of a second. Bang, real fast flash, and you 494 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:49,480 Speaker 1: register your attractiveness judgment. Then in the next block, you 495 00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:52,920 Speaker 1: rate the same photographs, again presented in a random order, 496 00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:56,200 Speaker 1: but this time with no time constraints. You can look 497 00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:58,720 Speaker 1: for as long as you want. Then to recreate the 498 00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:01,440 Speaker 1: effective catching a glimpse from the corner of your eye, 499 00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:04,880 Speaker 1: we also ran a block where we presented photographs in 500 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:08,400 Speaker 1: your peripheral vision. So we use twenty five new photographs 501 00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:10,440 Speaker 1: and it's the same as before, where you're keeping your 502 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:12,480 Speaker 1: eye on the red dot in the middle, but now 503 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:15,759 Speaker 1: we flash the photograph in a random position somewhere on 504 00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:18,600 Speaker 1: the screen. Bang. What was that? By the time your 505 00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:21,879 Speaker 1: eyes get there, it's gone, and then you register your 506 00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:25,439 Speaker 1: attractiveness rating. Then in the final block, you rate those 507 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:29,560 Speaker 1: same twenty five photographs represented in the center in a 508 00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:33,120 Speaker 1: random order with no time constraints. Okay, so what was 509 00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:39,000 Speaker 1: the result? Briefly glimpsed photographs are rated as more beautiful 510 00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:43,880 Speaker 1: everyone this, male and female rated attractiveness higher when they 511 00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:46,080 Speaker 1: were just catching a glimpse, whether that was in the 512 00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:49,600 Speaker 1: middle or on the periphery, so we summarized this result 513 00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:53,520 Speaker 1: as the glimpse effect. For example, when a male saw 514 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:56,000 Speaker 1: a flash of a female in the periphery, he rated 515 00:34:56,000 --> 00:34:59,239 Speaker 1: her on average almost a point higher than when he 516 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:01,440 Speaker 1: looked for as long as he wanted. And as a 517 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:04,800 Speaker 1: side note, although both females and males show the glimpse 518 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:08,759 Speaker 1: effect when judging photographs of either gender, the effect is 519 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:13,000 Speaker 1: most pronounced in males rating female photographs. And by the way, 520 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,319 Speaker 1: this is true no matter what your initial rating was, 521 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:19,840 Speaker 1: it goes down when you have a longer chance to look. So. 522 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,520 Speaker 1: In other words, if you catch a glimpse of someone 523 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:27,000 Speaker 1: rounding the corner or driving past quickly, your perceptual system 524 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:30,440 Speaker 1: will tell you that they are more attractive than you 525 00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:33,320 Speaker 1: would otherwise judge them to be. Men show this effect 526 00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:38,320 Speaker 1: more strongly, presumably because men are more visual in assessing attraction. 527 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:41,160 Speaker 1: When you catch a brief glimpse of someone, you believe 528 00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:43,680 Speaker 1: you have just seen something amazing. Then when you go 529 00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:46,440 Speaker 1: around the corner you find you were mistaken. So the 530 00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:49,800 Speaker 1: glimpse effect is clear and measurable. But why does it happen. 531 00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:53,279 Speaker 1: Why should the visual system, given just a bit of 532 00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:56,839 Speaker 1: fleeting information, always err on the side of believing that 533 00:35:56,840 --> 00:36:00,840 Speaker 1: someone is more attractive in the absence of clear data, 534 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:04,160 Speaker 1: Why wouldn't your visual system simply strike for the middle 535 00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:07,440 Speaker 1: and judge the person to be average or even below average. 536 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:09,879 Speaker 1: So one way you explain these results is to think 537 00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:15,040 Speaker 1: about what's called spatial frequencies. Something with high spatial frequency 538 00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:19,040 Speaker 1: is changing a lot across space, while low spatial frequency 539 00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:22,040 Speaker 1: doesn't change much. So think about it like if you 540 00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:25,400 Speaker 1: had a lot of wrinkles, All those sharp lines provide 541 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:28,319 Speaker 1: a lot of high spatial frequency, but if your face 542 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:33,319 Speaker 1: is totally smooth, that's low spatial frequency. Anyhow, it's long 543 00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:37,000 Speaker 1: been known that faces that come across as smoother are 544 00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:40,600 Speaker 1: rated as more attractive. We don't