07/09/2010 03:11:06 AM EST

Lady Gaga and Belladonna

posted by DiracCone

After listening to the story about Lady Gaga and the cosmetic contact lens story I thought I would relay a bit of history and a bit of science.

do you have a preference?
 

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It turns out, it is a well known fact: people are attracted to members of the opposite sex more when they see dilated pupils. This effect has been known for half a millennium. In the 16th century Italian women would put drops made from the deadly nightshade plant (one of the most poisonous plants) into their eyes to dilate their pupils and, hence, look more attractive to males. This gave the the plant its other name Belladonna which is Italian for Beautiful Woman. Today when you go to the eye doctor and they dilate your pupils they are using a synthetic form of the active ingredient in this same plant.

 

Careful study showed that indeed men were more attracted to pictures of women with the pupils enlarged in the 1960's and it turns out that women show the same preference. By careful scientific study I mean they took pictures and simply colored in the iris black. They then showed them to test subjects and asked them to rate their attractiveness. The current theory as to why people find others with dilated pupils more attractive revolves around sexual selection. This is mainly due to the fact that this preference starts with puberty. It is most likely related to the fact that when people are aroused and interested their pupils dilate. So, the theory goes, if you are talking to a potential mate and their pupils dilate you have evidence that they are interested and your efforts have more of a chance to pay off... with the fucking. 

So in the end, Lady Gaga and those teens are tapping into an old Italian secret of how to use a little poison in the right place to catch a mate.

I tried to find a picture of the plant to go along with this but the pornstar of the same name makes image searching difficult to do.

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Lady Gaga and Belladonna | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 hidden)
LOL (none / 0)
Yeah, that's what I thought of, Belladonna the pr0n madonna, who has a rep for ultimate anal nastiness.

I was like, whoa, and what is she going to DO with that telephone?

by RedPossum on 07/09/2010 10:24:39 AM EST

Good news for stoners! (none / 0)
"It turns out, it is a well known fact: people are attracted to members of the opposite sex more when they see dilated pupils."

"The first thing Fascists usually try to do is silencing the opposition."

by opposition on 07/09/2010 10:49:24 AM EST

Ugg meets Ogg (none / 0)
It turns out, it is a well known fact: people are attracted to members of the opposite sex more when they see dilated pupils

Must be an old preference left over from early humans. Ugg looks at Ogg, sees Ogg's big pupils and thinks to himself, "Mmm. We walk in dark woods, she see bears early. Human flashlight. Good catch."

by OneHitKill on 07/09/2010 11:04:31 AM EST

Yeah, she digs me. (none / 0)

Actually it has more to do with figuring out whether or not the partner finds you attractive.

Pupils dilate for all sorts of reasons, one of which is caused by looking at an attractive person. I look at Jessica Alba, my eyes dilate. I see Rush Limbaugh, I'm looking through pin-holes.

When I see a woman with pin-hole pupils, she probably doesn't find me attractive. I see a girl with Oreo eyes, and I'm like "Hey baby, the feeling is mutual."

http://www.askmen.com/datin g/dating_advice/dating17b.h tml

"Terrorism is the war for the poor and powerless. War is the terrorism for the rich and powerful."

by JamesStevensDigArt on 07/09/2010 02:22:35 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Right. (none / 0)

The empirical fact remains that we tend to find people with dilated pupils more attractive. This has been studied since the 1960's (Some guy named Hess did most of this). This is an unqualified fact for men. It has a few caveats for women but is still mainly true.

The fact that our pupils dilate when we see attractive people is a different issue, but possibly related. Actually, our pupils also dilate whenever our cognitive load increases. So when we see unexpected or new things they also dilate. But that's a different issue. That Ask men article is only scratching the surface and is ignoring the strong empirical evidence that showing interest with dilated pupils makes you look more attractive. Here is a more reputible source with actual data to back up their assertions:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j .evolhumbehav.2004.05.001

 Their main results, "As expected, the relationship of attraction to pupil size was positive and linear for males viewing females. Females, however, rather than showing the predicted inverted U function, showed consistent preferences for either medium or large pupils in males"

 Also:

Bull and Shread main result, "pupil dilation in the female photographs caused such faces to be rated as more good-looking by the two oldest groups of male observer"

By the way, that last paper also showed that women found the dilated pupils in pictures of women to make them less attractive. Huh.

by DiracCone on 07/09/2010 06:30:49 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Lady Gaga and Belladonna | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 hidden)
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