 |
Certain people have a knack for identifying which couples are into each other. Do you have the gift? That depends on your own relationship status.
| | |
By Lisa Cericola
 and-holding, nuzzling, heavy-duty eye
contact... are those the signs of true love? Are there gestures
that reveal whether two people are truly smitten? That all
depends—namely, on whether you’re in love yourself.
According to a recent study in the Journal of Nonverbal
Behavior, single people can most accurately assess whether
couples are truly into each other. People who are happily
hooked up, however, have the worst romance radar, proving that
love is blind in more ways than one.
Researchers at McGill University in Montreal came to this
conclusion by filming couples, some of whom had been seeing
each other for several months and were deeply in love, while
others were admittedly not that emotionally involved. The
footage was
|
 |
| Next time you’re wondering “Are we
meant for each other?” about your own romance, ask your single
pals what they think. |
 |
then shown to
volunteers, both unattached folk and those in relationships,
who observed the couples’ behavior and rated their level of
attachment. In terms of detecting love, single people hit the
nail on the head twice as often as people in relationships,
who often mistook casual couples’ affectionate body
language — snuggling, a hand on the knee, intense eye
contact — as a sign these two were smitten when they just
weren’t.
Why are couples so clueless in pinpointing who else is head
over heels? Most likely because they’re projecting their own
upbeat attitude about love onto others, says researcher Mark
Bernieri, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of
Psychology at Oregon State University. On the other hand,
single people seemed to be more level-headed. “People who are
not romantically involved are more cautious and more
dispassionate about their judgments,” Bernieri said.
So the next time you’re wondering “Are we meant for each
other?” about your own budding romance, steer clear of your
starry-eyed attached friends and ask your single pals what
they think. Whether they say this person’s The One or just for
fun, they may well save you plenty of time trying to figure it
out on your own.
Lisa Cericola is a New
York City-area writer who’s very much in love. At least she
thinks so.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
How would you feel about your date using a Groupon (or some other discount deal) to pay for your date? |
|
|
|
11% |
|
Mortified that the other person seems so cheap |
|
|
|
33% |
|
I really don’t care one way or the other |
|
|
|
56% |
|
Totally support it… after all, dating is expensive! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|