Study Says: Citizens In States That Back The Winning Party Search For More Porn After Elections

from the target-those-ads... dept

With the Republicans handily winning a whole bunch of House seats in the elections, apparently you can expect the amount of searching for internet porn to increase in the states that voted Republican. Sound ridiculous? Yes, but apparently it's science. On The Media points us to the news of a new study that looked at porn searches before and after elections and found that they tend to increase in states that support the "winning" party. Of course, I'd take these results with a pretty serious grain of salt, but the study's authors note that they're statistically significant. You can read the whole study (pdf) if you'd like. The abstract is:
The current study examined whether or not individuals who vicariously win a competition seek out pornography relatively more often than individuals who vicariously lose a competition. By examining a portion of Google keyword searches during the 2004, 2006 and 2008 US election cycles, the relative popularity of online pornography keywords searches was computed for each state and the District of Columbia the week before and the week after each election. Consistent with the Challenge Hypothesis, following all three election cycles, individuals located in states voting for the winning political party tended to search for pornography keywords relatively more often than individuals residing in states voting for the losing political party.
The "Challenge Hypothesis," if you're unfamiliar with it, is the idea that competition itself increases testosterone in men, and winning a competition increases testosterone even more -- and this includes just witnessing the competition. So, other studies have apparently found increases in testosterone in men watching their favorite sports teams win. So this study looked at whether or not porn searches might act as a proxy for such increased testosterone.
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Filed Under: challenge hypothesis, elections, porn


Reader Comments

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  1. icon
    weneedhelp (profile), 3 Nov 2010 @ 12:52pm

    P P P PORN!!!!!!

    :)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    The Philly Missus, 3 Nov 2010 @ 12:58pm

    GO FLYERS!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    Free Capitalist (profile), 3 Nov 2010 @ 1:01pm

    "I fell like I'm going to rage... Right Now!"

    Brian Wilson
    Certified Ninja / Order of Mental Assassins

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    Free Capitalist (profile), 3 Nov 2010 @ 1:06pm

    Re:

    Bah... of course it was something more like
    "I feel like I need to rage... right now!"

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    TtfnJohn (profile), 3 Nov 2010 @ 1:07pm

    Re: P P P PORN!!!!!!

    I'm trying hard to imagine Tea Party porn. (And not come up with a cheap Sarah Palin crack at the same time. Far, far too easy.)

    Different breeds of tea copulating in oversized tea bags?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. icon
    Hephaestus (profile), 3 Nov 2010 @ 1:13pm

    Question

    Does study say anything about the people in the bible belt?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. icon
    weneedhelp (profile), 3 Nov 2010 @ 1:17pm

    Re: Re: P P P PORN!!!!!!

    Sarah Palin, tea bag... arrrrrghhhhhh!!! Thats it, im done. No more porn for me.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. icon
    Jay (profile), 3 Nov 2010 @ 1:24pm

    Re: Question

    They started their study there. I'm doubly sure.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. icon
    TtfnJohn (profile), 3 Nov 2010 @ 1:36pm

    Re: Question

    Not leafed through the Old Testament recently have you?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. icon
    marak (profile), 3 Nov 2010 @ 1:44pm

    Re: Re: Question

    Leafed through? its where i get all my best porn! :P

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Nov 2010 @ 1:53pm

    BEST. STUDY. EVER.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. icon
    Pickle Monger (profile), 3 Nov 2010 @ 2:04pm

    Can't wait

    Maybe it's because they can't wait to start getting screwed by politicians they just elected that the thoughts immediately turn to....

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Yomamma, 3 Nov 2010 @ 2:15pm

    Impeach the Bastards

    Probably the sore-losing party trying to find the winners in porn. ...gathering evidence they may have missed before the election.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    colg, 3 Nov 2010 @ 3:08pm

    So...

    People who's political party wins are a bunch of jackoffs...

    I suspected as much...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Nov 2010 @ 3:51pm

    This one is a strong contender for next year Ignobil prize.

    ps: Independent if this may or may not be real science or be real, but is just to funny.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    Jesse, 3 Nov 2010 @ 5:30pm

    DEMOCRACY EQUALS PRON1!!!!

    I think Iran has figured out the right model. Ban anything sexualized and rig the elections so everyone loses.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Pixelation, 3 Nov 2010 @ 5:58pm

    I must be winning a lot. ;)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. icon
    jeffj (profile), 4 Nov 2010 @ 3:37am

    p

    The people in a winning state use the internet more to read about winning. It's human nature. If the Giants are in a winning season, I want to read more about it. If they are losing I try to avoid it. Same with your candidate losing or winning.
    And a large majority of people who use the internet look at porn. THEREFORE people in a winnign state are using the internet more AND they then look at porn so porn usage is up in winning states.
    Not rocket science.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. icon
    jeffj (profile), 4 Nov 2010 @ 3:38am

    p

    The people in a winning state use the internet more to read about winning. It's human nature. If the Giants are in a winning season, I want to read more about it. If they are losing I try to avoid it. Same with your candidate losing or winning.
    And a large majority of people who use the internet look at porn. THEREFORE people in a winnign state are using the internet more AND they then look at porn so porn usage is up in winning states.
    Not rocket science.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. identicon
    Michael, 4 Nov 2010 @ 5:40am

    Studies?

    How do I sign up to get paid to do these kind of "studies"? Is our scientific community so bored with doing things that are actually useful that they are spending their time (and probably my tax dollars) doing this?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. icon
    PrometheeFeu (profile), 4 Nov 2010 @ 9:55am

    If you look long enough at enough unrelated datasets, you will find a statistically significant correlation eventually. Given the number of people looking at those data sets, it is bound to happen often. That leads to a lot of stupid headlines.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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