The study, Getting that female glance: Patterns and consequences of male nonverbal

behavior in courtship contexts seeks to find reasons or patterns that sho in men ho are more
desirable to omen and are more successful ith omen hen initiating conversation in a social
nightclub scene! This study focuses mainly on body language and environmental conditions that
men create for themselves in social settings such as if he is surrounded by a group of people or is
he by himself" This study keeps in mind that omen respond to non verbal communication such
as a stare or a ga#e and that omen are the choosier sex hen it comes to mate selection because
they invest so much into their offspring, hile the men do not need to invest as much as omen!
The study divided the nonverbal communication in men in different categories such as male
nonverbal signals: intra$sexual touch, space$maximi#ation movements, closed$versus open$body
positioning, glancing behavior, gesticulation patterns, and auto$manipulations! %ntra$sexual touch
is touch that is seen as affectionate and usually touchers are perceived as having more status and
more social poer! &ales ho touched other males ere more dominant and those males ho
touched omen ere more successful in initiating conversation! 'losed versus open body
positioning is hen a person ould stand and they ould have a position that is open to the other
person they ould not have their arms crossed against their chest and ould be more open to
touch and more approachable, hich ould make them more successful in social situations ith
omen! Glancing behavior is hen a man ould stare or glance at a oman that he as
interested in and more importantly a man that exhibited more glancing behavior as more likely
to successful in social situations! Gesticulation patterns are the hand movements that go along
ith a person(s conversation, these movements sho a person(s openness and agreeableness
hich makes them more attractive and anted! )uto$manipulations are behaviors such as
rubbing of the face or of the chin and these are vieed as signs of nervousness, so if a male
exhibits more of this behavior it is a sign that the social situation he is in, he is either not in the
dominant position or the social situation is not going ell ith a member of the opposite sex!
The method of the study as that forty males ere unobtrusively observed *ith the
mean age of tenty$four+ on fourteen evenings from ,:-.$//:..pm on alternating 0riday and
1aturday nights in three bars located ear college campuses in Pennsylvania! The categories of
the men ere */+ men ho ere seated at a booth *2+ men ho ere surrounded by ten or more
people and *-+ men ho ere not accompanied by a female! 3ne focal female as randomly
selected for each observation session, and they ere observed for thirty minutes! ) narrative
account as kept for each sub4ect! There as also a focal male for each session! )fter the
observation period ended, a male researcher administered a survey to all individuals ithin the
vicinity of the focal male, as ell as to the focal male! The survey asked them about nightlife,
bar environments, and the bar experience! 5ater, the actions of the focal male ere calculated
and if he as able to maintain a conversation for longer than a minute ith a female he as
considered contact successful! Those ere not able to initiate conversation ere considered non$
contact! )ll males ere debriefed before leaving the bar and ere asked to sign a consent form!
%n study /, researchers found out that male nonverbal behavior in courtship is relevant to
mate selection! )nother study further investigated the nonverbal behaviors ith or ithout
omen present! 6arlier in the evening of the research site, there are only a fe omen present
creating the absence of females scene! 5ater on in the evening, more females arrive thus
observing the females$present condition! 3bservations ere done through security footage! %n
study 2, hen females ere present there as an increase in the movements of, space$
maximi#ation movement, amount of auto manipulation and total amount of glancing behavior!
&en experienced tice as much auto manipulation *4a7beard groth area+ and glancing ith
females present!
%t may be said that increasing attention to the 4a7beard groth area dras attention
toards male secondary sex characteristics, thus leading unconsciously toards masculinity!
8esearch on male faces has found that females are more attracted to mature male features such as
the broad chin and large loer 4a bone!
8esearch previously focused on females, but current research suggests that non$verbal
behavior of males may be relevant to mate$selection! &ales use nonverbal cues to present
aspects of themselves or signal claims to females they have not met yet! %n courtship settings the
female must make the selection based on limited information, making inferences! The males
task is to display health, status, intelligence, strength so that a desired mate may perceive them!
There still needs to be more research in naturalistic observation in courtship settings! %t is
expected that males nonverbal cues ill be used by females to assess intentions*interest v! non
interest, friendly v! hostile+ and his evolutionary affordances*health, status etc!+! &ales ho
sho positive intentions ill receive preferential attention over males ho do not sho such
valued affordances and intentions! The researchers hypothesi#e that nonverbal signals ork
unconsciously as a stimuli for female affective behavior! 1uch quick$onset responses motivating
approach$avoidance behaviors ould have great adaptive value, for example, in picking a
habitat, detecting dangerous stimuli, and in a current study, giving preferential attention to more
appropriate males!
1ince mate$value signals are effective, hy is it that they must be honest have costs!
There are several hypothesis as to hat might limit male cheating: /+&ales have not yet learned
ho to exploit the system 2+ The research may have only found one type of courtship behavior,
hile females attract different males based on long or short term relations -+&ales cooperate in
courtship settings 9+ 'heating is limited through detection of cheating :+ %t is the honesty of
males that is linked to the signals! 5astly mate selection is communicated not only through
quantity of movement but quality of movement as ell! Testosterone levels in males and
estrogen in females are visible in male and female movement! &ales encode their risk$taking
potential in body motion! 1uch qualitative changes based on hormone production ould
provide a real handicap for the production of nonverbal behavior, based on the association of the
immune system competency and sex hormone production! 8esearching nonverbal cues may be
an important additional area for understanding of mate choice and evolved social cognition
heuristics! 0emales may be the selectors in mating but males have the ability through nonverbal
cues to encourage interaction!
%n this research there ere to types of glancing behavior! Type / as room directed:
seeping continuous and indirect! This type of glance is overtly room encompassing! %t is not
focused on anything identifiable! 1ub4ect ould return head to position before! Type 2 glancing
is other$directed: targeted, direct! ;as an observable hori#ontal movement of the head and must
land momentarily on a target! 6xcludes glances toards a conversational partner!
%n physical space changes there ere three types used! The location change is hen a
sub4ect may or may not have returned to their original space! The space maximi#ation is hen
the sub4ect enacts that he takes up space! %t is an exaggerated expansion of the body usually
through arms or legs! %t must be a held position hile gesture patterns are excluded! The closed$
body movement is hen the medial area of the upper body7sternum remains shielded from vie!
This includes hand gripping on opposite shoulder, arms crossed or touching of an ob4ect that the
limb obstructs vie of torso!
%n touching behavior there ere five mainly observed! These ere the nonreciprocal
touch by focal male to another male such as elbo on shoulder, brief tough of back or upper arm,
a tap on shoulder to get attention etc! The second is reciprocated touch hich is more of a
mutual body contact< may include a hand shake or shoving and punching! %n the received touch
it is the males( receipt of touch from other males! The noisy touch is the intentional touch to
create noise such as slapping the bar ith hand, slamming a glass on table thus draing
attention! %n auto$manipulation it is self7bodily directed! Possibly being a scratch or caressing of
ones on face, neck, hair or clothing! This category is broken into three areas: /+auto$
manipulation targeting beard groth area, includes touching of 4a and lip 2+ auto$manipulation
targeting the head including hair, neck, nose and forehead< all areas above collarbone excluding
the beard groth area -+auto$manipulation targeting the body!
%n gestures there as only one kind referred to as gesticulation hich is the movement of
one hand or both to accompany verbal messages! Palm upard refers to the ventral side of the
hand turned overtly toard the ceiling! Palm neutral refers to the ventral side of the hand held
perpendicular to the ceiling, or facing donard!