Kenrick et al.'s experiments demonstrate that men who view photographs of physically attractive women or Playboy centerfolds subsequently find their current mates less physically attractive and become less satisfied with their current relationships. What then would be the cumulative effect of being exposed to young, attractive women on a daily basis? Would there be any real consequences to the men's dissatisfaction with their relationships? Secondary school teachers and college professors come in contact with more young women at the peak of their reproductive value than others do. The analysis of a large, representative data set from the United States indicates that, while men in general are less likely to be divorced than women, and secondary school teachers and college professors in general are less likely to be divorced than others, simultaneously being male and being a secondary school teacher or college professor statistically increases the likelihood of being divorced (p <.05).
Friday, May 14, 2010
Who knew?
An important new finding:
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16 comments:
More by Kanazawa on this here, and the full study here.
They title it 'Teaching may be hazardous to your marriage.'
How about 'Being a dirty old man may be hazardous to your marriage'?
Or 'Being shallow may be hazardous to your marriage'?
Or 'Teaching may be hazardous to your marriage if you're a dirty old man'?
So, anonymous 12:45,
Apparently, you're not a dirty old man? If you're a straight man, I think you're lying to yourself and you're lying to Jesus.
Every day I realize more and more that while I would still like to think of myself as a young, good-looking guy who young women would want, I'm really just a dirty old man. And I'm even more of a dirty old man every day.
I can't find it now, but I remember reading a study from a few years back which found that the divorce rate among academics is roughly in line with the general population, but the re-marriage rate was *much* lower among academics. Does that ring any bells with anyone?
BTW: word verification is "inest"
Doesn't this also mean it could be useful for straight, male, college instructors to look at (more) porn? If you don't find the young women you teach nearly as attractive as the women in the magazines, wouldn't that reduce the chance of your having a sexual liaison with your students?
Word verification: 'inhernat'
I don't find the study even remotely convincing. Here are three reasons: (1) the regression does not show a statistically significant interaction effect for male*HS_teacher for the question that matters -- were you ever divorced; (2) the effects and differences that do show up are very small given the size of the dataset (32,000+ data points), so if there is an effect it is negligible; and (3) there are *lots* of potential confounds that they did not include -- off the top of my head: SES, whether parents were divorced, sexual orientation, religiosity, and region of residence.
2.23 seems to think that it is impossible for a man to avoid becoming a dirty old man. However there is one escape route: find love.
"If you don't find the young women you teach nearly as attractive as the women in the magazines..."
Magazines?! How quaint... Dirty or not, you've just revealed yourself as very, very old.
What a weird study. Laughable, really. So, teachers and college profs who come in contact with young women tend to see them as more or less sex bunnies? And then they go home and compare their wives with the bunnies? Brilliant.
2.23 seems to think that it is impossible for a man to avoid becoming a dirty old man. However there is one escape route: find love.
"Find love"? I am speechless. Being a dirty old man is inconsistent with being in a loving relationship? Well then I am screwed.
2:23 seems exactly right to suggest that 12:45 (and perhaps 9:10 as well) are in denial. I don't think anyone is claiming that acknowledging the problem excuses, say, dumping one's spouse for a young bunny. On the contrary, I would think that recognizing the problem is one way of better protecting oneself and one's relationship against possible hazards.
Oh dear, just because you are such a thorough dirty old that you cannot imagine anyone not being, does not mean some others are not.
It is like those selfish people who claim everyone is seflish.
Alternatives are possible, it is just that they are beyond your (current) understanding.
The dirty old man is, I take it, someone who lusts after young women; but if you really love someone, and see sex as involving sharing, oneness, communication, history, understanding etc then you won't have interest in sleeping with others, however attractive they are.
If anyone on this thread seriously thinks that "dirty old man" is normatively referent in some effective way that distinguishes real moral questions from stereotypical or caricatured ones is in equally serious need for a philosophical time-out. Like Jeez.
Spiros--is this kind of morass really what makes your day??
Well--your blog does warn us!
if you really love someone, and see sex as involving sharing, oneness, communication, history, understanding etc then you won't have interest in sleeping with others, however attractive they are.
oh good lord. any nuanced and compelling portrait of human psychology has got to reject this conditional as deeply implausible.
Proposing that old men who don't see themselves as (at least a wee bit) dirty are in denial is, I submit, not like selfish people claiming that everyone is selfish, but more along the lines of teenage boys speculating that all teenage boys masturbate. Such selfish people are projecting. Teenage boys so speculating are correct.
10.06: Dirty old man in the context of this discussion clearly refers to a philosophy professor who lusts after his students. Which is sufficient for the level of detail found in blog discussions.
10.50 Whether it is plausible or not, and whether you are projecting or merely ‘correct’ is precisely the issue at hand. Which I guess we are not going to settle here. By the way though, I do not doubt that the majority are as you state. Indeed, probably the vast majority. I only state that it is not *necessary*, and that there is another possible way of being.
Or it could be that teachers and professors make terrible husbands, and their wives leave them.
lyperene
Could it be that constand exposure to new and fresh stimuli cause some men to look at this year's model as moree superior to last year's model.
After all people are so apt to upgrade from working technology to something newer or better because this year's i-pod stores 30% more than the last one or the new iphone has a better interface than the old phone.
So do we expect men to be any different when this year's student has breasts that are 30% perkier than the model at home? Why do some men value a relationship less than the bells and whistles?
verification: repsis
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