If you’re single, you’ve probably heard all kinds of advice about how to meet someone you can settle down with. And while there’s no shortage of dating advice out there, finding the right person and falling in love is really a matter of chance. But researchers have pinpointed a few things that have been proven to spark a romantic interest.
These are some of the surprising science-backed ways to make someone fall for you:
- Look like his mom - Psychologist David Perrett’s research found that people tend to be attracted to partners with the same shade of hair and eyes as their opposite-sex parent. So if you look like his mother, it could be helpful, in a weird way.
- Look like his last girlfriend - It seems we like what’s familiar as one study finds that both men and women are more attracted to photos of people who look similar to their most recent partner.
- Remind him of himself - That whole opposites attract thing may not be true after all, according to an eHarmony study. It finds that people are attracted to others with similar personalities, which makes it easier for them to understand each other.
- Look happy - In another study, researchers asked people to rate photos of strangers according to attractiveness and men liked women the most when they looked happy, least when they looked proud.
- Talk with your hands - A speed-dating study finds that when women moved their hands and arms around a lot, men were twice as likely to want to see them again.
- Stare at him - Eye contact may be more important than we realize. University of Massachusetts psychologist Joan Kellerman asked students to stare into each other’s eyes for two minutes straight and even though they’d never met before, they commonly reported feelings of passion, affection and even love for each other. Scientific American explains, “This suggests that long periods of eye contact can connect you to someone and even ignite feelings of love inside you for that person you have never previously met.”
Source: Your Tango