Genetics And IQ, Parents Matter

There is an excellent new paper by Dr. Alex Fornito, et.al., and here is the punchline:

How well our brain functions is largely based on our family’s genetic makeup, according to a University of Melbourne led study.

The study published in the international publication The Journal of Neuroscience provides the first evidence of a genetic effect on how ‘cost-efficient’ our brain network wiring is, shedding light on some of the brain’s make up.

Lead author Dr. Alex Fornito from the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre at the University of Melbourne said the findings have important implications for understanding why some people are better able to perform certain tasks than others and the genetic basis of mental illnesses and some neurological diseases.

“The brain tries to maximize its bang-for-buck by striking a balance between making more connections to promote efficient communication and minimising the “cost” or amount of wiring required to make these connections. Our findings indicate that this balance, called ‘cost-efficiency’, has a strong genetic basis.”

“Ultimately, this research may help us uncover which specific genes are important in explaining differences in cognitive abilities, risk for mental illness and neurological diseases such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease, leading to new gene-based therapies for these disorders.”

“We found that people differed greatly in terms of how cost-efficient the functioning of their brain networks were, and that over half of these differences could be explained by genes,” said Dr. Fornito.

Across the entire brain, more than half (60%) of the differences between people could be explained by genes. Some of the strongest effects were observed for regions of the prefrontal cortex which play a vital role in planning, strategic thinking, decision-making and memory.

Here is one popular summary of the results.  I interpret the finding to suggest some mix of a) genetics is more important than we think (when we think we are measuring the importance of IQ), and b) there are some smart people, smarter than we often think they are, and they pick and choose their mates.

For the pointer I thank my clear-eyed powers of observation.

***

Maybe the Cheap Chalupas guy should read and post about these types of studies. He likes to posture as a well-read man, after all. Or would that be too emotionally painful?

Economists and liberatarians work to make economic theory fit human nature as they see it. What they fear most is that human nature will not bend to fit economic theory. And so they ignore human nature. Or whitewash it. Or demonize it. And they look sillier and sillier by the year…

Why The Royal Marriage Is Doomed

Hand holding involves a dominant and a submissive hand position. The dominant hand is the one over the top of the other hand, with the palm facing backward.

Women prefer the submissive postures in relationships. It is their subconscious preference, as it is men’s preference to assume the role of the dominant partner. Try it sometime with your girlfriend. Hold her hand in the reverse, where your palm faces forward like in the pic above. You will find your unconscious revolting against the act, a silent scream crying out from the cellar of your mind, begging for relief from the jarring oscillation to its rhythmic pulse.

William has subverted this natural predilection and holds Kate’s hand in the submissive posture. I predict she will cheat on him before her 38th birthday.

On Bended Knees

Royalty doesn’t wait.

(hat tip: JT)

(caption contest time! any reference to “polishing the royal sceptre” will earn double bonus points.)

Alpha Assessment: Tasting Success Edition

Did you act like the alpha all women crave? Let’s find out.

Alex writes:

To start, let me state until a week ago, I was a huge beta male that didn’t realize it. After reading a lot of this site, and some others, I’m trying to shape up my game, so here’s my first try:

It started with her rescheduling a date we had.

Her: Hey sorry, the expedition with my roommates took longer than I expected, can we do another night this week?

(right before we were supposed to meet)
Me: Sure. I’m free Wednesday at 7.

Her: Sounds Good 🙂

(20 minutes later)
Me: I’ll pick you up at your house.

Her: My roommate isn’t the biggest fan of mysterious guys coming over, so I can meet you there.

(an hour later)
Me: Fine, but you’re buying the first round of drinks. Meet me at X at 7.

(almost immediately)
Her: Alright, I’ll be there. 😉

I know this isn’t anything special, but I’m fairly proud of myself for my first taste of alpha-dom.

This is a very good exchange. After the initial postponement, he correctly waits until just before the date to let her know that a reschedule is possible, and he is firm about which day and time he can meet. (You want to make a girl sweat a bit when she asks for a rain check, so waiting until the last second to allay her fears is the right thing to do. She’ll wonder if you a) got her message, and b) if you even care.)

