I Want Her to Want Me: Where Men, Sex and Personality Meet
Conventional research shows that, men have a tendency to misjudge a woman’s sexual intent, often based on individual or situational factors such as alcohol intoxication.
If a man walks into a social place and thinks that an attractive woman smiling at him wants to have sex with him, is he gauging her right or is it all in his head?
But a new study suggests that a man’s attachment style — a personality trait reflecting his romantic relationship tendencies — may actually influence his perceptions of whether a woman is interested in him sexually.
Men with strong desire for intimacy, men higher in attachment anxiety, project their own flirtatiousness and sexual interest onto the woman, based on their hopes that she will reciprocate.
Conversely Men with lower interest in intimacy, men higher in attachment avoidance, imagined the woman as less sexually interested in them.
The study’s results are an example of how wishful thinking pervades human social interactions.
“We see in reality what we wish to see, not necessarily what’s there,” Said Joshua Hart, associate professor of psychology and the lead author of the study to be published in the April issue of the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
Source: Science Daily
