ELON, N.C., June 9 (UPI) -- This may not be a news flash for most women, but a U.S. study finds men infer sexual interest before women, according to a North Carolina researcher.
Lead author Maurice J. Levesque, an associate professor of psychology, said men rate themselves and the women they just interacted with higher on sexual traits, such as flirtatiousness, than women rate men.
The authors find that after a five-minute conversation with a stranger of the opposite gender, men were more likely to interpret ambiguous or friendly behavior as indicating sexual interest.
"The findings suggest that men generally think in more sexual terms than women," the authors said.
Men's ratings of women were also associated with physical attractiveness but unrelated to whether he saw her as agreeable or felt the conversation was enjoyable, according to Levesque.
This study is published in Psychology of Women Quarterly.
