[wp_ad_camp_1]
(Image Source: Timothy Marsee)
It would seem that the old advice to ‘fake it until you make it’ works just as well with relationships as it does in careers. Studies have found that our physical appearance is less important than flirting skills in determining your attractiveness to the opposite sex.
Not convinced? Here are the top 7 reasons that flirting trumps looks.
Research conducted by a psychologist from St Louis’s Webster University concluded that people who confidently signalled their availability were approached more often by people of the opposite sex.
Dr Monica Moore studied the flirtations carried out in bars, malls, and other places frequented by young people. She found that is wasn’t necessarily the most physically attractive people who were most often approached by prospective dates. Instead, the flirts most adept at signalling their availability and confidence using smiling and eye contact were the most popular.
There isn’t much you can do to improve the physical looks nature has bestowed upon you, but you can flirt more. Judy Sutton, author of numerous dating and relationships guides, claims that the people who get the most romantic attention are the ones who send out the most flirtations. Someone emitting 35 flirtations in each hour, will attract on average four approaches in that time frame. That may seem like a lot of flirtations, but a natural flirt will be making come hither suggestions, such as a stroke on the arm, or tilt of their head, all the time.
While the presence of a physically attractive person certainly lightens up the landscape, without any interaction it will do little to brighten anyone’s day. But you can make strangers happier with a quick flirt. Using MRI scans of the brain, researches have found that eye contact generates positive feelings in the recipient. Even a brief period of eye contact activates the ventral striatum, the area of the brain known as the reward centre. You can give a stranger a little lift by gently gazing into their eyes, and in turn they will feel more attracted towards you.
[wp_ad_camp_2]
Think your crow’s feet make you look old and haggard? Wrong!
When crow’s feet appear during a smile, it’s a signal that the person is genuinely happy. A smile without crow’s feet is a fake. So you can consider your crow’s feet as attractive proof of the authenticity of your flirtatious smile.
The digital age means a good proportion of our flirting is done online. By building a rapport on Facebook or through a free dating site, you can make yourself attractive to someone before they’ve had a chance to check you out in the flesh.
Medical studies have found that people who flirt regularly have better health. Flirtatious people have a higher volume of immunity boosting white blood cells in their body, helping to improve their overall health.
Besides flirting being more powerful than good looks, skillful flirting can actually improve the way someone rates your physical appearance anyway. A study conducted in 1989 for the Journal Of Research In Personality looked into the effects of a mutual gaze between strangers. It found that simply by maintaining eye contact for two minutes, feelings of love and passion could be generated in people who had never before even met.
Stop worrying at your reflection, and start gazing at some strangers instead. Believe in your own attractiveness and with some precision flirting, and selective use of eye contact, you can convince the world that you are model material.