i project it, and they accept it.
One problem with modern society (and science) is that many times it glosses over the basic animal and atavistic parts of our humanity.
My wife was at a professional conference (she is in a predominately female profession) and one of the speakers was talking about attitude and self-defense. She said that women who sort of shuffled along, looking downward, and appearing timid or weak were much more likely to be targeted by a rapist than a women striding purposefully, head up, and alert. Projecting this sort of confidence (even if not truly felt) was given as a powerful way of reducing your risk of being attacked.
A hunter knows by instinct what will make easiest prey even if they cannot explain it or even realise it.
One other example of how our basic makeup influences us came from a study done in Germany. They had men wear a t-shirt for a few days so that it had their body odour. Then they put the shirts in containers and had women smell the t-shirts. It turned out that the scent that the women found most attractive was from the man with whose immune system thingies were the most different from theirs.
[digression](From the OED: thingies: n. A technical term describing something with a very complicated Latin or Greek name which you do not remember until a) 1 nanosecond after posting a message that you really wanted to use the term in, or b) when you are trying to recall the name of another, completely unrelated thingie)[/digression]
The conclusion was that this sort of pairing would produce a child with the best immune system by providing the largest diversity of these immune system thingies. Another interesting point was that women using birth control pills did not select the same way because of changes to their hormones and body chemistry.
In cases like this, science is just learning the science behind the kinds of things people have known for years. I guess saying a couple has chemistry might be more true than we thought.
There are far too many examples of people who seem to succeed and be happy (or at least content) despite the obstacles they face because they remain positive. I have started reading a book, "Letters and Papers From Prison" which contains the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. They show a man who refused to be cowed in the face of evil.