really like the high 545 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:43,600 Speaker 1: spatial frequencies, the sharp lines and so on, and the 546 00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:48,600 Speaker 1: visual system actually takes more time to process the fine lines, 547 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:52,759 Speaker 1: while the low frequency stuff is processed very rapidly. So 548 00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:56,120 Speaker 1: when we flash of photograph really quickly, your visual system 549 00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:59,880 Speaker 1: doesn't have access to the fine features that decrease ratings 550 00:36:59,880 --> 00:37:04,400 Speaker 1: like skin blemishes, because your visual system is just processing 551 00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:07,680 Speaker 1: the general shape of the smooth stuff going on. And 552 00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:11,719 Speaker 1: this explains something about the way that portrait photography used 553 00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:15,440 Speaker 1: to be done, especially in the earlier part of last century. 554 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:21,400 Speaker 1: How did photographers make people more attractive by putting vaciline 555 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:26,000 Speaker 1: on their camera lenses that created a soft focus effect 556 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:29,799 Speaker 1: that blurred the image to create what people regarded as 557 00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:32,680 Speaker 1: a romantic look. But of course what they were doing 558 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:36,719 Speaker 1: was taking away information, taking away the sharp lines, in 559 00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:40,800 Speaker 1: particular the high spatial frequencies, and just leaving the soft, 560 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:44,919 Speaker 1: dreamy stuff, which we find more attractive. Now we don't 561 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:49,920 Speaker 1: use vacline on lenses anymore, or don't we. That's exactly 562 00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:53,720 Speaker 1: the trick with these Instagram filters. What these filters generally 563 00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:57,879 Speaker 1: do is simply take away the high spatial frequencies. It's 564 00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:02,080 Speaker 1: like the vaciline on the lens. No more little imperfections. 565 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:06,120 Speaker 1: Now you just have perfectly smooth skin for completeness. Soil 566 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:09,160 Speaker 1: also mention that these filters often do other things as well, 567 00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:13,680 Speaker 1: like make lips bigger, because fertile women have full lips, 568 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:16,880 Speaker 1: but they don't when they're kids. Or elderly. Okay, so 569 00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:20,080 Speaker 1: back to the big picture of the glimpse effect. We 570 00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:23,040 Speaker 1: know that in a brief presentation you see less of 571 00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:27,000 Speaker 1: the fine lines, and so maybe that's the explanation. But 572 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:30,839 Speaker 1: we also suggested there may be something to understand that's 573 00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:33,960 Speaker 1: even a little bit deeper. So we proposed a second, 574 00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:39,200 Speaker 1: non exclusive possibility, and this hypothesis pivots on the demands 575 00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:42,760 Speaker 1: of reproduction. If you believe that a briefly glimpsed person 576 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:46,239 Speaker 1: is beautiful, and let's say they actually weren't, it only 577 00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:49,760 Speaker 1: requires a double take on your part to correct the mistake. 578 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:52,680 Speaker 1: It's not much of a cost. But on the other hand, 579 00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:56,920 Speaker 1: if you mistake an attractive mate for an unattractive one, 580 00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:01,080 Speaker 1: you can say cyonara to your potentially rosy the genetic future. 581 00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:05,480 Speaker 1: So it behooves your perceptual system to serve up a 582 00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:10,000 Speaker 1: story that a briefly glimpsed person is attractive. So the 583 00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:13,839 Speaker 1: idea is that the glimpse effect results from the combination 584 00:39:14,400 --> 00:39:18,759 Speaker 1: of your sensory information with the utility of that information 585 00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:22,440 Speaker 1: for the cognizanty. This is known as a Bayesian risk model. 586 00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:25,799 Speaker 1: As an example of this sort of thing, imagine looking 587 00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:29,160 Speaker 1: at a square of a certain color that's against squares 588 00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:34,640 Speaker 1: of other colors, you might conclude that the square has 589 00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:37,560 Speaker 1: a certain color, or you could equally conclude that the 590 00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:41,399 Speaker 1: square is transparent and its color is being determined by 591 00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:45,840 Speaker 1: the squares underneath it. So if you're asked, is this 592 00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:49,960 Speaker 1: transparent or not, there's no single right answer. But it 593 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,560 Speaker 1: turns out what's found in the laboratory is that if 594 00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:56,080 Speaker 1: you are thirsty, you are more likely to perceive it 595 00:39:56,120 --> 00:40:01,319 