A new study in the January issue of Psychological Science reveals something you probably already knew: women perceived as “flirtatious” are very often just trying to be nice.
The study had 28 women and 26 men, all of college age, watch videos of speed-dating sessions. They were then asked to gauge the interest of the speed-date participants. Both sexes were much better at gauging male interest, even when comparing “hard to read” men with “hard to read” women:
“In five of the videos, 80 percent of the observers thought the women shown were interested when in fact they were not — they were acting friendly even though they had no interest in the men.”
Here’s my favorite quote from study co-author Skyler Place: “Nobody could really read what these deceptive females were doing, including other women.”
Uh, maybe they really were just being friendly? As if you needed another reason to slap on your bitchface.
Don’t Take Flirtatious Women For Granted [Psychological Science via Times of India]