Jag har tidigare rapporterat om hur manliga schackspelare påverkas av vackra kvinnliga motspelare. En ny studie, ”The Presence of an Attractive Woman Elevates Testosterone and Physical Risk Taking in Young Men”, publicerad i Social Psychological and Personality Science, finner att unga skejtarkillar också påverkas:

The results of this field experiment provide evidence that young men take greater physical risks when in the presence of an attractive woman and that increases in circulating testosterone partially explain this effect. Such displays of physical risk taking might best be understood as hormonally fueled advertisements of health and vigor aimed at potential mates and signals of strength, fitness, and daring intended to intimidate potential rivals. The finding that increased risk taking led to both more successes and more crashes suggests that although sexual displays in human males might be adaptive in terms of reproductive success, they might also be costly in terms of survival, as has been found in other species (Hunt et al., 2004). Other instances of physical risk taking that contribute to men’s early mortality, such as dangerous driving and physical aggression, might also be influenced by increases in testosterone brought about by the presence of attractive women. The possibility that male risk taking emerges in part because of an adaptive legacy that wages survival against reproductive success offers a Darwinian perspective on the causes of such costly expressions of risk taking.

Människan tycks i hög grad fungera som andra djur och följa biologiska impulser. Några reflexioner:

• I vilken mån kan och bör impulser av detta slag medvetandegöras och ifrågasättas? (Jag har Paglia i åtanke.)
• Hur påverkas mäns beteende och prestationer av enkönade miljöer, såsom internatskolor, fängelser, idrottslag och kloster? Blir de mer passiviserade i sådana?
• Hur skiljer sig män som inte tävlar om kvinnors gunst, t.ex. sådana som lever i celibat och homosexuella, från skejtarpojkarna?

Se även inlägget ”Skejtarkulturen är fascinerande”.