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Men act stupid when talking to beautiful women, study shows

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If you ever thought that the dull expression and partial confusion expressed on a man’s face when he is chatting with a gorgeous woman was just a scene from movies like "There’s Something About Mary," you're wrong. J-Cast reports that according to a new study by psychologists at Radboud University in the Netherlands, men temporarily act in a stupid manner when interacting with beautiful women.

The idea hit one of the researchers when he found himself unable to recall his own address while chatting for the first time with a lady he found himself attracted to.

In order to prove their theory, the researchers carried out an experiment on 40 heterosexual male students, J-Cast reports. The students were asked to perform a standard memory test, where they had to observe a stream of letters and say if each one was the same as the one before. Then they were asked to chat for several minutes with a group of male and women members of the research group before repeating the test.

The results showed that men were slower and less accurate after talking with the women members of the group. The more the women attracted them, the lower their score.

Surprisingly, however, when the same test was conducted with a group of women, their memory scores stayed the same, whether they had chatted to a man or a woman.

According to psychologists, the findings reflect the fact that men are programmed to think about ways to pass on their genes, suggesting that they are more "reproductively focused" than women, especially during a new encounter, reports J-Cast.

But what does this study have to do with our daily lives? Well, the findings have implications for the performance of men in the workplace, during a meeting with business partners, or for male students - even in exam results in mixed-sex schools.

If men lose their "cognitive functions" when interacting with beautiful women at work, then perhaps it may be better not to have them at the company. “Men will be more productive,” a Japanese man in his 30s, who works for a company, famous for hiring many beautiful women employees, tells J-Cast.

“Every year, when new female employees join the company, and they are quite attractive, male co-workers from all divisions start asking them out immediately," he says. “It makes them less focused on work.”

According to Japanese employees, men get used to beautiful co-workers in three months, and start paying more attention to the quality of their work rather than their physical features.

“Women who perform well at their job and who pay attention to everyone at work are the company’s real treasure,” a Japanese male employee tells J-Cast. “But I can’t deny that I still get rattled sometimes when a real beauty visits us at the office.”

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

62 Comments
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If you are comfortable in the company of the beautiful you do not act silly it's the ugly ones I have a problem with and then I act outrageous

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

... male co-workers from all divisions start asking them out immediately,...

Many beautiful women complain they never get asked out because guys are so intimidated.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Okay, as long as it's not only me.

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A study is needed to validate human nature?

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pamelot - my sentiments exactly.

What a revelation. Some men become distracted by beautiful women.

I'd like a grant to do a follow up study.

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“Every year, when new female employees join the company, and they are quite attractive, male co-workers from all divisions start asking them out immediately,” he says. “It makes them less focused on work.”

How about the men and women learning not to mix work and pleasure at the same place. There are many places (besides the bar scene) that men and women can meet.

“But I can’t deny that I still get rattled sometimes when a real beauty visits us at the office.”

I am sure that his wife does not want to hear this.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

and i thought i was the only one that gets flustered around women im attracted to, which doesnt mean just beautiful. There are many beautiful women im not attracted to....ETC! that one is for you Z

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If men lose their “cognitive functions” when interacting with beautiful women at work, then perhaps it may be better not to have them at the company.

'Them' being men, I presume? :-)

What sexist hogwash. And what a waste of academic manpower and money. Whoever really imagined that men didn't get hogtied by their genes in the presence of an attractive woman?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

According to psychologists, the findings reflect the fact that men are programmed to think about ways to pass on their genes, suggesting that they are more “reproductively focused” than women

So, what the study is basically saying is, when a guy talks to a good-looking woman, he's more concerned about thinking about getting into her pants than doing anything else?

WOW. How much was their funding? I've got a similar experiment idea about women and buying shoes...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I was waiting for a woman to say "That explains why I always thought men were idiots when I talked with them".

