Study Shows Men Look At Women's Bodies...

[Bocefish]

... and so do other women.

Well... DUH! :lol:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... y/3287287/

The eyes don't lie: Men really do look at women's bodies more than their faces, according to a new study that used eye-tracking technology to prove what many women have long observed.

But it's not just men who do it -- the study found that women look at other women's bodies, too.

"We live in a culture in which we constantly see women objectified in interactions on television and in the media. When you turn your own lens on everyday, ordinary women, we focus on those parts, too," says lead author and social psychologist Sarah Gervais of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

"Until now, we didn't have evidence people were actually doing that to women's bodies," she says. "We have women's self-reports, but this is some of the first work to document that people actually engage in this."

The participants – 29 women and 36 men – were outfitted with the eye-tracking system, which measures in milliseconds how long the eyes are fixed on certain spots. Their gazes reacted to photographs of the same 10 women, each with three different digitally manipulated body shapes – curvaceous, much less curvaceous and in-between. (Only women's bodies were viewed by study participants.) Both sexes fixed their gaze more on women's chests and waists and less on faces. Those bodies with larger breasts, narrower waists and bigger hips often prompted longer looks.

The explanation may be partly evolutionary, Gervais says, since men may be drawn to more shapely women for childbearing -- while women may be checking out their competition, she suggests.

And the study, published today in the journal Sex Roles, also finds that even when men are told to focus more on evaluating a woman's expressions and personality, women with more curves get more positive personality ratings.

Researcher Kun Guo, who also uses eye tracking in his studies at the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom, says the technology provides "more objective measurements" than do questionnaires, which are subjective.

"The beauty of eye movements is that it is more difficult to inhibit," he says.

Jamie Lynn Goldenberg, an associate professor of psychology at the University of South Florida in Tampa, says there's been a lot of research on self-objectification, but only recently has attention turned to perceptions by others. She hasn't used eye-tracking in her studies but says it's "an interesting way" to look at objectification, which amounts to viewing women as objects.

"We have new methodologies for studying these things -- getting into the eyes of the perceiver," she says. "It doesn't explain why they're looking, but they're looking longer."

 

[KaterinaPryde]

We also look at peoples bodies to watch for body language...it's not always about reproduction.

 

[JerryBoBerry]

We also look at peoples bodies to watch for body language...it's not always about reproduction.

speak for yourself.
hahahahaha


I couldn't resist that one. :lol:

 

[Bocefish]

I call BS on that study for a couple of reasons. First, they're looking at photographs instead of real life scenarios. Secondly, it depends on what the woman looks like... if I find her face beautiful, I'll spend more time looking there. If she's got great legs, I'll probably look at those a bit longer. It all depends.

 

[JerryBoBerry]

I call BS on that study for a couple of reasons. First, they're looking at photographs instead of real life scenarios. Secondly, it depends on what the woman looks like... if I find her face beautiful, I'll spend more time looking there. If she's got great legs, I'll probably look at those a bit longer. It all depends.

I can see that. In real life when we are talking to other people we quite often look to the face for cues.
A static picture wouldn't have those so we naturally wouldn't spend as much time looking at that as in real life. :twocents-02cents:

 

[Sevrin]

Why didn't they also study how men are viewed? The conclusion that psychologist is all about "objectification, which amounts to viewing women as objects", but they didn't study how men are viewed. Anyway, how is it objectifying to look at a woman's tits, but not to look at her face? It's a picture, FFS. What are you supposed to do if not look at it? Fold it into an airplane?

Anyway, Boce's point about looking at the most attractive traits is right on. There are a lot of women whose faces make me melt, but the rest of them, not so much. What's more, I find that the longer I know a woman, the more I am interested in her face. First encounters are superficial by their nature, so it's pretty normal that the whole primal urgy thing comes into play during the initial meeting, or, like here, when someone shoves a photo in your face.