Editing Supernormal stimulus (section)

== In psychology ==

Harvard psychologist [[Deirdre Barrett]] argues that supernormal stimulation governs the behavior of humans as powerfully as that of other animals. In her 2010 book, ''[[Supernormal Stimuli|Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose]]'',<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Barrett | first1 = Deirdre | author-link1 = Deirdre Barrett | title = Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose | publisher = [[W. W. Norton]] | year= 2010 | isbn = 978-0-393-06848-1 | url = https://archive.org/details/supernormalstimu00barr }}</ref> she examines the impact of supernormal stimuli on the diversion of impulses for nurturing, sexuality, romance, territoriality, defense, and the entertainment industry's hijacking of our social instincts. In her earlier book ''[[Waistland]]'',<ref name="waistland" /> she explains [[junk food]] as an exaggerated stimulus to cravings for salt, sugar, and fats and [[television]] as an exaggeration of social cues of laughter, smiling faces and attention-grabbing action. Modern artifacts may activate instinctive responses which evolved prior to the modern world, where breast development was a sign of health and fertility in a prospective mate, and fat was a rare and vital nutrient.

In a cross-cultural study, Doyle and Pazhoohi showed that surgically augmented breasts are supernormal stimuli, and they are more attractive than natural breasts, regardless of their size.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Doyle | first1 = J. F. | last2 = Pazhoohi | first2 = F. | year = 2012 | title = Natural and augmented breasts: Is what is not natural most attractive? | url = http://media.anthro.univie.ac.at/ishe_journal/index.php/heb/article/view/38 | journal = Human Ethology Bulletin | volume = 27 | pages = 4–14 }}</ref> Also in a theoretical paper, Doyle proposed that how women walk creates supernormal stimuli through continuously alternating motion of the waist and hips causing peak shifts in perceptions of physical attractiveness involving women's [[waist-to-hip ratio]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Doyle | first1 = J. F. | year = 2009 | title = A woman's walk: Attractiveness in motion | journal = Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology | volume = 3 | issue = 2| pages = 81–92 | doi=10.1037/h0099329}}</ref> Furthermore, Pazhoohi et al. (2019) using eye tracking confirmed that lower than optimal waist-to-hip ratios are supernormal stimuli and they may generate [[Neuroesthetics#Peak shift principle|peak shifts]] in responding.<ref name="Waist-to-Hip Ratio as Supernormal S">{{cite journal | last1 = Pazhoohi | first1 = F. |last2 = Macedo | first2 = M. F. |last3 = Doyle | first3 = J. F. |last4 = Arantes | first4 = J. | year = 2019 | title = Waist-to-Hip Ratio as Supernormal Stimuli: Effect of Contrapposto Pose and Viewing Angle | journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior | volume = 49 | issue = 3 | pages = 837–847 | doi=10.1007/s10508-019-01486-z| pmid = 31214904 | s2cid = 195066235 }}</ref>

[[Pascal Boyer]] has suggested that music is a superstimulus targeting human affinity for speech, and that symmetrical textile and building patterns are superstimuli targeted to the visual cortex.<ref>{{cite news |title=Why Candy Crush Saga likes to play on your sweet tooth |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/23/candy-crush-saga-freemium-games |access-date=12 February 2021 |work=the Guardian |date=23 June 2014 |language=en}}</ref>