Life
How can you tell when someone likes you during a first date? It's a question I'm sure many of us have asked ourselves before. Luckily, a new video by Function titled, "The Science of Dating (Eye Tracking Ep. 2)" has all the answers.
In an experiment conducted by Function, participants were asked to wear a pair of Tobii Pro eye tracking glasses while going on a series of seven to 12 minute blind dates. During each date, the eye trackers were able to measure where people focused most of their attention, as well as any changes occuring within the eyes all throughout the date.
"Eye patterns, body language, and other non-verbal cues can reveal 70 percent more than our actual words do," Caitlin Cooper, a New York-based matchmaker at Three Day Rule and dating consultant for the study tells Bustle. "The dilation of pupils, flushing of the face, deep eye contact, and similar posture or movements are markers of deep engagement and that a date is going well."
According to Cooper, that doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't be mindful of your words. After all, a recent survey of 2,000 singles found that great conversation is the marker of a successful date. "But matching and mirroring someone's body language and natural eye patterns can create rapport in minutes without much work at all," she says.
So if you're wondering how you can tell whether or not your date is into you, here's what you should look out for:
1
How Often Do They Pay Close Attention To Your Face?
On average, when someone is engaged in conversation, a person's face will be the center point of attention about 33 percent of the time. But when someone's interested in a second date, they will gaze at the other person's face about 36 percent of the time. If someone's not that interested, they'll pay attention to the face only 30 percent of the time. In short, if someone's interested in you, you'll know by how often they focus on your face.
2
Do Their Pupils Get Larger During The Course Of Conversation?
This one might be harder to tell and a little bit awkward if you tried. People who were interested in a second date had larger pupils (5.53 mm) during conversation than those who weren't interested (5.27 mm).
3
How Often Do They Make Eye Contact?
It shouldn't surprise you to know that eye contact is a big indicator of interest. According to the experiment, one participant who said they felt "no spark" only locked eyes with their date seven percent of the time. On average, people will make eye contact about 11 percent of the time.
4
How Many Topics Of Conversation Do You Get Through?
Conversation is just as important as body language. Successful dates will average about nine different topics of conversation, while less successful ones will only hit about five. According to the experiment, the most popular topics of conversation are career, personal background, personality, and travel.
5
How Often Do They Get Close Or Pull Away?
When a person is heavily engaged in a conversation, they'll spend more time leaning in towards the person they're talking to. When they're less engaged, they will create some distance.
6
How Often Do They Laugh?
This one is another pretty obvious one. But people who wanted a second date laughed twice as much as those who didn't. First dates should be fun and light. So if your date is not laughing and having fun, then it's a pretty good sign they're not that interested.
Dating is filled with all kinds of mysteries and attraction can be difficult to generalize since everyone is different. But it's kind of cool to see the subtle ways our bodies naturally react when we're into someone or not. So if you're going on a date and wondering if it's going well, the amount of eye contact, laughter, and conversation topics are just some of the things to look out for.
If you're interested in checking out the entire video, you can do so here.
