When choosing between two evils, Mae West quipped that she always picked the one she’d never tried before. Had the actress been ovulating at the time, however, a new study suggests she’d have insisted on choosing both.
Defying the “paradox of choice� – a consumer psychology theory suggesting people can indeed get too much of a good thing – researchers have found for the first time that fertile women want it all when it comes to pleasure.
Specifically, multiple experiments with nearly 1,000 women uncovered a link between ovulation and variety-seeking in rewards domains (science-speak for things that make you feel good). Moreover, the desire for a greater selection of rewards extended beyond the reproductive realm to include items unrelated to mating, such as chocolate desserts and ice cream.
“Our results provide more evidence for biology’s influence on our behaviour,� said Columbia University’s Ali Faraji-Rad, the study’s lead author.
The novel research builds on prior neuro-imaging studies showing that women close to ovulation have higher reward-related brain activity when faced with a pleasurable stimulus – say, money or decadent food. Investigators sought to uncover whether this increased sensitivity to rewards would lead to greater variety-seeking in pleasure domains.
For example, one experiment allowed participants to order any combination of flavoured ice cream provided the total scoops numbered four. A woman who selected one chocolate, one strawberry, one vanilla and one coffee scoop would be considered more “variety-seeking� than a woman who chose three scoops of chocolate and one scoop of strawberry, even though both were consuming the same amount.
A similar experiment showed participants nine male faces and asked them to indicate how many dates they’d theoretically like with each man, provided the total number of dates equalled seven. In both studies, women who were in the fertile phases of their cycle picked a wider variety of rewards – ie; ice cream and potential mates – than women who were not.
A final study demonstrated that this effect is likely limited to rewards domains. Researchers did so by randomly assigning women to order off a menu of either pleasure food (chocolate desserts) or no-frills food (vegetable salads), with similar guidelines as the previous experiments.
In the chocolate group, the prior findings held true, with fertile women seeking greater variety than non-fertile women. But when it came to the rabbit food, no significant difference was detected.
The paper, to appear in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, proposes two possible reasons for the relationship between fertility and variety-seeking: First, that increased sensitivity to pleasure leads to a liking of more rewarding items, and second, that increased sensitivity to pleasure triggers greater motivation to ensure reward delivery – achieved by sampling more options and thus reducing the risk of disappointment.
No matter the explanation, though, Faraji-Rad said the findings make him rethink prior literature on fertility effects.
“One of the most famous findings of previous research is that women who are closer to ovulation prefer partners with more masculine traits. The traditional evolutionary psychology story explaining such an effect is that men with masculine traits potentially have better genes, and fertile women’s preference for masculinity is an adaptation for optimal transfer of genes,� said Faraji-Rad.
“A simpler explanation … may be that women who are closer to ovulation seek more pleasure, and therefore they prefer men who will supposedly give them more pleasure. Masculinity is one feature that supposedly gives them more pleasure.�
Further exploration is needed to draw firm conclusions. But the preliminary take-home message – at least for women close to ovulation – may be to avoid Baskin Robbins, lest all 31 flavours look appealing.
mharris@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/popcultini
