Dr. Nicolas Guéguen, a psychologist at the Université de Bretagne-Sud in Rennes, reported a study looking at whether whether women's wearing of high heels elicited more helping behavior by gentlemen and other ladies. In two separate experiments, he had four young french women wearing on separate occasions flats, two-inch heels, of four-inch heels.
In the first experiment, the women stood on the street and asked passersby to complete a survey. When the women were wearing flats, 25 out of 60 men (42 percent) agreed to pause and take the survey. When the women wore two-inch heels, 36 of 60 men (60 percent) agreed to take the survey. And 49 out of 60 men (82 percent) paused when the women wore the four-inch heels.
Female passersby stopped to complete the survey around a third of the time; they were not more likely to complete the survey if the survey-takers wore high heels or flats.
In another experiment, the women confederates dropped a glove or the street and noted whether men retrieved for them or not. Again, they were wearing flats or high heels. The men retrieved the glove 62 percent of the time when the women wore flats, but 93 percent of the time when they wore high heels'.
As for why high heels have this sort of influence, Guéguen offered a simple explanation: the wearing of high heels simply makes women more attractive to men.
It's nice to know what sort of stimuli press the gentleman button in guys. Whether it provides justification enough for mastering the skill of wearing four-inch heels, I don't know.
In my opinion, this sort of research should be replicated on a sample of American men and women, extended to include possible helpful behaviors that require more time or effort, and/or the confederates wearing different colored or exaggerated high heels. After all, it is well-known that certainly strikingly colored or styled high heels are deliberately worn to exaggerate the wearer's gait and to be noticed by guys. You probably know the popular term for them, which I won't use.
I wonder also, if some men assume that ladies wearing flats might be seen as less disposed towards offers of help by guys, rightly or wrongly. If so, there are some advantages to being a girly girl.
17 comments:
A woman wearing high heels has a delightful sway of the backside.
Wearing 4 inch heels is inconvenient and awkward id you are in a service job.
If you think about how the wearing of high heels tends to emphasize the posture, attempting to balance, that would surely attract more men. Perhaps men see women wearing flats as being less interested in men? I can go for 2", but could not stand in 4"!
Very interesting statistics. If a lady drops her glove, you gotta pick it up, it doesn't matter what kind of shoes she's wearing.
my practical side puts me in sneakers, sandals, or barefoot, thanks. :)
I've been gathering info for awhile for a post about womens shoes over the years. When I think about posting it my procrastination kicks in. One of these days....
My wife wore 4-inch heels for years while she taught ballroom and Latin dancing, and to this day she has knee problems that I'm quite sure derive at least in part from those heels. I don't find high heels that attractive, but then, I'm more partial to arms than to legs.
If you expect to rate as a gentleman, you help ladies, whatever shoes they're wearing.
If I understand the date correctly, women are less likely to be helpful than are guys. What accounts for that?
interesting. on the surface of it I think my ideal 'kind of girl' would be a sneaker wearer rather than a high heal wearer.....I don't know why, but I seem to associate the wearing of high heels with being a bit 'stuck up' (aloof).
Being competent might be it's own punishment in certain circumstances!
Be true to your teeth and they won't be false to you.
Soupy Sales
Women in heels might be noticed more, and thus helped.
Are French men more leg men than boob men?
Someone ought to do that research here!
I'm more into wearing flats, myself.
Why not just help ladies, whatever they're wearing???
The cartoon is adorable!
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