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Love at first sight just desire and ego: study

LONDON: Their eyes met across a crowded room. The party chatter ebbed away, and the music slowed. That first lovers’ gaze is the staple of the romantic novelist, and scientists believe they have now revealed the true nature of its true attractive power.

According to new research, romance has very little to do with it. That “look” is all about sex and ego.

“It does seem to be a sort of narcissistic thing. People are attracted to those people who are attracted to them,” said Ben Jones in the Face Research Laboratory at the University of Aberdeen.

“It’s really a very basic effect that we are all, at some level at least, aware of — which is that if you smile at people and you maintain eye contact, it makes you more attractive.”

He said the work challenges most previous studies of facial attractiveness that have focused on physical characteristics, such as a preference for symmetrical faces or masculine versus feminine features.

“Social signals about how attracted someone else is to you actually seem to be quite important,” he said. “You are attracted to people who are attracted to you, and that shows attractiveness is not just about physical beauty.”

Dr. Jones and his colleagues say they have shown that attraction is based on social cues that say, “I’m interested in you.”

The results are published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society. Dr. Jones said that the results made sense from an evolutionary perspective. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2007

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