tagged w/ males
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Some guys sound tough - and according to a new study, that may a good way of predicting whether they really are.
Results in the current Proceedings of the Royal Society B found that people can accurately evaluate the upper-body strength based on men's voices from four different populations and language groups. The voice samples came from the Tsimane of Bolivia, Andean herder-horticulturalists from Argentina, and college students from the United States and Romania.
Researchers recorded body size and strength measurements from women and men in each of these groups. These participants also reported how many fights they had been involved in during the last four years.
Then, undergraduates from the University of California, Santa Barbara, rated the voices on physical strength, height and weight. For the sample of male voices from the United States, raters assessed "how tough he would be in a physical fight."
The study found that, for the sample where data were available, the higher the perceived fighting ability, the more fights the man in the voice sample had reported being involved in during the last four years. It is not known how many fights these men won, but previous research suggests that "more formidable individuals are those more likely to engage in fights," the authors wrote.]
For the rest of the samples, regardless of language spoken in the speech samples, participants rating the voices reported mostly accurate predictions for physical strength for men, but not for women. There was no significant difference between how good men and women were at evaluating the voices.
The results support the idea that the human voice, especially the male voice, has cues of physical strength, and that humans have evolved to be able to predict fighting ability based on those cues. This would have had great benefit to human ancestors, who may have used this information to their survival benefit - for instance, in choosing whom to fight with and whom not to confront.
Update: The study did not determine specifically what qualities in the voices were associated with greater strength. Researchers found, however, that pitch and timbre were not explanatory factors. In other words, contrary to what you might expect, lower pitch was not associated with greater perceived strength.Some guys sound tough - and according to a new study, that may a good way of... more
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The Ideal Sequence - The Yogaasanas And The Praanaayaamas - TRCB: http://bit.ly/cGe7MF via @addthisThe Ideal Sequence - The Yogaasanas And The Praanaayaamas - TRCB: http://bit.ly/cGe7MF... more
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Growing up is tough. But for boys, it may be even tougher.
While both boys and girls face issues — in school and out — the problems affecting boys are serious and have not been properly addressed by policy makers, according to a new review article by psychologist Judith Kleinfeld. Among the results: high rates of functional illiteracy and a troublingly high suicide rate that's become even more pronounced in recent years compared to the rate among girls.
"Boys' issues are being neglected, whereas girls' issues have been addressed for over 20 years, with great success," said Kleinfeld, a professor at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. "Now it's time to turn our attention to boys."
Following concerns about psychological and educational problems affecting girls in the early 1990s, discussion of a so-called "boy crisis" emerged. Some publications claimed that boys were falling behind girls in school success and that feminist ideology was partly to blame for lack of attention on the issue.
In her paper, Kleinfeld examines gender differences through a number of academic and social measures. She looked at educational achievement, school grades, engagement in schools, dropout rates, college entrances tests, suicide rates, depression problems, and conduct disorders for both girls and boys. She concludes that, while neither gender is in a crisis, boys' issues are troubling and overlooked.
Johnny struggles to read
Kleinfeld finds that, compared with girls, American boys have lower literacy rates, lower grades, less engagement during school and higher drop-out rates. Boys also have higher rates of suicide, arrests and premature death.
On the other hand, girls are more likely to have other problems, such as suicidal thoughts and eating disorders.
"I, like Dr. Kleinfeld, don’t want to say that one [gender] has more problems than the other," said William S. Pollack, the director of the Centers for Men and Young Men at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School. "But it tends to be boys whose deeper problems are not looked into, and for whom programs that exist are not funded...that’s absolutely true."
While Pollack has worked with Klenfield in the past, he was not involved in the current review article.
One of the most urgent issues, says Kleinfeld, is boys' writing. She looked at scores from the National Tests of Educational Progress, and found that boys' scores are far below those of girls. For 12th grade students, about 26 percent of boys had scores at the "below basic" writing level, while only 11 percent of girls were in this category. The situation is similar for younger boys. In 8th grade, 17 percent of males scored below basic while just 7 percent of females scored at this level.
Boys' suicide crisis?
Another serious problem is suicide rates, Kleinfeld points out.
In her review, she cites data from the National Center for Health Statistics to show the "alarming" suicide rate among boys. From 1995 to 2005, the rate of suicide among 20 to 24 year-old boys was 20.7 suicides per 100,000, while the rate for girls was just 3.5 per 100,000. Among 15 to 19 year olds, the rates were 12.5 per 100,000 for boys and 2.8 per 100,000 for girls.
And the difference between the gender suicide rates is rising. "In 1933 the young male suicide rate was 1.54 times higher than for young females. In 2005 the male rate was 4.63 times higher than the female rate," Kleinfeld said.
In general, suicide is a problem that is downplayed in our society, experts say. In fact, suicides are more common than homicides. Overall, the U.S. murder rate is about 6 per 100,000; for suicides it's 10.8. It's higher among adult men than women.
"There’s no doubt that in relation to suicide, boys and young men are in a crisis," said Pollack. "And almost nothing has been done to remediate it from the gender perspective."
Unlike Kleinfeld, Pollack does not feel that the word "crisis" should be avoided when discussing boys' issues.Growing up is tough. But for boys, it may be even tougher.
While both boys and... more
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The more obese a man, the greater his hormonal changes and the worse his sex life, a new study finds.
In our study population, we found that lower testosterone levels and diminished ratings for sexual quality of life were correlated with increased BMI,” Hammoud said. “Subjects who lost weight through bariatric surgery experienced a reduction in estradiol [hormone] levels, an increase in testosterone levels and an increase in ratings of sexual quality of life.”The more obese a man, the greater his hormonal changes and the worse his sex life, a... more
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Dutch lab researches what people eat and how to influence habits
WAGENINGEN, Netherlands - At the university cafeteria, women linger longer than men over their lunch decisions. Given a choice, they tend to opt for meat labeled "animal friendly," while men likely will go for a new product.
Cameras are watching them. From inside a control room, monitors record the customers' movements, hesitations, facial expressions, posture, weight, even their eating habits.
It gives the scientists plenty to chew over. They study the influences on eating, how products can be made more appealing, and how to direct consumers to specific — perhaps healthier — choices.
Dutch lab researches what people eat and how to influence habits
WAGENINGEN,... more
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Anonymous sex with beautiful women that you can get away with without fear of consequence is. Anonymous sex with beautiful women that you can get away with without fear of... more
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