Studieshavefoundthatwhen a youngmanin a nightclubasks a womantodancewithhim, hisrequestwasmorelikelytobefollowedifhetouchedherforearmforoneortwoseconds.
Thismaybebecausetactilecontactisassociatedwithdominance, aslaterwhenthewomenwereaskedtocomplete a survey, a highscoreofdominancewasassociatedwithtactilecontact.
However, psychologistAdamPazdasuggeststhatinsteadourattractiontoredmaybe a hangoverfromhuman's evolutionarypastasanimals, suchasfemalebaboonsdisplaypatchesofbrightredskintoindicatetheyarereadytomate.