People will say ‘just about anything’ to make them look better to an attractive stranger
People will say ‘just about anything’ to make them look better to an attractive stranger if they think sex is on the cards, study says
- Researchers split up 635 heterosexual student volunteers into two groups
- One group was primed with sexual stimuli and the other neutral stimuli
- Both groups then entered into debates with a stranger of the opposite sex
- Sexually primed people were more likely to change their stance to impress
Adults will say anything on dates if they think there is a chance of sex — including fibbing about the number of previous partners they have had — a study found.
The process might be unconscious, but researchers say that having sex on the brain really does influence how we present ourselves to attractive strangers.
This can manifest as appearing to change attitudes or agreeing with statements one would normally oppose in what psychologists dub ‘deceptive self-presentation’.
When a person is trying to impress someone or chat them up, the brain switches into a type of mental — rather than physical — arousal, the researchers argue.
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Adults will say anything on dates if they think there is a chance of sex — including fibbing about the number of previous partners they have had — a study found (stock image)
‘When the possibility of sex looms, people are more likely to change their attitudes and engage in deceptive self presentation,’ wrote the researchers.
‘In other words they conform, embellish, and sometimes lie.’
In the study, the research team conducted an experiment with 634 heterosexual students with an average age of 25, which they divided into two groups.
Members of one group were first exposed to ‘sexual stimuli’ — and the other group to ‘neutral stimuli’ — before interacting with a stranger of the opposite sex.
They were then given scenarios in which they would take on one point of view and the other person would take the opposite — such as, for example, debating whether to accept a job offer abroad or reject it to stay close to friends and family.
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The researchers found that those exposed to the sexual stimuli were more likely to change their argument and end up agreeing with the opposing point of view in the hope of making a good impression and increasing their chances of sex.
The sexual priming made the brain start to think ‘in a sexual way’, said paper author and psychologist Harry Reis of the University of Rochester in New York.
‘Technically (priming) means activating a certain set of concepts in the brain so parts of the brain that represent sexuality are being activated,’ he noted.
‘But that doesn’t necessarily mean that people are getting genitally aroused.’
‘When the possibility of sex looms, people are more likely to change their attitudes and engage in deceptive self presentation,’ wrote the researchers (stock image)
In a second experiment, volunteers were asked for their views on a range of issues before being shown the profile of a member of the opposite sex they would be communicating with in an online chat.
Each participant was asked to compose and email the other person a profile describing themselves and their views.
As with the first experiment, the researchers found that the group who had been sexually primed changed their views in their email profile to appear to agree more with the person they were about to chat to.
‘The desire to impress a potential partner is particularly intense when it comes to preferences that are at the heart of establishing an intimate bond,’ said the researchers.
‘Such attitude changes might be viewed as a subtle exaggeration or as a harmless move to impress or be closer to a potential partner.’
The researchers found that another lie people told when meeting an attractive stranger was to decrease their reported number of previous sexual partners.
Seven was the most commonly chosen number of partners in these fabrications.
‘People will do and say just about anything in order to make a connection with an attractive stranger,’ said paper author and psychologist Gurit Birnbaum, of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in Israel.
‘When your sexual system is activated you are motivated to present yourself in the best light possible.’
‘That means you’ll tell a stranger things that make you look better than you really are.’
The full findings of the study were published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
WHAT ARE THE NINE WAYS TO SPOT A LIAR?
The big pause: Lying is quite a complex process for the body and brain to deal with. First your brain produces the truth which it then has to suppress before inventing the lie and the performance of that lie.
This often leads to a longer pause than normal before answering, plus a verbal stalling technique like ‘Why do you ask that?’ rather than a direct and open response.
The eye dart: Humans have more eye expressions than any other animal and our eyes can give away if we’re trying to hide something.
When we look up to our left to think we’re often accessing recalled memory, but when our eyes roll up to our right we can be thinking more creatively. Also, the guilt of a lie often makes people use an eye contact cut-off gesture, such as looking down or away.
The lost breath: Bending the truth causes an instant stress response in most people, meaning the fight or flight mechanisms are activated.
The mouth dries, the body sweats more, the pulse rate quickens and the rhythm of the breathing changes to shorter, shallower breaths that can often be both seen and heard.
Overcompensating: A liar will often over-perform, both speaking and gesticulating too much in a bid to be more convincing. These over the top body language rituals can involve too much eye contact (often without blinking!) and over-emphatic gesticulation.
The more someone gesticulates, the more likely it is they might be fibbing (stock image)
The poker face: Although some people prefer to employ the poker face, many assume less is more and almost shut down in terms of movement and eye contact when they’re being economical with the truth.
The face hide: When someone tells a lie they often suffer a strong desire to hide their face from their audience. This can lead to a partial cut-off gesture like the well-know nose touch or mouth-cover.
Self-comfort touches: The stress and discomfort of lying often produces gestures that are aimed at comforting the liar, such as rocking, hair-stroking or twiddling or playing with wedding rings. We all tend to use self-comfort gestures but this will increase dramatically when someone is fibbing.
Micro-gestures: These are very small gestures or facial expressions that can flash across the face so quickly they are difficult to see. Experts will often use filmed footage that is then slowed down to pick up on the true body language response emerging in the middle of the performed lie.
The best time to spot these in real life is to look for the facial expression that occurs after the liar has finished speaking. The mouth might skew or the eyes roll in an instant give-away.
Heckling hands: The hardest body parts to act with are the hands or feet and liars often struggle to keep them on-message while they lie.
When the gestures and the words are at odds it’s called incongruent gesticulation and it’s often the hands or feet that are telling the truth.
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