When she texts “sounds good” with a smiley, he does not respond with another smiley. You want to avoid the typical beta traps that snare feeble men. He only replies twenty minutes later when necessary.

The girl is starting to feel that her prerogative as an innately higher status female is under threat by Alex’s deft handling of the convo to this point. She responds with the status-boost-by-proxy of claiming that he can’t come to her place to pick her up lest he spook her roommate. This excuse may or may not be true (likely not), but it serves well as a dual purpose shit test and status reinforcer.

Alex waits the requisite one hour before replying to her assinine excuse, and challenges her to rectify the situation by buying the first round. Well done. Chicks lurv a challenge, dontcha know!

When chicks text reply immediately, it means they are sexually aroused.

Summary judgement: The alpha is strong in this one.

Update from Alex:

So she met me at 7, I made her buy all the drinks, and got in her pants. Win-win. Alpha > all.

Called it.

******

For the following analysis, I’ll insert bolded editorial comments where needed.

She Bangs writes:

Alright, to start off I’ve ran into this girl since high school, and always seem to get the girls I targeted to lay down in my bed once I set my sights on them, but this one was particularly difficult. She’s got what every guy might want looks, humor, money, and a phenomenal ass that probably deserves its own booth at the car show. I hooked up with her once after some beers and a movie (she paid) and then we went back to my house where she wrestled with my appendage for about an hour, claiming she couldn’t have sex because she thought of her ex too much. [Ed: Anti-slut defense. This could have been defused.] Didn’t talk to her much because she’s slightly dumb but very booksmart.

Fast forward about 2 years later, I feel a little inclined to see if my avenue is completely cut off, or if I should give it a go another time… Anyway the txts end up going like this…:

Me: You should come out with me on a weeknight.

(Immediately)

Her: Where

(2 minutes later)

Me: Wrong the answer is “Sure”

[Ed: She wants you to lead at this point. The cockiness is overkill. Just tell her the place you’ll take her.]

(Immediately)

Her: K

[Ed: She doesn’t sound playful here. Beware an escalating test of wills.]

(3 minutes later)

Me: Your apartment with wine, cheese, and a B rated movie.

[Ed: You’re walking into her frame, chasing her, and that’s a bad place to be. She gave a flippant reply with that “K” and your hand was forced to follow up with a location and plan well after she originally asked for that info. Also, it’s probably not a good idea to meet a girl at her place. Home turf advantage and all that.]

(2 minutes later)

Her: Thats not going out, whats a b rated?

[Ed: Shit test. She has hand, and she’s gonna use it.]

(2 minutes later)

Me: Gremlins

(1 minute later)

Her: GiZmo?

(2 minutes later)

Me: Gizuntite. Do you do anal?

[Ed: lol. Ok, there’s cocky and funny, and there’s just weird. Guess which one your answer was. It was too late to do any sort of apocalypse opener-type text game with her.]

I’m still waiting for her response, but Im going to call this one a done deal. You think she was offended, intrigued, or just flat out dumbfounded?

Summary judgement: dumbfounded, and not very intrigued in a sexual way. A lot of the success of this exchange depends upon your vibe with her when you first met. I’ll predict this didn’t turn out well, but I’m curious to know, so if the reader She Bangs is reading this, tell us what happened.

******

The_King writes:

Every girl I hook up with doesn’t want to get eaten out… ever…

is this alpha or not?

Are they so horny and ready that they want to skip it to go straight for the goods?

That leads to is eating a girl out beta?

To your first and second questions: hard to say. Could be small sample size, or it could be that you give off a vibe of not being interested in anything but jackhammering. Or maybe you date skanks with stank snatches. It is also possible, as you mentioned, that very horny girls just want to segue straight to the rogering.

To your third question: Eating a girl out anytime during the first few weeks of dating is beta. When you eat a girl out, you telegraph your incredible horniness for her. Men normally do not want to go down on women and bury their mouths in that fetid, humid mess unless they find her so overwhelmingly hot that they can’t help themselves. Women instinctively know this, so they correctly gauge that a man who goes down on them on the first date must feel he’s with one of the best he’s ever had. This, in turn, will sour a woman’s attraction for a man, since no woman in the history of the universe has ever felt raging lust for a man she believed lower than herself in value.

