Friday 1 May 2009

"Only the first glance is allowed..."

"...so make it last."

I'm sure many of us have heard that joke. According to this article, I don't think we should take the quote as advice!

8.2 seconds needed to fall in love

The time needed for a man to fall in love at first sight is 8.2 seconds, scientists claim.

The longer a man's gaze rests on a woman when they meet for the first time, the more interested he is.

If it last just four seconds, he may not be all that impressed. But if it breaks the 8.2 second barrier, he could already be in love they say.


However the same is not true for women. They let their eyes linger on men for the same length of time whether they find them attractive or not.

Hidden cameras were used to secretly track the eye movements of 115 students as they spoke to actors and actresses. They were then asked to rate their conversation partner's attractiveness.

The men looked into the eyes of actresses they considered beautiful for an average of 8.2 seconds, but that dropped to 4.5 seconds when gazing at those they rated less attractive, the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior reported.

The female students, however, looked at the actors for the same length of time. The researchers believe that men use eye contact to seek out fit and fertile mates.

But women are more wary of attracting unwanted attention because of the risks of unwanted pregnancy and single parenthood.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's interesting to say the least! Will there be any more parenting notes?

Yusuf Smith said...

السلام عليكم

There are several http's in your link to the Telegraph article. Always remember to post the full link (as in http : / / without the spaces), not starting with the hostname, otherwise it won't link properly.

As for the claim, it's just another bit of "research has shown" junk news. Men don't fall in love with a woman at first sight; there has to be quite a bit of interaction for such a thing to happen. I can imagine developing an interest in a woman from observing her over a few seconds, but not "falling in love". Then again, I don't form attachments all that easily.

Saabirah said...

JazakAllah khair for the techn-advice Br Yusuf. I think the "research" just confirms that people look at things (including other people) that they find attractive for longer than objects that aren't very attractive, in which case, tell us something we don't already know. It also confirms that men are more visually stimulated than women are which is also a known fact. But I don't see how this research in particular proves that men need a particular number of seconds to fall in love! I do think that for men, physical attraction is more important than for women hence more emphasis placed on men lowering their gaze than on women.

Umm Zaidah Nusaybah said...

I have two more sets of parenting notes to post inshaAllah entitled "Praise and reward" and "routine".

I do apologise for the delay in posting them. I have been quite busy because my mother-in-Law was in hospital.

umm Zaidah Nusaybah

Umm Maymoonah said...

AssalamuAlaikum Umm Zaidah, how is your mother-in-law now?

Umm Zaidah Nusaybah said...

wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

Alahmdulillah she is recovering slowly.

Anonymous said...

Assalamu alaikom,
Wow, the conclusions are so bizarre. I don't stare at attractive men because I'm afraid of being a single mom! I don't stare at attractive men because I KNOW how disrespectful and uncomfortable it is to have someone staring at you... Plus, I just don't feel the need to stare at people. And I love how it says men stare at beautiful women because they're looking for fertile partners. Babies are the LAST thing men are thinking about when they are staring. LOL

saabirah said...

Eyesserene, I suppose scientists are looking at it in the evolutionary sense: i.e. males have it ingrained in their DNA from millions of years ago to be sexually attracted to fertile females, without their awareness, and that nature has intended it this way for longevity of the human race.