How chemistry decides the success of first dates

THE GLANCE Looks aren't everything but love, it would seem,
is far from blind. Across cultures and sexes, some features hold greater appeal. "More symmetrical faces do seem to be rated more
attractive," says Tamsin Saxton, a senior
lecturer at Northumbria University and part of
the evolution, perception and behaviour
research group. "The theory goes that your
genes provide a template for symmetrical bodies, symmetrical face. [When] there's some
sort of problem – you get ill or you encounter
some problem with the environment – that can
sometimes throw the symmetry off a little bit,"
she says. "So it might be that if you are picking a
symmetric partner then you are actually picking somebody whose genes are fairly well suited to
the environment around you." And while striking faces may sometimes be drop-
dead gorgeous, studies have shown we are
generally drawn to Mr or Ms Average, whatever
our culture. According to scientists including
Professor Randy Thornhill from the University
of New Mexico, average features could be a sign of genetic diversity and good health. But is there such a thing as a "type"? Women
with feminine features, such as a smaller chin
and fuller lips, tend to be deemed more appealing by both sexes, Saxton tells me, but preferences for male features are far from clear- cut. "When women are more likely to be able to conceive that seems to be the time when they are liking more masculine facial features [in men] and also more masculine bodies, voices and male
behaviour," says Saxton. So a disaster date
might genuinely be a case of right person, wrong
time. But it is possible to disrupt the trend. "There's a good deal of evidence that use of the
hormonal contraception pill is associated with greater preference for more feminine male facial
features." And it isn't only chemicals sloshing
around inside that can tip the balance. "Women
seem to prefer more masculine male faces in
countries where health prospects are poorer," Saxton says. It seems the suggestion of heroics could also fuel
a romance. A study conducted by researchers at Liverpool and Stirling Universities recruited 115
women and 64 men, asking one group to assess
images of the opposite sex with digitally added
facial scars while another group viewed blemish-
free mug shots. The upshot was that women
rated slight scarring in a man's face marginally more attractive when considering a short-term
fling – men viewed scarring in women with
indifference. The researchers say that scarring
may be read by women as a sign of masculinity,
courage and strength. But whether or not you are looking for Indiana
Jones, good health is a key quality and once
again there may be subtle, chemical cues. In
2009 researchers at St Andrews University asked 54 people to digitally tweak the hue of a
selection of male and female Caucasian faces to
make them look "healthy", finding that a light
yellow tint and pink flush is perceived to be
indicative of the hale and hearty. Follow-up
collaborative studies supported the view that yellow colouring is deemed more attractive
across cultures, and suggested that an increase in the intake of carotenoid pigments, such as
those found in fruit and veg, may increase this
yellow tint, although other influences can't be
ruled out. But, hot or not, your date has only
just begun and it's time to make that opening
gambit. THE CHAT How well the conversation flows is an indicator of whether people will click. Photograph: Jamie Grill/
Getty Images/Tetra images RF It turns out, that it is not just what you say, but
the way that you say it that flags up a successful
date. One such indicator appears to be the use of
function words such as personal pronouns,
articles and conjunctions. "The more you use this group of words, called
function words, similarly, the more you like each
other," says Molly Ireland a psychologist at
Texas Tech University. Ireland and her
colleagues studied how such words are used by heterosexual men and women by examining 40
speed dates, using special computer programs to
analyse the speakers' language. The study found
that speed dating couples were more likely to
mutually wish to see each other again if their
language style matched better. "When two people are matching each other's use of, say,
personal pronouns and articles, that means that
they are on the same wavelength in terms of how
they are connecting their thoughts and how they
are thinking about the situation," she says. So if your date is speaking in a detached fashion,
using "the", "it" and "that" often but you are
throwing in plenty of "I" and "we", then chances
are there is no point swapping numbers. "It's a
very strong predictor," says Ireland. And while talking a lot may point to a good date,
Ireland says their study showed it wasn't the
strongest factor. "If you are on a date with
somebody who is relatively quiet and maybe you
are a relatively quiet person, too, that doesn't
matter as long as you are using similar speaking styles," she says. According to Ireland it isn't an