Cunnilingus later in the relationship is absolved from this rule, because you have already demonstrated your manly ability to use her strictly for the piledriving hole she is.

******

walawala writes:

Field Report highlighting the beta to alpha switch and the merits of Mystery Method.

Target: girl who lives in another country, have known for 8 years, always kept in touch with, never banged. She was always talking about getting together but since she lived so far away, we’d only see each other as “Friends” when I went there for business. She’s 34, slim, dresses hot, short skirt, heels, looks good for her age, in the US might be an 8.

She says she’s coming to Hong Kong to visit from China with her hot friend who she seems to want to set me up with. We mostly communicate by Chat/MSN.

We agree to meet for dinner and then go to a dance party-the three of us. But the super hot friend is divorcing her husband who stuck her with her 3 year old daughter for the weekend, so it’s me, my HB7 friend and her HB8 younger single mom with precocious 3 year old in tow.

After studying and practicing game, I decide to see how far this will go. Single mom is clearly out, the kid is a major cock block. But my “friend” looks hot.

From the minute they sat down, I initiate light kino with my friend. Then start escalating it, first a tap on the forearm to make a point, then keeping it there longer.

We go to buy a bottle of wine before the party and before dropping single mom off at hotel with 3 year old rug rat. I carry the rug rat to the wine shop. (Protector of women and children).

At the dance party, I largely ignore my friend instead dancing with other girls. (Pre-selection)

I come back, dance with her, kino, negs, push-pull teasing, back to dancing with other girls. She is giving me major IOI’s. Suddenly she wants to leave. I can stay she says I pause. She looks and smiles—IOI, she wants to come over, so I suggest we come over and have tea.

As we’re walking outside, I remember this blog’s advice to a prior email of mine about waiting is for beta’s and poets. So I lean in and plant a hot wet kiss on her.

She responds like she couldn’t wait. Biting my lip, deep tongue. She’s game.

Back to my place. Banged her twice. She was so into it. She leaves to go back to her hotel room that she’s sharing with her hot friend and friend’s daughter.

Next day she sends text: “forgive me if I was out of control”. Then after we chat, she says it was a “shock” and that she thought we were just “friends” but never thought it would happen “like in a movie”.

Wants me to come travel with her, visit her etc.

This 5 hours of alpha beats 5 years of beta is so true.

Elsewhere here, someone wrote that the essence of game was to look like you don’t care while consciously trying to move it forward. That was how it was that night for me.

Summary judgment: delightfully alpha. I have nothing to add, except, welcome to your escape from the matrix.

******

Fisto writes:

A couple weeks ago I finally sat next to a hot chick on the plane. I just nodded at her, sat down, and opened a book. Occasionally, chuckling under my breath. After I closed my book for a moment she struck up the conversation “what’s that you’re reading”? She is a little older but still a solid 8. Plus she was flying to LA for some kind of fashion thing and she had all these fabrics. This kind of upped my desire to bang her.

I’d exchanged a few txts with her after getting her number when the flight was over. She was flying back that same night and I was getting picked up by another chick anyway.

Here’s the text exchange when I asked her to get together.

Me: I’m back in town mon lets catch up for a drink

Her: Are you asking me on a date or for a buddies drink? Lol

Me: I’ve got too many buddies as is, so the former

Her: Nice. I would love to grab dinner. I save just drinks for buddies 😉

Me: Well before you have dinner w me ur invited to have a drink

Her: Sounds Great!

Then we made plans to meet at this lounge and I eventually got the bang later that night (last night). Anyway, I followed advice from this blog on reframing and avoiding being suckered in to buying dinner only to get a lousy kiss. Just wanted to say thanks.