Actually it's worse in Japan with all the shy guys. No wonder people find it hard to get married. Women's beauty is highly overrated anyway. You soon get used to it then you have to live with what's behind the face.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Hey! This goes both ways baby! Women, girls also act stupid when they with a real hot guy too.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Fascinating study on human behavior. I have heard that Radboud University in the Netherlands has also received government funding to determine whether or not water is wet. It will be very interesting to see the results of that study.

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that's because we are trying to match their intelligence!

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When I meet a beautiful women, I talk gibberish, stand on my head, flex my muscles and call my mother.

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I'd like a government grant to study to study the relation between having a Phd and zero common sense

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I believe this college could do a further study in the animal kingdom, and maybe even find a real example somewhere to back up their hypothesis.

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Heh. Cleo beat me to it. The obvious solution is to fire all the men because the women are able function normally no matter WHO they're interacting with. It's us guys who are defective.

Guys DO have a primal instinct to procreate as often as possible. It's probably buried in the reptilian portion of our brains. Chatting-up an attractive woman starts getting our wheels turning, so-to-speak, and it becomes harder to concentrate on the task at hand with the woman (and that task rarely has anything to do with procreation, unfortunately for the guy.) So while she's asking about this month's report, he's trying to think up a way to ask her out. To quote a famous line from "Cool Hand Luke",

What we've got here is... FAILURE to communicate!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

According to Japanese employees, men get used to beautiful co-workers in three months, and start paying more attention to the quality of their work rather than their physical features.

I spent 20 years in the USN, and they drilled it in our heads to not fraternize with each other, in regards to the sexual type.

Even before this, I have always lived by the old maxim "you don't have a dog s***t in your own backyard, you're liable to step in it."

Considering the long hours many people work in the office, the last thing I would want to do is date someone who reminds me of work. When I leave, I want nothing to do with work, I prefer to have my own friends from other venues that I will not have to worry about what happens at my off time finding it's way into the rumor mill at work.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The more the women attracted them, the lower their score.

How did they know how much each woman attracted them??

Also,

Then they were asked to chat for several minutes with a group of male and women members of the research group before repeating the test.

did the person person who wrote this article just speak to a hot chick?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

men are funny. Smart women secretly laugh at them while encouraging their stupidity.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

they are more “reproductively focused” than women

I just love this line! I have a few other ways to say it, but as science-speak goes, this hits the nail on the head!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

scientific proof of the obvious?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

“reproductively focused”... hyuk!hyuk!hyuk!.. :-P

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Had to come back here again. During lunch time I saw a hot babe in Nikotama, and proceeded to walk into a door. I was almost knocked out, and totally forgot that I was going to eat lunch. I ended back in the office hungry. I did not even get to talk to the fine looking specimen, but a secretary shared her cookie with me.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Well maybe this study will have a positive impact on companies. Recruiters can finally start looking mainly at a women's resume rather than her other assests. And if that happens, maybe those women can even advance due to their intellegence and break the glass ceiling. .. .. .. but then the office wouldnt be sooo purdy

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I'll plead guilty to this phenomenon. Getting tongue-tied around a beautiful woman is not anything to be embarrassed about. However, since I don't work in one of those J-companies "famous for hiring many beautiful women employees", it happens much more often outside of work. And that's where about three or four adult malt beverages helps -- as it is the beer talking then, and not me.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Kind of an insulting study. So if a woman and a man have an intelligent conversation, she can therefore conclude that she's busu.

There's really nothing good that could've come from this study!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

can i add, its true for women too! we do the same!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If men lose their “cognitive functions” when interacting with beautiful women at work, then perhaps it may be better not to have them at the company.

It would appear that whoever's in charge of recruitment at my office subscribes to this view. We've got a right coven of bloodless crones here. Not a single one of them possesses the slightest allure. They sit around squeaking and affecting cute mannerisms even though they're all the wrong side of 35. Not a lip between them. And oh, the dentistry.

I of course am irresistible to any red-blooded wench.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I don't really think of myself as being very hot, but I did used to notice sometimes that my coworkers would become extreeeemely dumb around me. And I didn't think gaijin guys liked us non-Japanese ladies so much!

