Stop playing it cool!
Singletons, past and present... chances are at some stage during your romantic conquests you would've heard this advice: ''Just play it cool.''
It's a staple of dating life... but a new study has found that acting uninterested is the exact opposite of what you should be doing if you're trying to land a date.
The study from Psychologists at the University of Rochester and Israeli-based Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya has found that people were more sexually attracted to potential partners that appeared to reciprocate their romantic interest.
The team also found that people who were uncertain about their potential partners' interest in them viewed those potential partners as less sexually attractive.
Meaning, in short, stop playing it cool and start playing it keen.
The study called Computers In Human Behavior involved 51 women and 50 men, who all identified as single and heterosexual, aged from 19-31.
The volunteers were told they'd be chatting online with another participant who was in another room (in reality another researcher).
At the end of the chat, they were told they were allowed to send one more message to their potential partner.
Some of the participants were told their partner had left a message for them, while others were told that there was no message waiting for them.
They were then shown a photo of their prospective partner and asked to rank their sexual desirability and how much they'd be interested in meeting them again.
Here's the proof
The group who had been told there was no message left for them ranked their potential partner as far less sexually attractive than those who had a message waiting.
“People experience higher levels of sexual desire when they feel confident about a partner’s interest and acceptance,” study co-author Harry Reis, said in a statement. “People may protect themselves from the possibility of a painful rejection by distancing themselves from potentially rejecting partners."
So there you have it... stop playing it cool!