Speaker 1: as transparent. Your visual system has a bi towards determining 596 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:06,000 Speaker 1: transparent things like water when you're thirsty. If you're not thirsty, 597 00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:10,000 Speaker 1: you're not seeing water everywhere. Why it's because thirsty people 598 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:13,920 Speaker 1: have an increased utility for water. Finding water becomes more 599 00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:17,320 Speaker 1: valuable to your brain, and if you accidentally see water 600 00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:20,000 Speaker 1: when it's not there, what's called a false positive that 601 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:23,399 Speaker 1: doesn't matter so much. In other words, it behooves a 602 00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:27,160 Speaker 1: thirsty brain to have a bias towards perceiving things that 603 00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:29,919 Speaker 1: are water like. And this is the same idea here 604 00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:32,919 Speaker 1: with the glimpse effect. Your brain doesn't want to miss 605 00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:37,080 Speaker 1: its genetic future, so it has a bias towards seeing 606 00:40:37,120 --> 00:40:42,719 Speaker 1: things as attractive. If you're interested in this topic. There's 607 00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:46,200 Speaker 1: a field known as Bayesian decision making, and the idea 608 00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:50,719 Speaker 1: is that your brain is not seeing maximum likelihood, as in, 609 00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:54,400 Speaker 1: how likely is that driver next to me super attractive? Instead, 610 00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:59,560 Speaker 1: it's aimed at maximizing expected utility. How useful is it 611 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,520 Speaker 1: for me to see things in this way? So in 612 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:07,759 Speaker 1: this framework, an ideal observer chooses the interpretation that's the 613 00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:11,759 Speaker 1: most important rather than the most likely. So what we 614 00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:14,840 Speaker 1: get is an increase in perceived attractiveness when you have 615 00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:18,279 Speaker 1: limited information. And again, this is because the cost of 616 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:21,200 Speaker 1: an overestimate is cheap you just look a second time, 617 00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:25,440 Speaker 1: but the cost of failing to identify an attractive potential 618 00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:28,400 Speaker 1: mate is high. So what I told you about vacoline 619 00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:32,000 Speaker 1: and Instagram filters is explainable just by getting rid of 620 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:35,759 Speaker 1: the high frequencies the sharp lines. But I think more generally, 621 00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:40,319 Speaker 1: this issue of limited information is an important part of 622 00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:44,120 Speaker 1: what's in play here because during the pandemic I talked 623 00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:47,160 Speaker 1: with a lot of colleagues who work at the Stanford Hospitals, 624 00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:50,719 Speaker 1: for example, and it turns out that the world ran 625 00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:54,760 Speaker 1: a very interesting natural experiment from twenty twenty to twenty 626 00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:59,719 Speaker 1: two in the form of wearing masks. The masks don't 627 00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:03,239 Speaker 1: changeange anything about the high and low frequency information, but 628 00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:06,080 Speaker 1: they take away all the information about one half of 629 00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:08,600 Speaker 1: the face. And I heard from a lot of people, 630 00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:12,800 Speaker 1: both male and female, that they sometimes met coworkers whose 631 00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:15,960 Speaker 1: face they had never seen completely and stead they only 632 00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:19,279 Speaker 1: ever saw the top half, and they felt that the 633 00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:22,960 Speaker 1: person was really attractive. And at the end of the pandemic, 634 00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:25,839 Speaker 1: when the masks finally came off and they finally saw 635 00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:30,120 Speaker 1: the whole face, they were often a little disappointed. Now, 636 00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:33,239 Speaker 1: was this because everyone had ugly mouths? No, it was 637 00:42:33,239 --> 00:42:36,960 Speaker 1: because the brain of the viewer made assumptions about the 638 00:42:37,040 --> 00:42:40,160 Speaker 1: half of the face that was not seen. I've informally 639 00:42:40,239 --> 00:42:43,200 Speaker 1: quizzed dozens of people about this, and it wasn't that 640 00:42:43,239 --> 00:42:47,759 Speaker 1: they assumed something in particular, something they could articulate about 641 00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:50,080 Speaker 1: the other person's mouth. It's not like they were looking 642 00:42:50,120 --> 00:42:53,440 Speaker 1: for a specific shape of the mouth. It's just that 643 00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:57,439 Speaker 1: they assumed that it would be better. Again, when there's 644 00:42:57,520 --> 00:43:00,600 Speaker 1: a lack of information, the brain it seems to make 645 00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:04,160 Speaker 1: a judgment that's biased in the positive direction. It just 646 00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:08,759 Speaker 1: assumes there's something better hiding behind the curtain. It's all 647 00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:13,600 Speaker 1: about anticipation, and in an upcoming episode about prediction, I'm 648 00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:17,160 Speaker 1: going to talk about why the most attractive person on 649 00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:19,960 Speaker 1: a nude beach is the one who still has their 650 00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:24,120 Speaker 1: clothes on. If you've ever been on a clothing optional beach, 651 00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:27,560 Speaker 1: you'll know that everyone, men and women end up gazing 652 00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:30,840 Speaker 1: towards the new person, the man or woman who's just arrived, 653 00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:35,279 Speaker 1: because there's anticipation about what is going to be found there. 