Scientific American reports on a study that finds guys are much more likely than girls to be interested in being more than just friends with their opposite sex friends:
The results suggest large gender differences in how men and women
experience opposite-sex friendships. Men were much more attracted to
their female friends than vice versa. Men were also more likely than
women to think that their opposite-sex friends were attracted to them—a
clearly misguided belief. In fact, men’s estimates of how attractive
they were to their female friends had virtually nothing to do with how
these women actually felt, and almost everything to do with how the men
themselves felt—basically, males assumed that any romantic attraction
they experienced was mutual, and were blind to the actual level of
romantic interest felt by their female friends. Women, too, were blind
to the mindset of their opposite-sex friends; because females generally
were not attracted to their male friends, they assumed that this lack of
attraction was mutual. As a result, men consistently overestimated the level of attraction felt by their female friends and women consistently underestimated the level of attraction felt by their male friends.
Men were also more willing to act on this mistakenly perceived mutual
attraction. Both men and women were equally attracted to romantically
involved opposite-sex friends and those who were single; “hot” friends were hot and “not” friends were not,
regardless of their relationship status. However, men and women
differed in the extent to which they saw attached friends as potential
romantic partners. Although men were equally as likely to desire
“romantic dates” with “taken” friends as with single ones, women were
sensitive to their male friends’ relationship status and uninterested in
pursuing those who were already involved with someone else.
These results suggest that men, relative to women, have a particularly
hard time being “just friends.” What makes these results particularly
interesting is that they were found within particular
friendships (remember, each participant was only asked about the
specific, platonic, friend with whom they entered the lab). This is not
just a bit of confirmation for stereotypes about sex-hungry males and
naïve females; it is direct proof that two people can experience the
exact same relationship in radically different ways. Men seem to see
myriad opportunities for romance in their supposedly platonic
opposite-sex friendships. The women in these friendships, however, seem
to have a completely different orientation—one that is actually
platonic.
I don't think this news comes as a shock to almost anybody, at least among guys.
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