I like the way this reader handled the woman’s slyly manipulative move to extract dinner resources from him with his reframe away from dinner and back to drinks. You really do not ever want to take a girl you haven’t yet banged to dinner. The food will absorb all the alcohol she drinks, and the seating arrangement at dinner tables is not conducive to kino escalation. And don’t forget that the time to sex is directly proportional to the amount of money spent on her (more money, more high n’ dry time), so keep your cost-per-lay low.

Props also to the aloof and indifferent lack of attention to punctuation. Chicks eat that shit up.

Summary judgment: smooth moves, ferguson.

Why GSS Sex Questions Should Be Taken With A Flat Of Salt

The problem with sex surveys has been the same since the first white-coated experimenter got it in his head to ask women about their sex lives —

women lie about sex.

Not only do women lie about sex, but their vaginas and brains aren’t even on the same page when it comes to what they find sexually stimulating. Their own vaginas seem to be lying to them.

A study from a few years ago examined this problem and found that women lie worse than men on sex surveys, and lie about a whole host of behaviors that they are afraid might label them a slut:

Women are more likely than men to lie about their sex lives as a study reveals they routinely claim to have slept with fewer partners than they have.

The report points to discrepancies in the results of sex surveys since the Sixties which have indicated heterosexual men exaggerate the number of their partners, with British men claiming an average of 13 over their lifetime.

Yet women in the UK claim an average of nine – leading to the unlikely conclusion that the majority of Britain’s menfolk are having sex with foreign women. Similar studies elsewhere suggest that this is statistically impossible.

Until now, scientists had thought that both sexes were lying – with men inflating the number of partners and women understating them.

But the study reveals women’s embellishments include adding years to the age they claim to have lost their virginity and lying about masturbation and use of pornography. The survey in the Journal of Sex Research quizzed 96 men and 105 women. Some were told their answers were anonymous, some were told a researcher was watching and the rest were told they were being monitored by lie detector.

“Women are so sensitive about being labelled ‘whores’ that they are very reluctant to be honest about their sexual behaviour, even in supposedly anonymous surveys,” said Terri Fisher, who headed the study at Ohio State University in the US.

Women lie to cover up their sluttiness? Who woulda thunk it!

A lot of bloggers like to use GSS (General Social Survey) data to track changes in society’s sexual behavior. Many of these bloggers have found in this data evidence that American women are becoming less slutty in the past ten or twenty years. This does not jibe with my personal experience, so I knew something was amiss. I mused that perhaps American society is bifurcating into two female camps, with the urban blue state camp waving the banner of Team Slut and the religious red state camp hoisting the flag of Team Prude. Since there are more red state godly girls than there are blue state heretic hos, I figured that would account for the overall trend toward less sluttiness.

But studies like the above point out a real problem with sex survey data like that found in the GSS — women just aren’t going to tell you the truth about their sex lives under most normal circumstances, even when anonymity is guaranteed. And that may be the real reason why the GSS gurus are finding chimeras of chasteness that don’t really exist — the data are corrupt.

The only way you are going to get an accurate reading of what kind of sex lives women lead is to secretly videotape the numbers, and types, of men she bangs with her pussy or ass, blows, or pleases with an old-fashioned, because women will conveniently rationalize anything other than penis in vagina as “not really sex”.

Now that’s science I can get behind.

Prince William: Beta Chump

Kate Middleton, a rather mannish-looking princess-to-be (get a load of that wedge-shaped chin), has excised the ‘obey’ part from her wedding vows. Her feminist sensibilities have got the best of her, so she will not be vowing any obedience to her Prince. Perhaps William could take a page from her book and alter his wedding vows to suit a more contemporary interpretation:

“I, beta supremo, take thee, annoying ballbuster, to be my lawful wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love as a legally recognized equal in every way except for those times I’m required to prop her on a pedestal and sing her praises to all and sundry, till death or a financial catastrophe from divorce us do part, according to culturally specific traditional folkways; and thereto I plight thee the last vestige of my manly fortitude.”

I’m sure Kate batted her eyelashes and glowed a bit in the cheeks when she kindly asked directed William to accept her changes to the traditional English wedding vows, and I’m sure William, being the good enlightened poodleboy he is, pretended to happily agree, figuring that she would love him even more for his understanding and progressive attitude.