654 00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:37,920 Speaker 1: There's a lack of information because they still have their 655 00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:42,080 Speaker 1: clothes on, and so your brain assumes the best. But 656 00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:46,200 Speaker 1: moments after that person disrobes, everyone's sort of over it. 657 00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:51,360 Speaker 1: The internal positive assumptions have been replaced by reality. And 658 00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:54,800 Speaker 1: we can see the same issue of this optimistic judging 659 00:43:55,280 --> 00:43:59,000 Speaker 1: with the size of photographs. A lot of people find 660 00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:01,680 Speaker 1: that when they're looking at some is Twitter profile or 661 00:44:01,719 --> 00:44:05,839 Speaker 1: TikTok profile or LinkedIn photo, you think they look quite attractive, 662 00:44:05,920 --> 00:44:08,200 Speaker 1: and then you click on the photo to make it bigger, 663 00:44:08,719 --> 00:44:12,080 Speaker 1: and your assessment goes down. I've run some initial studies 664 00:44:12,120 --> 00:44:14,480 Speaker 1: on this with small photographs and large photographs, and this 665 00:44:14,520 --> 00:44:16,920 Speaker 1: is what we find. If a photo is small and 666 00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:20,080 Speaker 1: you can't work out any details, you judge it as 667 00:44:20,120 --> 00:44:23,680 Speaker 1: being higher in attractiveness. Now, this may again have to 668 00:44:23,719 --> 00:44:27,200 Speaker 1: do with your inability to make out the small details 669 00:44:27,200 --> 00:44:30,279 Speaker 1: in a small photo, but it also amounts to the 670 00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:32,920 Speaker 1: same thing in space as the glimpse effect. In time. 671 00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:37,799 Speaker 1: The lack of information leads to more dependence on your 672 00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:42,239 Speaker 1: internal model, and our models tend to be hopeful. So 673 00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:46,000 Speaker 1: let's wrap up. We know that across the biological kingdom 674 00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:50,440 Speaker 1: there is a constant broadcasting of signals that most often 675 00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:53,200 Speaker 1: we don't even have conscious access to. But as we 676 00:44:53,320 --> 00:44:56,359 Speaker 1: dive deeper and deeper over the course of these episodes 677 00:44:56,719 --> 00:45:00,160 Speaker 1: into all the computations happening under the hood that we 678 00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:04,160 Speaker 1: don't have access to, we will see this vast empire 679 00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:07,880 Speaker 1: of instincts that we've perhaps never even thought to question. 680 00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:10,920 Speaker 1: We all find that it's obvious that we are more 681 00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:13,920 Speaker 1: attracted to someone versus someone else. Of course, we're attracted 682 00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:17,640 Speaker 1: who wouldn't be, And as William James pointed out, presumably 683 00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:21,680 Speaker 1: every animal feels this way about the particular things that 684 00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:24,200 Speaker 1: tends to do. As he said to the lion, it 685 00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:26,759 Speaker 1: is the lioness which is made to be loved to 686 00:45:26,840 --> 00:45:29,800 Speaker 1: the bear, the she bear, but the technique that allows 687 00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:33,279 Speaker 1: us to really see ourselves is to be able to 688 00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:37,279 Speaker 1: view the familiar as strange. With a little bit of work, 689 00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:41,799 Speaker 1: we can step outside our internal models and see ourselves 690 00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:45,040 Speaker 1: from a new angle. Today we talked about the instinct 691 00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:48,520 Speaker 1: of attraction, and in future episodes we're going to see 692 00:45:48,719 --> 00:45:52,359 Speaker 1: how deeply our instincts drive us in other domains, and 693 00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:56,440 Speaker 1: how invisible these things are until we scratch the surface. 694 00:45:57,040 --> 00:46:01,560 Speaker 1: Making the familiar strange is perhaps the only way to 695 00:46:01,680 --> 00:46:06,799 Speaker 1: really come to understand ourselves and to illuminate the enigmas 696 00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:15,319 Speaker 1: inside our three pound inner cosmos. To find out more 697 00:46:15,360 --> 00:46:17,640 Speaker 1: and to share your thoughts, head over to eagleman dot 698 00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:22,520 Speaker 1: com slash podcast. Send me an email at podcast at 699 00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:25,960 Speaker 1: eagleman dot com with questions or discussion, and I'll be 700 00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:31,520 Speaker 1: making an episode soon in which I address those. Until 701 00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:35,520 Speaker 1: next time, I'm David Eagleman, and this is Inner Cosmos.