Research on human attraction reveal that the smallest, dumbest things can influence it — and sometimes it leads us in the exact wrong direction.
We're terrible at judging attraction.
A recent study found that men routinely assume their female friends are attracted to them (often they're not), while women typically assume their male friends aren't into them (often they are). So basically, friendships between heterosexual men and women are minefields of misunderstanding and thwarted passion.
Via: iambarkingmad.com
Women's tastes change depending on the time of month.
It may not affect their voting habits, but a woman's menstrual cycle appears to affect who she finds attractive, at least in experimental settings. Several studies have found that women prefer men with more stereotypically masculine faces (the authors of one study used George Clooney as an example) when they're most fertile, though they may be into less macho-looking men at other times. And at their most fertile times, women may even think masculine-looking men will make better dads.
Image by Chris Pizzello / AP
Taking birth control might change them too.
A 2008 study found that while women who aren't on the Pill prefer the scent of men who are genetically different from them, especially in certain genes that affect the immune system. But women who are on hormonal birth control like the smell of more genetically similar men. Since smell is a big part of attraction, this could affect who they date. But women are also less likely to be sexually satisfied with men who have similar immune-system genes, so it's possible the Pill could be sabotaging some people's sex lives.
Source: jcjgphotography / via: shutterstock.com
Our attractiveness changes based on bizarre factors (like whether we give good directions).
A 2009 study asked people to look at faces, then spot a dot that appeared on a computer screen. The subjects found faces more attractive if they were helpfully pointing in the direction where the dot would later appear. Said study author Beena Khurana, "Note that we changed attractiveness ratings after one simple session of eye gaze cueing, so imagine what must be going on in real encounters." People may be constantly ruining their chances simply by, say, failing to correctly point out the bar bathroom.
