It’s a pretty common phenomenon.  One so common, in fact, I’m surprised anyone thought to study it.  A man spends some time talking to a beautiful woman and instantly becomes less intelligent.  Long the source of jokes for comedians and movies and the like, what was once thought to be simple awkwardness or distractedness is now officially a medical phenomenon, thanks to a new study published in the Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology.  Pretty girls DO make a man dumber.

Apparently all the talk of the blood rushing away from the brain has some significance, psychologists from Radboud University in The Netherlands have found out.  Or rather, the process of chatting a girl up takes up too much of a man’s focus.  Blame the reproductive drive for that one.  As it turns out, men work so hard to impress a girl that they don’t really pay attention to anything else.

Unsurprisingly, the results are not the same for women.  The ladies can think clearly, no matter who they talk to or how attractive he might be.  Once again, stereotypes are stereotypes because there is some truth behind them.

Tags: talking to women makes men dumber, flirting lowers test scores, human relationships, weird science, human behavior, Radboud University, The Netherlands, Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology

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