People scan our bodies differently depending on whether they want to be boyfriends or just friends. A new study tracks the eye movements of 105 heterosexual youth while watching pictures of strangers. Both men and women look more at the head and chest of a person if they think they can have a connection with it. By comparison, when they think they can only be friends, they look more at their feet and feet.
However, there are also some differences in the ways women and men see. When women look more at the head of the opposite person, they are more likely to have an interest in friendship. Women look more at the head of the other in both cases. In men, the head-focused look was associated with less interest in friendship.
"Men look more towards the chest and waist area, whether they are considering friendship or a potential relationship," explains Dr. Angela Banz, one of the study's authors. They are also more likely to look at the man in his legs.
The center-of-the-body look - the waist, the thigh, the chest - is associated with a greater interest in the person than women, whether romantic or platonic.
According to the authors, the results of their research show that people are looking for different traits in the other, depending on what they are looking for and the role they play in their lives. Many research on attraction tends to assume that there is a certain set of features that make a person attractive, whether romantic or platonic, but the present study shows that things are once again relative. A person may be an extremely desirable friend but a totally inappropriate partner for someone.
Source: PsychCentral.com
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