easy effect to fake – not only is it difficult to
consciously pick up on function words but it is
also tricky to deliberately manipulate them. Speed-dating also threw up some interesting
observations for researchers at Stanford
University who studied more than 900 heterosexual dates to work out what makes
people click. "Dating is just a great way to study
what are the linguistic signs more generally of
people creating a bond," one of the authors, Dan
Jurafsky, explains. "Men tend to choose skinny
women and women tend to choose tall men, but you'll be happy to know that even after
controlling for these physical characteristics,
people's language is still an excellent predictor
of whether they clicked." After analysing voice-recordings from the dates,
they found that for couples who reported
"clicking", both the men and the women seemed
excited. The men varied their volume and
laughed more; while women changed both their
loudness and pitch. "By contrast, people feeling awkward use more qualifiers – they say "kind of"
and "sort of" and "a little bit" a lot," says
Jurafsky. "It's as if they are feeling so
uncomfortable with the date that they can't even
commit to their sentences." Interestingly,
however, Jurafsky and colleagues found it was only when the woman felt uncomfortable that
both parties failed to report clicking. And while women preferred men who spoke
loudly, sympathised with them and interrupted
them, both men and women preferred it when
the woman made herself the focus of the
conversation. But perhaps it is best to avoid
grilling your date. "We found questions were used by women to keep a lagging conversation
going, and they were used by men who had
nothing to say," the authors wrote. And bad news chaps – if you're looking for a lady
it could be tough. Women were found to report
clicking less frequently than men. "The women
are the empowered party," says Jurafsky. THE LATE NIGHT SMOOCH Chinese Kissing Fish know how to do it. Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters/Corbis If the date works out, a kiss may be on the cards.
It's a crucial moment that could fan the flames or
snuff out the spark. "Each of these stages involves closer and closer
spatial relationships so you get in close enough
where you can actually smell the person,"
explains Robin Dunbar, Professor of
Evolutionary Psychology at the University of
Oxford. And the clues you are picking up, he says, are
genetic. "Your smell and your taste are all
determined by a particular complex of genes
that determine your immune system." These major histocompatibility complex (MHC)
genes are vital in determining how resistant you
are to diseases, and have been found to
influence the odour of fluids such as saliva, urine
and sweat. In a study conducted by Claus Wedekind from the University of Lausanne,
nearly 50 female participants were asked to sniff
T-shirts worn for two nights by men and rate the
attractiveness of the whiff. The results showed
that the women preferred the odour of T-shirts
worn by men with a dissimilar MHC type. While you may look for similarities with your
date, when it comes to MHC genes, genetic
variety is the spice of life as offspring are likely
to have a wider diversity of immune-system
genes, enabling them to fight of a host of
maladies. But how can you tell all this from a kiss? "You
don't go, 'oh yes that tastes like a different major
histocompatibility complex to me'," explains
Dunbar. "What you sense it as is you enjoyed it
or you didn't enjoy it." Once again oral contraceptives can cause
confusion, with studies including those by Craig Roberts at Stirling University showing that
women taking the pill seem to prefer men with
similar MHC type. "This is a disaster," says
Dunbar. "Women's judgment about how much
they like a prospective partner or the smell of a
prospective partner is completely derailed." Kissing or sniffing can also help you pick up on
other signals. "One of the other cues it is giving
you is health, because that is really strongly
affected in both your odour and your taste," says
Dunbar. While kissing is common to many cultures other
customs, such as "rubbing noses", can also yield
such crucial information. But, Dunbar says, the
description is misleading. "What they actually do
is put their nose next to the other person's nose
and breathe in deeply. They are smelling the smell." But don't worry if your date is doused in
perfume or aftershave. A study of 137 men and women by Wedekind and Manfred Milinski
found that preference for certain scents appears
to be correlated with the wearer's MHC
genotype. "Everybody assumes you buy
perfumes to cover up all your horrid unwashed
smells, it's absolutely quite the opposite," Dunbar explains. "You buy the ones that match
and enhance your natural smell signature." And the sizing up process doesn't stop there.
Waist-to-hip ratios in women, waist-to-shoulder
ratios in men and even hairiness are all being
judged over the evening. But if your chemistry
clicks, your mouse may never need to click again