My fellow PT blogger Christopher Ryan recently put up a post explaining the allure of breasts. As he correctly explained, there are several evolutionary explanations for men's visual intoxication with breasts. In today's post, I'd like to discuss a consequence of this within the service industry.

Michael Lynn is a professor of and marketing at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, and perhaps the most eminent researcher on tipping behavior. He has explored numerous variables that affect the size of tips left by patrons. In a recent study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, Professor Lynn found a positive correlation between the breast size of waitresses (n = 432) and the size of their tips (both were self-reported measures). He did not split the tipping data by of the patrons. One might expect that the "breast effect" might enhance tips for male patrons whereas female patrons might "punish" shapely waitresses (intra-sexual rivalry). The existing data did not allow for a more refined set of analyses to test such possibilities. Also, Lynn notes that he might have expected a quadratic relationship between breast size and size of tips, namely, breasts that are too small or too big would result in lower tips than medium sized breasts. However, his data suggests that bigger is always better...at least when it comes to tipping behavior!

Don't blame the messenger. I am only reporting the findings. ☺

Ciao for now.

Source for Image:

http://newworldodor.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/hooters-girls-1.jpg