"I’ll have what she’s having": why younger women are more prone to pursuing the partners of their peers. We also find out whether high heels really do put you one step ahead of the competition, and why women who engage in anal sex engage in anal sex. I mean seriously, why??

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Do high heels or flats make a woman more attractive? Nicolas Gueguen took to the streets of France to find out. Jake Guild/Flickr

The articles covered in the show:

Little, A. C., Caldwell, C. A., Jones, B. C., & DeBruine, L. M. (in press). Observer age and the social transmission of attractiveness in humans: Younger women are more influenced by the choices of popular others than older women. British Journal of Psychology. Read summary

Guéguen, N. (in press). High heels increase women’s attractiveness. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summary

Reynolds, G. L., Fisher, D. G., & Rogala, B. (in press). Why women engage in anal intercourse: Results from a qualitative study. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summary

Do mate preferences change over time? We also look at how women's perceptions of men are related to the age at which she reached puberty, and continue last month's look at the interesting phenomenon of mate choice copying.

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The articles covered in the show:

Kościński, K. (2010). Do they know what they like? Intra-individual variation of female facial preferences. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 8(1), 23-55. Read summary

Belles, S., Kunde, W., & Neumann, R. (In press). Timing of sexual maturation and women's evaluation of men. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Read summary

Place, S. S., Todd, P. M., Penke, L., & Asendorpf, J. B. (In press). Humans show mate copying after observing real mate choices. Evolution and Human Behavior. Read summary

How stress can disrupt what we find attractive. We also look at why friends are similar in attractiveness, and whether it pays to save yourself the bother of choosing a partner and instead let someone else do the choosing for you.

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The articles covered in the show:

Lass-Hennemann, J., Deuter, C. E., Kuehl, L. K., Schulz, A., Blumenthal, T. D., & Schachinger, H. (In press). Effects of stress on human mating preferences: stressed individuals prefer dissimilar mates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences. Read summary

Bleske-Rechek, A. L., & Lighthall, M. (In press). Attractiveness and rivalry in women's friendships with women. Human Nature. Read summary

Yorzinski, J. L., & Platt, M. L. (2010). Same-sex gaze attraction influences mate-choice copying in humans. PLoS One, 5(2), e9115. Read full paper for free