According to the Daily Telegraph of August 5, a research showed that the instinct tells women when they are most likely to conceive and they unknowingly set out to make themselves look as appealing as possible, but not for the benefit of potential partners. Rather, the display is an attempt to outdo potential love rivals so that they look less desirable in direct comparison, researchers claim.
The ultimate aim is to capture the best partner possible, but women's choice of attire is more influenced by other women who could stand in their way than a direct motivation to appeal to the man, experts said.
The study, which will be published in the Journal of Consumer Research, claims hormones have a direct impact on a woman's behavior when shopping.
Women who were at different phases of their menstrual cycle were shown a variety of pictures of other women before being told to choose which clothes they wanted to buy. Of the women who were ovulating, those that were shown the most alluring photographs chose outfits that did more to enhance their appearance than those who were shown pictures of unattractive women or women who lived more than 1,000 miles away.
Women who were not ovulating showed no similar variation in behavior.