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- [Narrator] Decide when
to pair up and with whom

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is a riddle that evolutionary
psychologist Douglas Kenrick

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has tried to solve for decades.

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- If we all just went for good genes,

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everyone would be unhappy
if the guys didn't end up

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you know with Jennifer Lopez

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or some other fashion model,

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they would just stop then.

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And the women would stop if
they couldn't get Brad Pitt

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or some extremely handsome guy.

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In real life, people have to
match up with one another.

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(intense music)

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- [Narrator] How does this
matching up process work?

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To find out, Dr. Kenrick gathered 10 men

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and 10 women from a fairly average range

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of physical attractiveness
and prepared to perform

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a few experiments in
human social dynamics.

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First he stripped away as
many differences as possible

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between the guinea pigs by dressing them

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in identical and sexually neutral outfits.

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- Okay now you're gonna play
a sort of a mating game.

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You all have a number as you can see.

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You can't see your own number,

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but you can see the
other peoples' numbers.

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Offer your hands to someone,

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and if they accept it,
then you've paired up

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and you walk back to the back.

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If the person does not accept your offer,

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then you'd move on and
offer it to someone else.

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Again the task being to try
to get the highest number

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that you can

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and realizing that you have
a number on your own head

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that they are responding to as well.

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(mysterious music)

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- [Narrator] The numbers, drawn at random,

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are meant to represent desirability.

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One being least and 10 being most.

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In the real world,

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where most of us don't know exactly

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how attractive we are,

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we tend to aim high, trying to snare a 10.

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Then gradually we work
our way down to someone

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who will accept us.

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- Some of the people are trying

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and not getting paired.

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The two people who are
fives have paired up

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with one another.

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It wasn't like the 10s perfectly matched

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and the ones perfectly matched,

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but you did get a correlation.

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The people with the high numbers

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were able to hold back
a little bit longer,

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and they got more offers.

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The people with the low
numbers didn't get any offers.

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And that's sort of what
happens in a real mating pool.

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- [Narrator] The experiment opens a window

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into the mind of an
adolescent who is not yet

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fully aware of how
attractive he or she is.

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- Let's imagine teenagers
in a high school.

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You've got a guy and a girl

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who are both 10s.

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Well what's gonna happen to
them is they're gonna get

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a lot of offers from the opposite sex,

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and they're eventually
gonna have some sense

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that they have lots of more opportunities.

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If you're a five or a six,

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as most people are,

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they'll let you know.

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You'll get feedback basically.

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- [Narrator] This is something
we all have to learn,

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and it can be a painful process.

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(mysterious music)

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To glimpse a sped-up version
of this learning curve,

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Dr. Kenrick put a microphone on the woman

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who was ranked number three
and asked her to narrate

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her mate selection strategy.

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- I guess everyone's
gonna start off going to

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the number 10 guy.

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Three, one, four, 10, oh 10 is taken now.

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Nobody will make eye contact with me.

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I'm not really used to that.

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I like that one, yeah.

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But his number's too low, I can do better.

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Let's see, one, no, seven.

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I could, oh he's being paired off.

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I have a feeling I have a very low number

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because no one's coming
over to me at all right now.

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Come on, two, no,

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I can do better than that.

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We're running out of numbers.

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One, eight,

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I guess this is all that's left.

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Okay I'm stuck with two.

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(mysterious music)

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- [Narrator] After using random numbers,

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Dr. Kenrick wanted to see
how things would turn out

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if he let true physical attractiveness

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drive mate selection.

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When the volunteers first arrive,

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before the men and women met face-to-face,

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Kenrick had them rate each
others' physical appearance

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on a scale of one to 10.

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He pooled the numbers for each person

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and came up with an attractiveness rating.

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Now it's time for the test subjects to try

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and reel in the most physically
attractive person they can.

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(drum music)

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- We are going to change
the rules a little bit.

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And we're gonna begin by asking the ladies

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to take your head stockings off.

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Okay now if the guys would all remove

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their head coverings.

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Let your own preferences now

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you know have their way,

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and again, keeping in mind the last game,

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try to get the person who you regard

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as the highest attractiveness
in your opinion.

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(mysterious music)

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- [Narrator] Just as Kenrick expected,

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each person found a partner
within a point or so

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of themselves.