I’ve got news for ya, ol’ chap. She won’t. In fact, she’ll likely come to resent you for caving to her demands.

To understand this female peculiarity with issuing demands they don’t really want to see acceded, you have to envision that each woman has two mouths. One mouth, the face mouth, says the words that your ears actually hear. This is the mouth that concatenates and delivers the sentence fragments that form in the prefrontal cortex of her mind. She means these words, inasmuch as that part of her brain retains control over the other parts of her brain. Unfortunately, that is rarely the case.

The other mouth, the vagina mouth, only says words that her hindbrain hears. These are words not meant for either your ears or her ears. Her hamster, though, does hear them, and his job is to spin those words, devilish as they are, into palatable rationalizations which are then shuttled to the polite and civilized cortex for mastication.

So, the face mouth says ‘I will not obey and he better agree with me’, while the vagina mouth whispers ‘Jesus, if he bends to my feminist will I’m going to dry up in bed and start daydreaming of the gruff bouncer at Shariadiscoteque.’

Before I knew of this ‘obey’ tidbit, I would have given this celebutard marriage pretty good odds of surviving to the decrepit end. After all, she is marrying a prince. And she’s not exactly the hottest babe he could have snagged. But now that this has come out, I revise my estimate downward. The chance of Kate absconding with a swarthy southerner on a weekend junket aboard his yacht has just doubled.

Like father, like son. Even royalty can’t compensate for cringing betaness.

Leave Her Place More Often Than She Leaves Yours

You’ve spent the day with her, come back to her place, had sex, watched a movie and drank some wine. But instead of sleeping over, you decide to go home to chill by yourself for a night. As you head toward her door to leave, she skips over, throws her arms over your shoulders, and kisses you goodbye, whispering ‘i love you’ with the tone of urgent expectation that it would be answered in kind. Her eyes speak with that giveaway limpid twinkle that tells you she was never more enraptured by you than at that very moment, and lurking underneath her joyous exterior is just the tiniest undercurrent of anxiety — sweet sweet anxiety — as she watches you walk away from her.

Yeah, she knows, consciously, that she’ll see you tomorrow, but for know, the act of physically leaving her presence to set off for a homeland 1/4 mile away imbues her subconscious with the same exquisite dread of loss that her distant female ancestors must have felt when their men left in the morning for the hunt on the plains just over the horizon.

Logically, it should make no sense that leaving her place would fill her heart with even stronger longing, and more powerful sexual attraction, when she knows that you live close by and you aren’t going on a dangerous hunt or raiding expedition with your laptop and cellphone. And yet, those ancient feelings bubble to the surface unbidden, caring not for logic or sensibility.

It’s a quite rudimentary act, this leaving your lover’s place so she is standing behind to watch you saunter off; one so devious in its simplicity that most men do it by accident, unaware of the soul-stirring effect it has on women.

When you spend time with a woman at her place, and then leave, you are artificially boosting your status relative to hers. This status boost triggers powerful feelings of lust and love in her. For reasons that harken back to a time shrouded in the mists of our tribal antiquity, a man who parts from his lover rather than waits for his lover to part from him is perceived more attractively to her.

The corollary to this phenomenon is also true, and should give you pause. If she is at your place, and she leaves to go do something by herself, the physical nature of her parting from your abode and you kissing her goodbye reverses the omnipresent status tension that must always exist to foster her desire for you. Do it enough times, and barely comprehended forces emanating from the deepest abyss of her id will push outward, staining her subconscious impression of you as a higher status man, until spite and resentment begin to intrude on once idyllic moments of loving peacefulness.

Therefore, try to make it a habit to part her company more often than she parts yours. A mirror image of Poon Commandment V — follow the golden ratio — applies: for every two times she leaves your place, leave her place three times.

What about those of us who cohabit?, some of you are asking. Well, there are ways to leave a woman without really leaving her, and without leaving for another home. Just imagine you have your own interests, and occasionally adventure calls, and you must heed it, without her. She can’t help but love you when you leave her behind.