Why Flirting Doesn't Work

The male brain, it seems, is hopeless at picking up "come-on" signals, according to a report to be published next month. This leaves men impervious to the seduction techniques of the opposite sex.

A study by scientists at Indiana University tested 280 undergraduates of both genders on their ability to spot social signals.

They were shown photographs of women and asked to categorise them as friendly, sexually interested, sad or rejecting.

The male students were far less accurate than the females at interpreting the body language, and were particularly baffled by the difference between flirty and friendly gestures.

When shown images of women making advances, men tended to misread the sexual cues as friendliness. At the same time they mistook photos of women merely being friendly for sexual interest.

The researchers also found that women overestimate men's ability to pick up on sexual signals.

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Comments

[Badbone]

09:58 PM on 04/03/2008

Hmmm. Women give ambiguous signals, but it’s the mans fault for not picking up on them?

[lunaoscura]

06:39 PM on 04/03/2008

This obviously explains why we're having such a hard time surviving as a species.

(/sarcasm)

[finkid]

08:41 PM on 04/01/2008

Men have always gone for a more direct approach. Here's an Ad directed to catch men's attention.
(http://guessworker.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/danger/). In your face. And here's one for women. (http://guessworker.wordpress.com/2008/03/02/tight-hymen/).

[rbryanh]

12:27 AM on 04/01/2008

I'm profoundly weary of listening to heterosexuals whine about the egregious incompatibilities of men and women and how godawful miserable it is to be straight. (Then again, at least it explains why they so often insists everyone be just like them: misery loves company.) I'm all for personal freedom, but I worry about the effect this painfully unhappy lifestyle has on children.

[sparkandy]

05:40 AM on 04/01/2008

No one's whining. All this is part of the fun of being hetero. However, this article explains a lot. I never knew that men misinterpreted friendliness as a come one, so I feel better that when I was younger, I wasn't giving out the wrong signals. The men around me were just confused because they can't tell the difference. It's all good. Men are men (thank God!) and women are women.

[ZombieKiller]

01:25 PM on 04/03/2008

chill out.

[BeNice]

08:01 PM on 03/31/2008

Another story generalizing on all men from a study of undergrads.

This is called junk science.

[sparkey]

06:11 PM on 03/31/2008

If she asks; "Want to?", I"ll understand.

[laborgrunt]

03:01 AM on 04/01/2008

Major LOL, that is me too.

[sparkandy]

05:37 AM on 04/01/2008

And when we say 'Want to', we expect you guys to give the right answer!

[philinburb]

08:16 PM on 04/02/2008

Want to what? Have a nice cup of coffee and maybe a long meaningful discussion about our feelings?

[Dunnage]

01:32 PM on 03/31/2008

Naked women and baseball don't mix.