- [Narrator] Decide when to pair up and with whom
is a riddle that evolutionary psychologist Douglas Kenrick
has tried to solve for decades.
- If we all just went for good genes,
everyone would be unhappy if the guys didn't end up
you know with Jennifer Lopez
or some other fashion model,
they would just stop then.
And the women would stop if they couldn't get Brad Pitt
or some extremely handsome guy.
In real life, people have to match up with one another.
(intense music)
- [Narrator] How does this matching up process work?
To find out, Dr. Kenrick gathered 10 men
and 10 women from a fairly average range
of physical attractiveness and prepared to perform
a few experiments in human social dynamics.
First he stripped away as many differences as possible
between the guinea pigs by dressing them
in identical and sexually neutral outfits.
- Okay now you're gonna play a sort of a mating game.
You all have a number as you can see.
You can't see your own number,
but you can see the other peoples' numbers.
Offer your hands to someone,
and if they accept it, then you've paired up
and you walk back to the back.
If the person does not accept your offer,
then you'd move on and offer it to someone else.
Again the task being to try to get the highest number
that you can
and realizing that you have a number on your own head
that they are responding to as well.
(mysterious music)
- [Narrator] The numbers, drawn at random,
are meant to represent desirability.
One being least and 10 being most.
In the real world,
where most of us don't know exactly
how attractive we are,
we tend to aim high, trying to snare a 10.
Then gradually we work our way down to someone
who will accept us.
- Some of the people are trying
and not getting paired.
The two people who are fives have paired up
with one another.
It wasn't like the 10s perfectly matched
and the ones perfectly matched,
but you did get a correlation.
The people with the high numbers
were able to hold back a little bit longer,
and they got more offers.
The people with the low numbers didn't get any offers.
And that's sort of what happens in a real mating pool.
- [Narrator] The experiment opens a window
into the mind of an adolescent who is not yet
fully aware of how attractive he or she is.
- Let's imagine teenagers in a high school.
You've got a guy and a girl
who are both 10s.
Well what's gonna happen to them is they're gonna get
a lot of offers from the opposite sex,
and they're eventually gonna have some sense
that they have lots of more opportunities.
If you're a five or a six,
as most people are,
they'll let you know.
You'll get feedback basically.
- [Narrator] This is something we all have to learn,
and it can be a painful process.
(mysterious music)
To glimpse a sped-up version of this learning curve,
Dr. Kenrick put a microphone on the woman
who was ranked number three and asked her to narrate
her mate selection strategy.
- I guess everyone's gonna start off going to
the number 10 guy.
Three, one, four, 10, oh 10 is taken now.
Nobody will make eye contact with me.
I'm not really used to that.
I like that one, yeah.
But his number's too low, I can do better.
Let's see, one, no, seven.
I could, oh he's being paired off.
I have a feeling I have a very low number
because no one's coming over to me at all right now.
Come on, two, no,
I can do better than that.
We're running out of numbers.
One, eight,
I guess this is all that's left.
Okay I'm stuck with two.
(mysterious music)
- [Narrator] After using random numbers,
Dr. Kenrick wanted to see how things would turn out
if he let true physical attractiveness
drive mate selection.
When the volunteers first arrive,
before the men and women met face-to-face,
Kenrick had them rate each others' physical appearance
on a scale of one to 10.
He pooled the numbers for each person
and came up with an attractiveness rating.
Now it's time for the test subjects to try
and reel in the most physically attractive person they can.
(drum music)
- We are going to change the rules a little bit.
And we're gonna begin by asking the ladies
to take your head stockings off.
Okay now if the guys would all remove
their head coverings.
Let your own preferences now
you know have their way,
and again, keeping in mind the last game,
try to get the person who you regard
as the highest attractiveness in your opinion.
(mysterious music)
- [Narrator] Just as Kenrick expected,
each person found a partner within a point or so
of themselves.