Love Is in the Air: Romantic Tunes Boost Dating Odds

Romantic music boosts men's chances with the ladies

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The surest way to a woman’s heart may be through her ears. In a study published in the July issue of Psychology of Music, researchers at the University of Southern Brittany in France exposed single 18- to 20-year-old women to either music with romantic lyrics or neutral lyrics while they waited to complete a taste test with a 20-year-old male research assistant posing as another student volunteer. During a break, the male confederate asked the female participants for their phone number. Fifty-two percent of the women who heard romantic music said yes compared with only 28 percent who heard neutral music—something to think about next time you’re playing the jukebox.

Ferris Jabr is a contributing writer for Scientific American. He has also written for the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker and Outside.

More by Ferris Jabr
SA Mind Vol 21 Issue 5This article was published with the title “Love Is in the Air: Romantic Tunes Boost Dating Odds” in SA Mind Vol. 21 No. 5 (), p. 7
doi:10.1038/scientificamericanmind1110-7b

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