Are you tired of men misinterpreting your friendly behavior as flirting? Their testosterone may be responsible

Men’s favorite saying, “I thought you liked me,” is women’s biggest fear. It is common for men to misinterpret women’s friendly behavior as flirting in search of romantic delusions. If women are simply polite and nice, men are sniffing for non-existent romantic signals in their friendly gestures. They simply assume that women love it. It seems like there is a lot of science behind this behavior. A study published in Frontiers in Psychology sheds light on the role of testosteroneGentlemen sex hormonein determining how social signals are understood.

When women are nice and friendly, men often assume they are flirting. (Pexels)

Evolutionary origins

Many psychologists have tried to understand the impulsive tendency to jump to conclusions, suggesting that it may even have an evolutionary origin. The urgency comes from the fear of missing out on a potential mate to avoid bad reproductive consequences. This study focused on the impact of testosterone on shaping male behavior.

Study author Stefan MM Goetz said: “The sexual overperception hypothesis has become a key example in evolutionary psychology. It suggests that because of the adaptive advantage of minimizing missed mating opportunities, men tend to overestimate sexual interest.” Goetz added: “Although researchers have studied many ‘how’ questions about sex differences in behavior, few have examined whether testosterone, a hormone that mediates male characteristics, is related to these biases – and none have provided causal evidence.” The researchers studied a group of 190 heterosexual men aged 18 to 40.

Role of self-image

Attractive men get more attention from women, so they automatically assume that when a woman is polite to them, she is flirting. (Pexels)

Testosterone isn’t the only thing that causes men to misinterpret a woman’s friendliness. Self-perceived attractiveness means that men who perceive themselves as more handsome are more likely to stand up for themselves and overestimate the friendliness of romantic interest.

Testosterone increases sensitivity to friendly gestures only in men who know they are somewhat attractive. Only a positive self-image therefore strengthens the effect of the hormone. Men often project their own romantic interests onto women, leading them to believe that the woman is interested in him, when in reality he is the one who is attracted to her. Testosterone increases the tendency for this projection to occur.

The researchers also shed light on what determines men’s behavior. The sex hormone testosterone is not solely responsible; other factors, such as cultural and social influences, also play an important role. Gender roles and behavior emerge from the complex forces of biological and environmental factors, with the latter in particular playing an important role in shaping masculinity.