Usually, doctoral research articles are pretty boring, especially the methodology part. But one recent article finally made must read status, even making me want to jump straight to the methodology section. In the journal, Evolution and Human Behavior, volume 28, there is an article by Geoffrey Miller⁎, Joshua M. Tybur, and Brent D. Jordan from the University of New Mexico Psychology Department. They researched the effect of the ovulatory cycle on lap dancers who gave 5,300 lap dances. Even a discussion about T-square formulas can’t make that boring.
Summary finding: “Normally cycling participants earned about US$335 per 5-h shift during estrus, US$260 per shift during the luteal phase, and US$185 per shift during menstruation. By contrast, participants using contraceptive pills showed no estrous earnings peak.” That’s crazy. That comes out to a low of $17 per hour and a high of $67 per hour. We’re talking about an increase of $50 per hour!
The actually cool research piece of this study is that it is the first time that this solid of a link between women’s cycles and men’s behavior. It could be pheromones, it could be the women actually feeling and behaving differently, it could be from a lot of possible causes. But something actually makes men give bigger tips. The theoretical possibilities and implications for more research are big. Are women more likely to get raises from male bosses if they ask while ovulating? Or get hired at all? Win a big sales account? Should women actually schedule most of their important events accordingly? How do women respond to the cycles of other women? And on the male side, is higher tipping an easy thing to trigger or is it actually indicative of a major psychological reaction by the man. And where is the closest conference that has doctors Miller, Tybur and Jordan presenting, because that conference is probably awesome!
It also goes to show that for all the civilized veneer, we’re probably still a lot closer to instinctive animals that we like to believe.