The secret to successful flirting is simply to let someone know that you find them attractive, according to scientists.

Last Updated: 12:52PM BST 09 Sep 2008

Telling a prospective partner "I really like you" is likely to encourage the chosen target to reciprocate the feelings.

Research revealed that if a person shows someone their feelings, through eye contact, smiling - or simply telling them - they are more likely to return the sentiment.

Previous research has emphasised natural beauty and physical features such as facial symmetry or voice pitch.

But the University of Aberdeen study shows the science of attraction to be more complex.

It found "social cues" - someone's efforts to show how much they like a person - are of great importance in the blossoming of mutual attraction.

Psychologist Dr Ben Jones, one of the authors of the study, said: "Our latest research highlights how social cues, which signal the extent to which others are attracted to you, also play a crucial role in attraction."

The study, Integrating Facial Attractiveness And Cues Of Social Attractiveness, was published in the journal Psychological Science.

Scientists showed volunteers four flash cards, picturing a face with different expressions.

The face is shown making eye contact and not smiling; not making eye contact and not smiling; making eye contact and not smiling: and making eye contact and smiling.

A total of 230 men and women took part in the study at the university's Face Research Laboratory.

Dr Jones said: "What we found was that the preference for the attractive face was much stronger when people were judging those faces that were looking at them and smiling."

Attractiveness, according to the study, was how someone combined natural beauty and these "social cues".

Dr Jones carried out his research with Dr Lisa DeBruine, also of the University of Aberdeen.

The pair will present their research at the BA Festival of Science in Liverpool.

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Who'd have figured, the direct approach is the best one.

My fault, the story came out of the London Telegraph, but did they really tell us anything new?

do they ever? hell no..

>.< MEEP

No, not really and when they do, it usually doesn't do a darn thing for me...

Could be worse though, now whenever I see a woman that I like, I'll be sure to smile real big...(Why do I think thats gonna make me look creepy?)

Oh and

Well, if you drool a bit it will add to the smile...

pffffffffffffffffft...
you call those secrets...
LOL JK!


So hey babeeee HICCUP Wanna getit hicccup on?

tonguetongue:



Lets get ta flirtin....

Drool huh... I'll be sure to do that!

It'll increase your chances, serious!!! I did a survey 8 out of 10 were successful...

Well, I've been practicing my smiling/drooling combo and I've got to tell you, I look like something from a 1980's B horror movie...

Can I ask exactly where you did your survey, because if it was at the RNC, that explains why bad smiles and drool are exciting! LOL!

it was at the local watering hole but that's not important.. any real scientist will tell you it's the control group responses that matter...

"real" scientists? Were they smiling/drooling while they were talking about the control groups?

And if you were doing a survey at the local watering hole, I would expect you would have seen alot of smiling/drooling, that doesn't strike me as very sanitary nor representative of MY drooling/smiling Vs. YOUR smiling/drooling.

I get the impression that my smiling/drooling would end with charges pressed, while yours would be met with phone numbers and offers for free drinks... any thoughts?

lmao will give you thoughts after I stop laughing.....


Ok, I must say you are probably correct BUT that is not my fault, I had to work with the groups that were available... You don't even want to know what happened to the placebo group... Oh my.....

Sorry u lost me when it began "The secret to successful flirting is simply to let someone know that you find them attractive, according to scientists".Flirting is an art not a scheduled procedure or equation,you cant have a cue card with vocal responses to make a partner laugh or feel invigorated at the right moment.Im not knocking your post,it was a very interesting one from a scientific standpoint ty.But either u have game or your a scientist trying to understand the game...

Yeah, I was dumbfounded by the article too, not my words, they came from the London Telegraph, so who knows what the real motivation was to studying this.


To IndnPrncs: You are now formally faced with a request to elaborate on the aforementioned "Placebo" group... for posterity and all.

lmao Warm let's just say the had droopy eyed stares and licked windows....

Oh, wow, you were at my house on Thanksgiving... I didn't know people were taking surveys!

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh didn't want to offend the family or anything... dammit man mind your quietness...

How can you offend?
A family that licks windows together, stays together!

Mind my quietness...

Nothing better than a woman with some force,

Note how I get the drool out of one side of my mouth, while getting the corner to turn up in kind of a half grin, that takes talent and it's easier to clean up after!