Men And Women Detect Nonverbal Flirting Accurately
Christopher Philip
The view that women are more perceptive when it comes to detecting nonverbal expressions has become commonplace in recent years. The literature has assumed that women are more empathetic and therefore can feel the messages delivered by others more accurately than men.
However, the research supporting this hypothesis is decidedly mixed.
To advance the research Jessica Watkins and Jeffrey Hall presented silent videos to subjects depicting one half (the other was off-camera) of an interacting partner either flirting or not flirting with his or her other half.
The observers were assessed on their “nonverbal sensitivity” which is a standardized test set to measure “people’s ability to infer the meanings of nondeceptive nonverbal cues conveyed in the face, body, and vocal channels.” In other words, nonverbal sensitivity is the ability to accurately read cues being displayed. Past studies have found that women tend to score higher on this test since they are more emotional and socially sensitive than men.
After watching the videos and decoding the nonverbal flirting cues, the results were conclusive in showing that men and women, regardless of their measured nonverbal sensitivity performed equally well at detecting nonverbal flirting.
While other research has found mixed results, the data advanced in this study says that men and women are on equal footing when it comes to detecting flirtatious behaviour. This may be in part due to the widespread literature available on detecting body language cues (such as this very website).
Resources
Watkins, Jessica L. and Jeffrey A. Hall. The Association Between Nonverbal
Sensitivity and Flirting Detection Accuracy. Communication Research Reports. 2019. 31(4): 348-356, DOI: 10.1080/08824096.2019.963220
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08824096.2019.963220