Science Brief: Women Are Wooed By Men Who Use Metaphors
Just over a week ago I tried my hand at an exceedingly short, no-background, no nonsense science post about a current topic in the literature. This post was met with positive reviews, so today I have returned to follow this protocol yet again and hopefully produce for you something that is both interesting (or at least a bit silly as today's article might be) and not a big time investment!
For this post let us turn to a topic that is completely outside my wheel house... metaphorical language and romance (neither or which biochemists are known for!) and discuss an article published in the journal Nature: Scientific Reports titled "Women prefer men who use metaphorical language when paying compliments in a romantic context"
What Were The Authors Studying?
Metaphorical language and romance. Metaphorical meaning implying something different then what you are saying. This was one weird ass study where the authors:
investigated 124 female students’ preference for compliments paid by males incorporating either literal or metaphoric (conventional/novel) language and targeting their appearance or possessions (house) throughout their menstrual cycle.
Certainly not what I usually find my self reading about after work! Hmm yes... whats this article... complements... hmm... menstrual cycle?... that's weird... okay I guess I will read it!
Basically the authors paired up pictures of guys with written statements then asked the women rate the attractiveness of the guys. The girls were told that the statements were written down by the person pictured and as was quoted above the guys either "talked" more about the girls appearance, or stuff they had, and then used varying degrees of language going from very literal to very metaphorical. The results they found may or may not surprise you (they actually surprised me!!)
Gals love the metaphors, prefer complements about themselves rather than their houses (duh)
The guys who talked about the girls appearances were statistically reported as more attractive then were guys who talked about possessions that the girls had (maybe not surprising, who doesn't prefer a complement directly at you, as opposed to someone complimenting your house). The bar graph above shows this where the *** indicates that the difference between those two topics of discussion was statistically significant (p <0.001). Secondly we can see that talking literally was much less attractive then even whipping out some cliche conventional metaphors. Here we see ** which means P > 0.01. Still pretty good.
Are You Wondering What A Conventional Metaphor Is In The Eyes Of These Scientists?
Metaphors about the girls appearance:
Your eyes are morning dew or Your smile is a naughty goblin is from the category of conventional metaphors on appearance.
Holy shit, the ladies were into guys telling them their smile is a naughty goblin?
Metaphors about possessions:
Your roof is a lover’s shoulder or Your garden is the sea of flowers belongs to the category of novel metaphors on possessions
Well I think I have some Idea why the girls preferred the personal metaphors more... who wants to hear about their roof? Ohh baby... tell me more about how my roof's shingles keep your heart safe.. so dreamy.
It Gets Better... what about the "literal" statements
Your lips are so sexy or Your door is very strong are literal expressions.
Now I am pretty sure I know why the literal statements didn't do so well... I don't think too many people recommend the pickup line " Your door is very strong."
Some Conclusions From The Article
- Women prefer complements about themselves, over their possessions, and perceive men delivering those complements as more attractive.
- Men who use metaphors are more attractive then men who do not.
- Women IN relationships are more responsive to metaphorical language then single women.
- Women more likely to get pregnant (due to menstrual cycle progression) who are IN relationships find men complementing their appearence more attractive then those complementing possessions, this trend is less significant for those IN relationships and less likely to get pregnant.
- Single women LESS likely to get pregnant find men complementing their appearence more attractive then those complementing possessions. This trend was NOT there for single women who were more likely to get pregnant.
- The authors state that the use of metaphorical language (especially metaphors that the women are not familiar with) is an illustration of creativity, which is a desirable trait in a potential mate.
Are You A Single Guy? What Should You Take From This?
- Looks like it's time to investigate what metaphors are, will make people perceive you as more attractive!
- Try not to go out and hit on girls by complementing the strength of the doors of their houses/apartments.
Sources
All Non Cited Images Are From Pixabay.com And Are Available Under Creative Commons Licenses
Any Gifs Are From Giphy.com and Are Also Available for Use Under Creative Commons Licences
As was the case with the previous brief post, I don't expect this article to make the splash that perhaps one of my more expansive weekend posts would. That said, I again will be distributing all SBD rewards in the form of Steem Power out equally to anyone who comments in this article (commenting more than once will not gain you more, it will be calculated per user, the fewer user comments the bigger your potential prize... the more comments, smaller your prize, everyone who comments will get something). This served as a nice way for me to reward my followers for their kindness and support, encourage discussion, and also help distribute steem power to newer and smaller users. It was a Win, Win, Win really... so let's do it again!
If you like this work, please consider giving me a follow: @justtryme90. I am here to help spread scientific knowledge and break down primary publications in such a way so as to cut through the jargon and provide you the main conclusions in short (well compared to the original articles at least!) and easy to read posts.
