Women are more attracted to men when they are uncertain of the feelings the men hold toward them, according to a study published in the Psychological Science Journal.
“When people are uncertain about an important outcome, they can hardly think about anything else,” according to the study. “They think about such an event but do not yet adapt to it, because they do not know which outcome to make sense of and explain.”
The study titled “‘He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not…’ Uncertainty Can Increase Romantic Attraction” was conducted at the University of Virginia.
About 47 undergraduate female students were told the study was being conducted to decide whether Facebook was a possible platform for online dating. The women were divided into three groups in which they saw the fabricated profiles of four men.
The first group was told that the men were interested in the women, the second that the men were somewhat interested and the third group was told that, as the control group, they would not be told whether the men were interested or only mildly so.
The first two groups, according to the study, demonstrated what was already known as “social psychological truism: that people like others who like them,” which is known as the reciprocity principle.
For the third group, the study was able to confirm its prediction that women who do not know how men feel about them become much more attracted to them.
The study said this occurs because women obsess over the possible outcomes.
“People’s uncertainty about how much another person likes them—such that they pick petals off a flower to try to find out whether that person loves them or loves them not—may increase their liking for that person,” according to the study.
However, Boston University psychology professor Hilda Perlitsh disagreed with the study.
“Their conclusion about dating advice ‘keeping people in the dark about how much we like them will increase how much they think about us and will pique their interest’ in my opinion is not warranted. The measures do not measure what they purport to do and thus the conclusions are not valid,” Perlitsh said.
Some BU students agreed that the study’s conclusion did not seem accurate.
“If he did not show his interest in me, I would not be interested,” said Qianyi Ye, a freshman in the College of Communication.
Despite this, some students said they believed that women are more attracted to men when feelings are ambiguous.
“Desperation is not very attractive, people play hard to get, [because] if someone acts like they like you too much, it seems like they have no other options,” said Anna Gensler, a junior in COM.
“It kind of makes sense when you think of the typical ‘man with mystery’,” said Kevin Wu, a sophomore in the College of Engineering.
School of Management senior Martin Gregory Jerez said that although the study focused on women, the results are probably universal for both women and men.
“I think everyone appreciates an air of mystery,” Jerez said. “[Starting a relationship] is something new and exciting. It’s different; you don’t want to get bored.”
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