Does familiar resemblance activate sexual attraction Based on Fraley amp Marks 2010 Westermarck Freud and the incest taboo Does familiar resemblance activate sexual attraction Pers Soc ID: 540000
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Westermarck, Freud, and the incest taboo:
Does familiar resemblance activate sexual attraction
Based on: Fraley & Marks. (2010). Westermarck, Freud, and the incest taboo: Does familiar resemblance activate sexual attraction. Pers Soc Psyc Bull.
CLASS DEMONSTRATIONSlide2
Boy meets girlSlide3Slide4
Why don’t we want to have sex with our parents or siblings?Slide5
Incest taboo
“A cultural rule or norm that prohibits sexual relations between closely related persons.”Why is there an incest taboo?Slide6
Westermarck’s proposalEvolutionary biology: Genetic variability improves survival rate
Evolutionary psychology: Psychological mechanisms have evolved to detect genetic similarity (kinship estimator)Slide7
Freud disagrees
Incest taboos exist precisely because there are innate incestuous urgesSlide8
Maybe both are right.
Evolutionary PsychodynamicPerspectiveSlide9
Evolutionary Psychodynamic PerspectivePeople are attracted to familiar things
Familiar “things” include familiar peopleSlide10
Experiment 1
36
34
Participant
Participant’s motherSlide11
Procedure
1000
ms
17
ms
“How sexually attractive is this person to you?”
17
ms
Control group:
Another
participant’s parentSlide12
ResultsSlide13
Experiment 2
Participant
(“self”)
45% (self) <----------------------------------------> 0% (self)
Target
“How sexually attractive is this person to you?”
50
self-target morphsSlide14
Results
Interim conclusion: People are attracted to kin, which include themselves!Slide15
Experiment 3Taboo-aware condition
“We morphed your face with other faces”“How sexually attractive is this person to you?”
Taboo-aware condition[nothing mentioned]“How sexually attractive is this person to you?”Slide16
Results
When taboo is activated, people are less attracted to self-morphs.Slide17
SummaryFreud was right about the outcome, but not about the processSexual attraction to kin is the result of fundamental and evolutionarily old social-cognitive mechanismsSlide18
Let’s break down the components of a scientific presentation
IntroductionWhat is the broader issue the authors are investigating?This is sometimes not written explicitly, that’s why you need to read beyond the article and draw links between textbook, seminars, personal life, and the article itself
Try to hook your audience in with the phenomenonSlide19
Let’s break down the components of a scientific presentation
IntroductionWhat are the theories involved?Explain them well. Do not simply memorize the explanations written (surface understanding). Strive for deep understanding. Understand the logic.Slide20
Let’s break down the components of a scientific presentation
MethodYour goal is to translate what is on paper and get your audience to imagine what the participants actually experienced Simulate the process in your audience. Show them what participants actually experienced
Minimal text, maximal illustrationsSlide21
Let’s break down the components of a scientific presentation
ResultsLearn how to draw good graphs. Google it.Walk your audience through the graphs.What do the axes mean?
What do the means mean?Which comparisons should the audience focus?Slide22
Let’s break down the components of a scientific presentation
SummaryWhat are the things you want your audience to remember?Why is the research important?Slide23
Let’s break down the components of a scientific presentation
DiscussionUnlike a paper, a professional scientific presentation rarely has a discussion segment.There is usually a Q&A session.
But in our class we will have a discussion section.Slide24
Class discussionAt what point does attraction become sexual attraction?
Are the results an artifact of language?Incest (voluntary) does exist, though in very small numbers. Why?