Continuing with my sexist pig rambling started in Lucky Tom (and what a sexist thought), I digress a moment to recognize the costly signalling of mating behaviors.
Care to calculate the biologic cost, the sheer energy demands upon a Tom’s system, to create and maintain their mating display?
It is staggering.
Signal Theory is a pet study of mine. It deals with the economic (in the true and broader concept of “economic”) cost of some action, behavior, speech, whatever, it doesn’t matter, put it into Signal Theory and you discover the real reason for the behavior and that reason, my readers, is so far and away from what someone’s stated reason for acting, behaving, speaking, whatevering, is as to be astounding.
A Tom’s display, for example, is really no different than the young Two-Legs male purchasing a flashy car, buying flashy clothes, having a posh flat, spending hours at the gym, so on and so forth.
Both are attempts to Signal their appropriateness, their attractiveness to some interesting other.
What’s truly wonderful about Signal Theory is, figure out what’s really being signalled and why and you learn more about the person than one could hope to imagine.
For example, women who are avid (I was tempted to write “rabid”) Trump supporters.
I, personally, can’t understand why a self-respecting woman would be a Trump supporter. He’s a blatant, misogynistic idiot (that last part’s all on me. The first two are from public record).
So what does a woman gain by supporting him?
Signal Theory suggests we look at it from a mating perspective (not all Signal Theory deals with mating behavior, but it is handy, isn’t it?).
Women as a class are long-term investors who favor stability over excitement (something research, my own and others) has demonstrated.
Male Trump supports tend to be staunch and rabid republicans.
Male republicans as a class are conservative, stable, and have solid financial presents and futures.
Things, by the way, for which Trump is the poster child.
Especially considering his multiple bankruptcies.
So why some women support Trump?
Because it increases their desirability in the eyes and minds of stable, conservative, financially solid males.
Yeah.
Signal Theory.
Gotta love it.
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