‘Mystery’ and ‘originality’: Scientists identify 47 traits for successful flirting
Researchers used open-ended questionnaires to identify the traits
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Your support makes all the difference.It’s a subject that has confounded single people for millennia: flirting.
Ostensibly, it’s simple: make eye contact, offer compliments, ask questions. But the art of successful flirting is far more complex than you might think, which is why two scientists set out to uncover what it takes to be a good flirt.
In a new study, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, researchers Menelaos Apostolou and Christoforos Christoforou conducted open-ended questionnaires with 487 Greek-speaking participants, who were asked to list the traits they believe make flirting effective.
The results led Apostolou and Christoforou to identify 47 key traits, including honesty, respect, mystery, and originality.
In a second part of the study, the two researchers asked 808 Greek-speaking participants to rate how effective each trait would be on them.
The researchers then classified each of the traits into nine broader categories.
“Having a good non-verbal behaviour, being intelligent and having a gentle approach, were rated as the most important factors,” they wrote.
They noted that there were key differences between the sexes, too, in terms of which traits were viewed as most effective.
“For example, women rated a gentle approach as more effective on them, while men rated good looks as more effective,” the researchers added.
You can see the full list of 47 traits below.
Here’s the traits the researchers labelled as successful
- Humour
- Intelligence
- Good looks
- Politeness
- Honesty
- Intense interest in me
- Good with words
- Persistence
- Respect
- Good character
- Self-confidence
- Originality
- Nice smile
- Way of approach
- Easygoingness
- Common characteristics
- Courage
- Discreteness
- Interesting personality
- Charm
- Common interests
- Education
- Tenderness
- Pleasantness
- Spontaneity
- Directness
- Intense gaze
- Kindness
- Mystery
- Comfortable with his/her spending
- Nice compliments
- Patience
- Romance
- Sweetness
- Boldness
- Determination
- Directness
- Good dressing
- Interest to learn things about me
- Positivity
- The way he/she looks at me
- Cheerfulness
- Maturity
- Nice smell
- Seriousness
- She/he is not moving fast
- Unusual hobbies
You can see the study here.
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