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A new study published on February 19 in the journal Personality and Individual Differences has found that the main reason behind “involuntary singlehood” is not knowing how to flirt.
This factor was followed by not knowing how to perceive signals of interest, a lack of effort, and an overly high level of choosiness.
According to the study’s author Menelaos Apostolou, of the University of Nicosia (Cyprus), past research has shown that about half of single people are involuntarily single. In other words, they would like to have a partner, but they have trouble finding one.
This is not entirely surprising, Apostolou writes. After all, finding a romantic partner requires a number of skills. People need to know how to flirt in order to attract prospective partners. They also need the ability to understand signals of interest, and put in sufficient amounts of time effort.
Furthermore, in ancestral human societies, mating practices were regulated, “with parents choosing spouses for their children,” as Apostolou writes. This is no longer the case in most societies. Nonetheless, this transition has been a very recent one in evolutionary terms.
That means there has not yet been enough time for poor flirting skills to have been selected out. That is largely because in the past, lacking this skill would not have impaired one’s chances of finding a partner.
Read more here. (Psych News Daily)
This factor was followed by not knowing how to perceive signals of interest, a lack of effort, and an overly high level of choosiness.
According to the study’s author Menelaos Apostolou, of the University of Nicosia (Cyprus), past research has shown that about half of single people are involuntarily single. In other words, they would like to have a partner, but they have trouble finding one.
This is not entirely surprising, Apostolou writes. After all, finding a romantic partner requires a number of skills. People need to know how to flirt in order to attract prospective partners. They also need the ability to understand signals of interest, and put in sufficient amounts of time effort.
Furthermore, in ancestral human societies, mating practices were regulated, “with parents choosing spouses for their children,” as Apostolou writes. This is no longer the case in most societies. Nonetheless, this transition has been a very recent one in evolutionary terms.
That means there has not yet been enough time for poor flirting skills to have been selected out. That is largely because in the past, lacking this skill would not have impaired one’s chances of finding a partner.
Read more here. (Psych News Daily)