But I've also known guys who expressed that they were attracted and could have very coherent, intelligent conversations. I guess they're a little more evolved.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The study just confirms what we knew all along. Quote the Yiddish proverb: "Ven der Putz schaet, der Kopf aus der fenster gaht." It's true, men turn into fools and bee essers when they are attracted to and want a beautiful woman. But then women get goofy too when they are after a man they like. And there is absolutely nothing goofier than two people in love. If you happen to have a romantic marriage you probably spend more time talking goofy stuff (much of it X-rated) than people in a utilitarian marriage, whose discussions center around things like how much margarine to buy for the weekend.

A study by somebody or other found that the brains of people in love had waves similar to those of psychotics. I believe it.

In my younger and wilder days, I learned a number of things about beautiful women, meaning women who saw themselves as beautiful and who, therefore, were not desperate to land any man they could find.

Most importantly, beautiful women hunting for men tend to dress modestly. They don't want a lot of distracting attention from a lot of men. They want to be selective and have a degree of control. They are rational and and yet they want to be be swept off their feet.

Beautiful women expect men to be a little goofy. That shows that they are passionate and not afraid of being vulnerable. If you are too rational beautiful see you are dull. Better to be a little dangerous than dull. Better to be goofy than to pontificate on the quality of your favorite margarine.

But to be too goofy is to lose it. To maintain a rational balance I memorized a poem that I'd recite to beautiful women at crucial moments and it worked 90% of the time. This was when I was sober. Not sober I'd blurt out idiocies like, "I want you! I have to have you!" When I was lucky the beautiful woman in question would say, "I'll see you tomorrow."

All that aside, I think that when men (and women) are being "stupid" in a state of attraction they are also thinking laterally, which is called (excuse me) "thinking outside the box." I believe that this Dutch university ought conduct a test of lateral thinking with regard to sexual attraction.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Interesting study. But what is beauty? I have objections to this study by its title alone, because there is not one worldwide standard of beauty. Not so long ago in Japan the women who were considered beautiful had shaved off eyebrows and blackened teeth. It changes depending on where you go, who you talk to.

I know many Japanese guys in my company, who see all caucasian girls as "beautiful." Where as the gaijin boys see them for what they really are, the Japanese guys get all shy and giggly. Western boys likewise for J-girls.

Eye of the beholder, and all that. And most people say and do things which are not their normal personality when in the grip of endorphines ...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

What a ridiculous study. If workplaces in Japan rewarded application and idea-generation, they wouldn't need to point the finger at boobies creating a lack of focus.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The results showed that men were slower and less accurate after talking with the women members of the group.

That could have been for any number of reasons, not just because they were attracted to the women.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I know that it is not easy being beautiful as a woman. You always have to try twice as much. Nobody cares what you think, who you are or what you can do. With this study out, more women will face discrimination.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Hahahahaha..... this is so funny! One of the best threads on JT for a while.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It may depend on how desperate the male is. It certainly could be a distraction, much like when you didn't have lunch and now you're "focused" on the upcoming dinner. If, indeed, the male employees can't do their work because of gender distraction, then don't hire them. In fact, if the male bosses can't deal with their distractions, maybe men shouldn't be bosses either. It's time to grow up and face the realities of gender, and do your job without the excuses. Flirting on the job is Verboten.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

the_sheriff - Kind of an insulting study. So if a woman and a man have an intelligent conversation, she can therefore conclude that she's busu.

-There's really nothing good that could've come from this study!

Ouch! I didn't think about that aspect of this study. As if women don't have enough self esteem issues.

