Robin Hanson's post was very interesting. I have wondered that ambiguous
signals might play another role.
Suppose all women like men who wear red ties because those men, for some
reason, are nicer or richer than others. Assume that this is the only way
women can tell the nice guys from the jerks(the men who are not nice). So
women would avoid men who don't wear red ties. But if women told men that
they like men who wear red ties, then the jerks(the men who are not nice)
could wear red ties. If all men wore red ties, then women could not tell
which guys were really nice. So you might not want to give away what signals
you are looking for or what they mean. In your mating, dating, flirting
activity you wuold not come right out and say what you are looking for.
Cyril Morong
San Antonio College
