Tired of men mistaking your friendly behavior for flirting? Their testosterone may be responsible

A man’s favorite saying: “I thought I liked you” is a woman’s biggest fear. It often happens when men mistakenly interpret a woman’s friendly behavior as flirting, a search for some delusional romantic interest. When women are simply polite and kind, men look for non-existent romantic signals in their friendly gestures. They just assume that women like them. Well, there seems to be a lot of science behind this behavior. A study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, sheds light on the role testosteroneMale sex hormonein determining how social cues are understood.

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Evolutionary origin

Many psychologists have tried to understand the impulsive tendency to jump to conclusions, suggesting that it may have evolutionary origins. The urgency arises from the fear of missing out on a potential partner to avoid poor reproductive consequences. This study focused on the effects of testosterone on male behavior.

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Study author Stefan M.M. Goetz said: “The sexual superperception hypothesis has become a key example in evolutionary psychology. “This suggests that because of the adaptive advantage of minimizing missed mating opportunities, men tend to overestimate sexual interest.” Goetz added: “Although researchers have examined many ‘how’ questions about sex differences in behavior, few have examined whether testosterone, the hormone mediating typical male traits, is associated with this bias—and none have provided causal evidence.” ” The researchers studied a group of 190 heterosexual men aged 18 to 40.

The role of self-esteem

It’s not just testosterone that causes men to misinterpret female friendliness. Self-perceived attractiveness means that men who perceive themselves as more attractive are more likely to assert themselves and overestimate the friendliness of a romantic interest.

Testosterone increases sensitivity to friendly gestures only in men who know they are somewhat attractive. Thus, only positive self-esteem enhances the effect of the hormone. Men often project their romantic interest onto women, making them think that the woman is interested in him, when in fact she is the one who is attracted to him. Testosterone increases the likelihood of this projection being realized.

Researchers have also shed light on what shapes male behavior. It is not only the sex hormone testosterone that is responsible for this; other factors such as cultural and social influence also play an important role. Gender roles and behavior arise from complex forces of biological and environmental factors, especially the latter, which play an important role in the formation of masculinity.

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