Sexy Images and Brain Chemistry, S. Fiske Ph.D., Princeton

Ian Sample, Chicago
guardian.co.uk ,
Monday 16 February 2009 13.42 GMT

Christine Dell'Amore in Chicago
National Geographic News

February 16, 2009

Men are more likely to think of women as objects if they have looked at sexy pictures of females beforehand, psychologists said yesterday.Brain scans revealed that when men are shown pictures of scantily clad women, the region of the brain associated with tool use lights up.

Men were also more likely to associate images of sexualized women with first-person action verbs such as "I push, I grasp, I handle," (that about covers it, giggles!) said lead researcher Susan Fiske, a psychologist at Princeton University. And in a "shocking"* finding, Fiske noted, some of the men studied showed no activity in the part of the brain that usually responds when a person ponders another's intentions.
The changes in brain activity suggest sexy images can shift the way men perceive women, turning them from people to interact with, to objects to act upon.
w
Both women and men have something to learn from this line of research, Raison said. Women should be aware of how they are perceived when wearing provocative clothing, and men shouldn't let feelings of impersonal sexual longing interfere with their more personal relationships (or judgments!) with other women, including female friends.

Women may also depersonalize men in certain situations, but published research on the subject has not been done, experts say. Evolutionary psychology would theorize that men view women as objects in terms of their youth and apparent fertility, while women might view men as instrumental in terms of their status and resources, Fiske said.
. ...more from National Geographic


******************************


*Shocking?
Oh please!
Women have objectified men for as long as men have objectified women. Both sexes play into this, and I would suggest, very equally....women may have invented it!

What is interesting is the why and the way it works, what is going on in our brain, and how much of who we are is subconscious, primal and instinctive. How Pavlovian are we, and how much of how we think do we reinforce through repetition?

For some this mind set is total, some occasional and others rarely if ever.

Awareness creates the variant response.

This survival behaviour, and that is exactly what it is, is no longer necessary, so why do we continue to employ it?

Do we sacrifice authentic, whole being love when we succumb to this behaviour of survival, or when we fear the behaviour in someone else?
When authentic love is there, free for the taking, are the beautiful or wealthy so afraid that they ignore it? All too often, yes. .....and that is why we so often see the rich and beautiful sitting home alone.

Is there any reason to wonder that beautiful women and wealthy men, or visa versa, are insecure, not terribly trusting, and sometimes a little paranoid even?

Do they know consciously, and sense subconsciously, that the motives of their latest lover may be self serving or skewed at best? Does their perceived wealth or attractiveness spark fear in the new lover, and does that interfere with pure, and real communication, and vulnerability?....how could it not

In an odd way, the rich and beautiful are no different than anyone else, the universe has given them a deliciously rare gift .......(we all get one)......and an equally, and exquisitely heavy cross.....such is the nature of the universe