I figured out this "power of metaphor" as a young pup. Yep, a lot of hotdog and bun references when I was a kid.
like a lovin machine!
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This post earned The post earned 219 SBD which was converted on the market into 205.3 Steem/22 total posts = 9.33 Steem Power.
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I hope to do this again in the near future.
Metaphors get strait to the point,
Whereas Similes are very slow in their meaning.
This scientific study proves that "Nice guys finish last".
It's better to get straight to the point, that's why women love Metaphors.
Try this again with MY account:
They are certainly better than talking about women's doors thats for sure!
Thank you for your comment! :D
If anyone asks, "What's a metaphor?", I tell them, "To feed my cows". Not surprisingly, in my experiences, women are not turned on by puns. lol
Hmm, according to this article women are turned on by telling them their smile is a naughty goblin. Perhaps its in your delivery? lol
some women...love puns! I've definitely had romantic explosions with gals who love a good pun!
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This post earned The post earned 219 SBD which was converted on the market into 205.3 Steem/22 total posts = 9.33 Steem Power.
As promised, as is delivered.
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Thank you very much! I appreciate you helping out us minnows. I look forward to your next event.
You're welcome. It's not worth writing posts if nobody wants to read them, I want to help lift us all up, through efforts like that steemit will become a massive success IMO.
Yeah I will not be single anymore lol. Anyways great post, easy to read. Inspires me
:) As always, thank you for your complement and your support. I wholeheartedly appreciate it.
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This post earned The post earned 219 SBD which was converted on the market into 205.3 Steem/22 total posts = 9.33 Steem Power.
As promised, as is delivered.
I hope to do this again in the near future.
tank you very much @justtryme90
You're welcome.
nice...you deserve upvote and resteem...
Thank you @lautenglye
u r welcome
Thank you for engaging with me in my post. In the text of the post it was stated:
This post earned The post earned 219 SBD which was converted on the market into 205.3 Steem/22 total posts = 9.33 Steem Power.
As promised, as is delivered.
I hope to do this again in the near future.
happy to hear that....keep it up....thanks...will join in again...
Hmmm, that is pretty wild. I don't suppose there's any good way to test for this, but you know, not all metaphors are created equally. Perhaps another encompassing hypothesis could be women find men who speak beautifully more attractive.
This is a good point. And by no means was this study discussed here exhaustive. Certainly someone could look much more deeply into these observations :)
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This post earned The post earned 219 SBD which was converted on the market into 205.3 Steem/22 total posts = 9.33 Steem Power.
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neuro linguistic programming is the art of 'therapeutic metaphor' which is used to reconfigure synaptic connections in the brain aka 'change mental patterns'. there are several 'authors' who have attempted to use NLP for 'pickups' - they claim to have good results, but i will point out that purely mental manipulation is only a shallow way to change behavior and has little to do with the loving bonding that real relationships require.
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This post earned The post earned 219 SBD which was converted on the market into 205.3 Steem/22 total posts = 9.33 Steem Power.
As promised, as is delivered.
I hope to do this again in the near future.
you are welcome - great! i didn't expect that :)
Indeed
Yep, very true. Thanks for reading!
I can tell you from my own experience and testing, that in a highly competitive environment such as an online video chat room with semi naked women, it is the other way around. When the woman is hearing compliments about her appearance non-stop, and you compliment her necklace instead of her ass, you will get noticed and appreciated instantly. It's a night and day distinction that I have found in that environment. Even outside of that environment, unless I was being very direct towards a woman, I would not comment on her appearance directly. I am not sure why any man would want to show his hand and give her that sort of power over him in the first place.
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This post earned The post earned 219 SBD which was converted on the market into 205.3 Steem/22 total posts = 9.33 Steem Power.
As promised, as is delivered.
I hope to do this again in the near future.
Thanks! Wasn't expecting that, but it's appreciated.
You're very welcome.
Interesting point. Thanks.
Wow, this is great news for me, I live in metaphor!
Your post is a rip in the time space continuum, racing like an antilope to the end of the universe! Strong door!
Definitely strong door. Definitely.
Lol.
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Your eyes are radiant pools I could swim in for eternity.
Great post....my wife always says that my cheesy lines really made her fall in love with me.
Now there's a cheesy metaphor! :D you've a gift!
your voice is a symphony that wakes my very soul, and your heart is a drum that drives the rhythm of my life. I could hold you in my arms for eternity, and that would still not be long enough.
I was so good back in the day! hahaha! Thanks for the post my friend. This was some great research.
Thank you for engaging with me in my post. In the text of the post it was stated:
This post earned The post earned 219 SBD which was converted on the market into 205.3 Steem/22 total posts = 9.33 Steem Power.
As promised, as is delivered.
I hope to do this again in the near future.
Thank you very much!
Sure thing, you're welcome.