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| Whew...It Wasn't Just Me..... http://horrorworld.org/msgboards/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4062 |
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| Author: | ttzuma [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:07 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Whew...It Wasn't Just Me..... |
Clueless Guys Can't Read Women Jeanna Bryner LiveScience Staff Writer LiveScience.com More often than not, guys interpret even friendly cues, such as a subtle smile from a gal, as a sexual come-on, and a new study discovers why: Guys are clueless. More precisely, they are somewhat oblivious to the emotional subtleties of non-verbal cues, according to a new study of college students. "Young men just find it difficult to tell the difference between women who are being friendly and women who are interested in something more," said lead researcher Coreen Farris of Indiana University's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. This "lost in translation" phenomenon plays out in the real world, with about 70 percent of college women reporting an experience in which a guy mistook her friendliness for a sexual come-on, Farris said. Some might think the results come down to "boys being boys," and so even the slightest female interest sparks sexual fantasy. But the study, to be detailed in the April issue of the journal Psychological Science, also found that it goes both ways for guys - they mistake females' sexual signals as friendly ones. The researchers suggest guys have trouble noticing and interpreting the subtleties of non-verbal cues, in either direction. The study's funding came from the National Institutes of Mental Health and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Flirting or not? To unravel it all, Farris and her colleagues examined non-verbal communication in a group of 280 undergraduates, both men and women with an average age of 20 years old. The students viewed images of women on a computer screen and had to categorize each as friendly, sexually interested, sad or rejecting. Each student reported on 280 photographs, which had been sorted previously into one of the categories based on surveys completed by different groups of students. Overall, women categorized more images correctly than men did. When it came to friendly gestures, men were more likely than women to interpret these to mean sexual interest. More surprising, the researchers found guys were also confused by sexual cues. When images of gals meant to show allure flashed onto the screen, male students mistook the allure as amicable signals. So ladies trying to brush off a guy at work or the gym may need to be, uh, more direct. Men in the study also had more trouble than women distinguishing between sadness and rejection. Programmed for sex The results help to tease out the underlying causes of guys' flirt-or-not mistakes. One common explanation for reports of men taking a friendly gesture as "she wants me," is based on men's inherent interest in sex, which is thought to result from their biology as well as their upbringing. Following this idea, men and women would be aware of the same behavioral cues, but men would have a lower threshold for what qualifies as sexual interest. In contrast, women would wait for compelling evidence before labeling a behavior as sexual interest. However, Farris and her colleagues didn't find this to be the case. Rather than seeing the world through sex-colored glasses, men seemed just to have blurry vision of sorts, overall. For instance, the college guys sometimes mistook sexual advances as pal-like gestures. "I would say that there are many factors that could relate to men demonstrating insensitivity to women's subtle non-verbal cues," said Pamela McAuslan, associate professor of psychology at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, who was not involved in the current study. These factors would include socialization, gender roles and gender stereotypes, she said. For instance, "women are supposed to be the communicators, concerned with relationships and others ... men are supposed to be less concerned with communication and to be constantly alert for sexual opportunities," McAuslan said. "This could mean that men in general may be less sensitive to subtle non-verbal behavior than women." That doesn't mean such men can't learn to read cues or that all men are clueless decoders of women's gestures. "These are average differences. Some men are very skilled at reading affective cues," Farris told LiveScience, "and some women find the task challenging." |
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| Author: | DGM [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:17 pm ] |
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Maybe women are just really crappy at non-verbal communication. Way to go, ladies... |
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| Author: | Nanci [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:17 pm ] |
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| Author: | ttzuma [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:20 pm ] |
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ugh....Derek....maybe you should have put that in a nicer way.... Tt |
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| Author: | HugeHorrorFan [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:21 pm ] |
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Nanci! Are you coming onto me? Does that red face mean you are interested? 
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| Author: | DGM [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:21 pm ] |
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Oops. Sorry. I meant: Maybe women just really suck at non-verbal communication. |
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| Author: | ttzuma [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:31 pm ] |
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Geez I understood her just fine without her saying a word. All it took was a smiley! Women are verbal though, thats how they do communicate, at least the ones I know. And its enough. Tt |
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| Author: | DGM [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:32 pm ] |
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Like when you ask them what's wrong and they say, "nothing." 
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| Author: | HugeHorrorFan [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:39 pm ] |
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I hate the question, "Why don't you ever listen to what I say?"
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| Author: | DGM [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:40 pm ] |
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And they decide they want to talk. When you're watching hockey.
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| Author: | HugeHorrorFan [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:52 pm ] |
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Hey, HOCKEY! Leafs play on Good Friday against Buffalo! I haven't watched a game since the big come back against The Penguins. Playoffs are still in sight, but it is going to be really tough. Let just hope they don't have another loss against Buffalo like last time. I give the Leafs one thing, they sure make their fans live on the edge... |
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| Author: | Laurel in Ely [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:57 pm ] |
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| Author: | Nanci [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:45 pm ] |
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I have this "look" that I give my husband - - when he sees that look, he *knows* he's in trouble. I have no problems with non-verbal communications 
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| Author: | ttzuma [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:52 pm ] |
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I think I know that look. Tt |
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| Author: | HugeHorrorFan [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:58 pm ] |
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| Author: | DGM [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:09 pm ] |
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| Author: | Craig Cook [ Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:50 pm ] |
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| Author: | ttzuma [ Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:11 am ] |
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| Author: | undead [ Fri Mar 21, 2008 10:32 am ] |
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| Author: | DGM [ Fri Mar 21, 2008 12:50 pm ] |
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| Author: | Monty Grue [ Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:18 pm ] |
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You know, nowadays I just assume women aren't interested in sex when they talk to me. Of course, I've been married for 11 1/2 years, so unless their naked, their not interested. And nakedness isn't a sure sign anymore either. |
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| Author: | ttzuma [ Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:24 pm ] |
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[quote=And nakedness isn't a sure sign anymore either.[/quote] gosh...where do you live? I never see naked women! Ha! Tt |
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| Author: | Craig Cook [ Fri Mar 21, 2008 7:59 pm ] |
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