If you're looking for a relationship, you likely spend your first date looking for clues about whether the man across from you sees you as girlfriend potential—or just a hookup. If he sneaks a peek (or a few peeks) at your cleavage, is he automatically in the latter category? And if his eyes stay locked above the neck only, is he a gentleman—or not interested?
While we've all had an "eyes are up here, buddy" moment, no one has actually studied whether a wandering eye means the guy is definitely not interested in a relationship and just trying to sleep with you. Nor have they confirmed what it means if a guy doesn't sneak a peek at your body at all. Until now. This new study specifically examined eye movement and interactions between men and women to truly determine whether there was any correlation between looking at (or not looking at) your body on a first date.
Here's what went down: Participants in the study viewed a series of images of young couples. They then had to say whether they perceived these couples to have romantic or sexual love.
In part two of the study, the participants viewed photographs of attractive individuals of the opposite sex who were looking directly at them (just like on a first date). Researchers found that both men and women "tended to visually fixate on the face, especially when they said an image elicited a feeling of romantic love." When they looked at a picture and just felt more of a "schwing!" reaction instead, "the subjects' eyes moved from the face to fixate on the rest of the body."
What does that mean? Well, if a guy can't help but check out your body, it means he's definitely sexually attracted to you (but you probably already knew that). If he's keeping his eyes glued to yours, he's likely looking for more of a romantic connection (and that doesn't mean he isn't sexually attracted to you—he just has a bit more self control).
What do you think? Would you be disappointed if a guy kept checking out your body on a date? And would you take it to be a good sign if he kept his eyes firmly locked on yours?