Her: He didn't babble or stutter when he talked to me so he must think I'm too fat, thin, tall, short, etc.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

And what about the other way round Ive seen women act like complete buffoons with handsome guys. But you dont need a study to prove this about men. Just ask them what they spent their time thinking about during the subway ride....what would the many other women in the carriage be like in the sack....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Call it breaking news or secret weapon revealed. Talking to attractive women really seems to make men lose their mind and much of their ability to think and reason becoming less intelligent when they're trying to impress women they like to sleep with. However, test involving memorizing a string of letters was repeated with female students and found their scores stayed the same no matter whom they spoke to. I understand furthur research was planned for the study, but it was quickly abandoned after researchers became sidetracked by the sexy female participants. Men are probably programmed by evolution to think about ways to pass on their gene or it's more about mating oportunities. There is some truth that men do act like fools around beautiful women and it's true that the sight of a female is enough to screw up men's ability to rationally discount various options. Sexual mood does have impact on people's discounting behavior. Studies have indicated that when the pictures of averagely attractive women were shown of pretty women, they discounted the future value of a reward offered the chance to win a reward in a irrational way. they would opt for the smaller amount of money available the next day rather then wait for a much bigger reward. Women by contrast made equally rational decisions whether they had been shown pictures of handsome men or those of average attractiveness. Of course marketers have known that sex sells, ever since marketing was first invented which is why it's so common to see ads for men's product that are completely devoid of any men in it. This study confirms what the marketers have known all along: when a pretty women is nearby men act like total idiots. Hence men do have these forces working againts them and by turning off their reproductivity focus in addition to taming their instincts, they might be able to improve their chances.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Was there anything in this study which explained why ugly women act like utter morons when presented with something which requires problem-solving faculties? Blinking, pursing the slivers they've got instead of lips and squeaking "dou shiouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu?" is not the same thing as a cognitive process.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Was there anything in this study which explained why ugly women act like utter morons when presented with something which requires problem-solving faculties? Blinking, pursing the slivers they've got instead of lips and squeaking "dou shiouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu?" is not the same thing as a cognitive process.

They act like this because thei think pretending to be stupid is kawaii. Oviously men are fooled with it and feel smart and strong when it is just the opposite.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

i musnt be beautiful then, because most men dont talk to me, and if they do they talk to other areas of my body than my eyes

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Heck, some men act stupid when talking to anyone.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

himehentai, in the study the participants stated who they found most attractive:

The more the women attracted them, the lower their score.

So it accounts for the 'eye of the beholder'.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I never have this problem.... which no doubt explains my success.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Heck, some men act stupid when talking to anyone.

I have noticed it too. But if you ignore them it is so good.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Is it just me?

Or is this headline and attatched article no different than one saying, "Sometimes it rains in April"?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Men act stupid when...

I kind of stopped paying attention after that. The rest was bound to be axiomatic.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

You can see stupid men syndrome for yourself in the first "the gods must be crazy" movie. A must see!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

This study doesn't really surprise me, as I have had this happen to me. I remember seeing this absolutely gorgeous woman, so beautiful it felt like my heart stopped for a moment, and my brain turned off, if only for a moment. Then everything re-engaged, but even still, I felt like I wasn't operating at full mental capacity for a few moments.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Yep, I recognize this in myself. Wouldn't say I act stupidly all of a sudden, but I certainly become conscious of the fact that the woman is beautiful and my cognitive processes undergo a transformation. It takes a while to right itself.

Ivancoughalot,

Blinking, pursing the slivers they've got instead of lips and squeaking "dou shiouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu?" is not the same thing as a cognitive process

Perhaps this is a form of counteracting, or offsetting the 'stupefying transformation' that men undergo in order to make the male feel at ease, or at least not scare a potential partner off.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

i admit it. i act funny when i have a chubby

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The cause of this phenomenon is merely the redirection of blood flow from the brain to other regions that wish to receive tactile stimulation from the attractive individual they just met.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

God gave men a brain and a penis, but unfortunately, not enough blood to operate both at the same time.

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Happens to me all the time. Also men do stupid things for beautiful women. I know that from experience.

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This is very true

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I get more stupid in the presence of all women around my age cause they're all wonderful:)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Beauty is a very important factor in becoming a successful businessman. <Research paper topics on business gender negotiations.>

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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