[Narrator] What makes you attracted to someone?
You may have a list of traits or features,
you commonly found attractive in others
but there's another list of weird things
that may subconsciously attracted you
to others as well.
You're likely unaware of these bizarre situations
or features that attract others,
things you may not even realize,
like how can being nervous possibly benefit you on a date?
Does it matter which ear you speak into when first talking to someone
and how does watching a movie about a terrifying clown
increase your chances of a second date?
We're about to explain why.
Here are "5 Weird Things that can Increase Attraction"
You know, "Eat your Green Vegetables!"
Eating more fruits and veggies
may just increase your chances in the dating world,
like Spider-Man always says,
"Work out, get plenty of rest, you know, eat your green vegetables."
According to a 2017 study published an Evolution and Human Behavior,
Peter Parker, may be right.
This study found that female study participants were less attracted
to the odors of male participants, who ate refine carbs.
They were instead more attracted to the participants,
who've had more fruits and vegetables in their diet.
The study notes that the greater fruits and vegetables intake
was significantly associated with more pleasant smelling sweat,
with more floral, fruity, sweet and medicinal qualities
independent of sweat intensity,
who knew Spider-Man's pit could smell so sweet.
"The Propinquity effect"
Simply being near someone repeatedly over an extended period of time,
may build your attraction to them
and/or form a strong relationship with them.
This is called "The Propinquity effect" in psychology.
According to the American Psychological Association,
it's the tendency of individuals to form close relationships
with people, they repeated encounter.
That is the more often one comes into contact with another person,
the more likely it is that one will form a friendship
or romantic relationship with that person.
So simply going on your routine walk in that crowded park
and noticing the same familiar faces,
soon may have you finding some of those faces attractive
or generally feeling closer to them
or seeing that same pizza delivery guy every week
may just have you craving more than just pizza.
Psychologist Nick Hopson explained to Bustle that
our brains like that sense of familiarity,
adding that, we then take that feeling of the familiar
and convince ourselves that the pleasantness,
it induces within us is because of the attraction itself.
So, attraction or familiarity?
Hmm...Pizza time.
"Misattribution of emotions"
Ah your first movie date.
Romantic comedy or horror movie?
"Well, I love Sleepless in Seattle."
"Ah, uh, I'm going to stop you right there."
"Who doesn't love Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan?"
But a classic romantic comedy may not be the way to go this time.
In a famous 1973 study on the Psychology of Attraction,
Psychologists Donald Dutton and Arthur Arong
had an attractive female experimenter ask male subjects,
between the ages of 18 to 35,
a series of questions.
In order for the male test subjects to get to the female experimenter,
they had to cross a bridge.
Half of the men had to cross a high, rickety Bridge,
while the other half crossed a stable and low bridge.
The experimenter then showed each subject an ambiguous image
and ask them to tell a story about
what could be taking place in that picture.
At the end of the questionnaire,
the woman then gave each men her phone number
and said they could call her,
if they had any questions about the study.
When looking at the results,
the men, who crossed the unstable, adrenaline-inducing bridge,
wrote stories on their questionnaire that included more sexual content
and imagery than those on the low bridge
and only two out of the sixteen subjects
went over the low stable bridge
called the female experimenter back,
while half of those, who crossed the high, scary bridge,
called the woman after the experiment was finished.
Researchers Dutton and Aaron theorized that
the scary bridge created feelings of arousal in subject.
Subjects misattributed this arousal as feelings
for the attractive female experimenter.
This is known as "Misattribution of Emotions"
So if someone goes on an exciting, adrenaline-inducing date,
they may mistake these feelings of arousal
as feelings for you.
The same thing can happen,
if you're watching a scary film or horror movie.
A lot of people love watching horror films
due to that intense energy the movie elicits from them.
Psychologist Nick Hobson further explained to Bustle that
putting someone in a high, energized, emotional state,
may make them more attracted to who they're with
than if they met them during a calm setting.
Opposite notes that we incorrectly believe that
the excitability, we're experiencing, is because of the energy
in the interaction with a potential partner.
A night in, watching the horror film "It" with Pizza delivered,
sounds like a date to me.
Who knew Pennywise the Clown could make you such a way.
"The Right Ear or The Left Ear"
People may just like what you have to say,
if they hear it first in a certain side of your ear.
At least according to a 2009 study from researchers in Italy.
Researchers Danielle Marzoli and Luca Tomasi
had a woman requests a smoke
from a total of 176 people at a club.
The people she spoke to, male or female,
were twice as likely to give her a cigarette,
if she directed her question towards their right ear.
The study states that in their last studies,
subject showed a greater proneness to meet an experimenter's request
when it was directly addressed to the right
rather than the left ear.
Many believe this is due to language processing
taking place primarily in the brain's left hemisphere
and the left side of the brain receives it auditory input from the right ear.
It seems it's just the right side to talk to, right?
Am I right?
"Nervousness for Better or for Worse"
A 2020 study published in the journal Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology found that,
yes, people are often nervous
around someone they like.
The study states that participants reported that
they did indeed experience a cluster of
anxiety-related physiological and behavioral reactions
during an initial encounter with someone,
they found highly attractive
but what if it's not such a bad thing after all?
The study explains that nervous responses benefit in finding someone
that reciprocates those feelings of attraction.
Behavioral Analyst Dr. Wendy L. Patrick, Ph.D,
explains in an article for psychology today that
this point in the study might be particularly true
given that nervous reactions include positives affect,
such as smiling and laughing.
Patrick goes on to explain that the studies researchers
point out that, although, we might think that nervous reactions
could create an impression of being awkward, clumsy or uncomfortable,
such responses could be evidence of
romantic interest and trigger reciprocity.
Makes sense, doesn't it?
Wouldn't you want to know if someone
was just as nervous as you were
cause they liked you back?
That may have just make things easier
when you ask them out on a date next.
Pizza time?
Were you surprised to learn how these things increase attraction?
Which one surprised you the most?
Let us know in the comments down below.
Are you now motivated to ask someone you like out?
When in doubt, take a piece of good old advice
and veggie pizza
and ask them out to watch a movie.
"It Chapter 2" or maybe good old Spider-Man
Oh oh and remember to ask them in their right ear first.
We hoped you enjoyed this video and if you did,
don't forget to click the like button
and share it with a friend.
Subscribe to Psych2Go
and hit the notification bell icon
for more content like this.
As always, thanks for watching.