You Fall In Love Because… Of The Wackiest Things!

by Sejal Parikh · September 24, 2015

If you are on this page reading this, you perhaps already have your own custom answers to why people fall in love! At least, you might have your own custom answer to why you did- for instance, he was so funny, I peed my pants a li’l or even why you didn’t fall for someone- his breath smells like someone crawled into his mouth and died! 😛

But whatever your deal-makers and deal-breakers be, you are, perhaps, unaware that a lot of crazy, whacky psychological factors are working in the background to help trigger those *feels* you feel when you first fall in love. Don’t believe me? Check out the most crazy, the most whacky, the absolute weirdest of the weirdest reasons why people fall in love– that you had not half-a-clue about…but you know what, Science has proved they’re all true:

1. Because… of what you eat

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Women’s Health Mag recently covered an interesting survey conducted by the dating app Are You Interested (AYI)- that examined the effect diet has on the way people are drawn to each other. In an extensive survey of over 180000 users totalling over 2.4 million interactions, they found that women were 13 percent more likely to contact meat-eaters than vegetarians while men were 11 percent more likely to contact vegetarians than meat-eaters. Seems like the desirability of the ‘salad-eating chick’ isn’t a myth. Okay I’m kidding about the last statement- but seriously- food habits! 😛

2. Because… of mouth germs

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There are billions of microbes at home in our bodies. An intriguing study conducted in 2014 by Dutch researchers reports the presence of similar ‘microbial communities’ on the tongues of couples. By surveying 21 couples, swabbing their mouths separately, recording their kissing frequencies and making them kiss on-the-spot, they established that the microbial community makeup on the two swabs didn’t undergo any change after the kiss- evincing that their makeup was the same and that there wasn’t any significant correlation of the microbial community with kissing behavior- thereby proving that the reason might be something else! Our guess- LOVE! 😉

3. Because… of tears

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In a 2011 study, researchers found that men’s libido suffered quite a dip when they saw a woman crying. The researchers had a group of men sniff at negative-emotion-related odorless tears and then noted their responses toward women. They found that the men experienced reduced levels of testosterone, reduced levels of both physiological measures of arousal and of self-reported arousal in the presence of these tears. However, the study didn’t research the reverse phenomena. As a woman, I’d like to think that we’d like a sensitive man who isn’t afraid to show his emotions. But then, again, I am not Science- what do I know? 😛

4. Because… of adventure

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In a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Donald Dutton and Arthur Aron tested the correlation between adrenaline and attraction. They tested two groups of men by making them walk on a high, shaky bridge and a low, sturdy one respectively. When both groups performed the exercise after meeting with a female experimenter who gave them her digits, the first group was more likely to call her than the second. This, the researchers said, was the misattribution of arousal. It explained how the adrenaline rush was related to attraction. No wonder then that The Bachelor involves two strangers and a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon to make’em fall in love!

5. Because… of proximity

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In case you live close to each other, you are bound to feel more close to them- as familiarity is found to play a major role in attraction. According to an experiment at MIT, the proximity of students’ dorm rooms increased how close they felt to each other. This is because they had more passive interactions, such as brief meetings as they passed each other in the hallway, which made them feel more intimate. Time to know the neighbors, eh?

6. Because… of a beautiful home

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Now call this shallow but it seems like high-paced cars and monster trucks aren’t the only things that attract women. According to a Cardiff Metropolitan study, a man photographed in a casual posture in a luxury apartment received more positive responses from women than the same man in a more nuanced posture in a standard apartment. This ties in with the illusion of status-linked property ownership having quite an impact on attraction levels. Seems like got a great home, wanna date- is going to be the next IT-thing for pickup lines! Except if you live on Staten island! 😛

7. Because… of a pet

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According to a survey conducted by Dognition, 82% of people feel more confident approaching an attractive person if they had their dog with them. It argues that “having a dog with you is more important for first impressions than what you wear.” Psychologists Nicolas Guéguen and Serge Ciccotti tried this out for themselves. In their research study, they had men with and without a dog ask for women’s numbers on the street. When the men had the dog with them, their success rate jumped from 1 in 10 to 1 in 3! Hello, Bruno! 😀

8. Because… of body odor

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Yep, body odor plays a role in attraction! This evolutionary rule of attraction states that women are more attracted to men whose major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes differ from their own and they can analyse the same through body odor. It works like this- the similar the MHC genotype, the less the sexual attraction between the couple and vice versa. That explains why my sex life is awesome! I totally can’t keep my hands off him when he gets back from the gym! 😉

9. Because… of your name

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At the Edinburgh International Science Festival in 2008, psychologist Richard Wiseman conducted what he called “The Name Experiment.” He surveyed 6,000 people to determine what names they found most attractive. Women had stronger opinions than men about what names they found attractive. But men had their own opinions too and an extensive list was drawn on what names were attractive to both sexes! Guess a rose wouldn’t smell as sweet if it were called a lily, now, would it? 😛

10. Because… of how your parents look

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A study conducted by University of St. Andrews found that we are attracted to people who have the same eye color or hair color as our opposite sex parent. Researchers have drawn up a list of plausible reasons for the same- some of which may include familiarity or simply how we learnt to recognize our parents! Nah, don’t worry- this does not have any Freudian implications! 😛

11. Because… of your walking pace

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In a University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana study on walking speeds, it was found that men walked at a slower pace when with a woman they felt drawn to while friends of opposite sex didn’t adjust their walking pace to be in sync. Now, if that’s not romantic, what is?

12. Because… of that anti-impression on the first meeting

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In the 1972 ‘‘gain-loss’ theory of attraction’ study conducted by Jerome Tognoli and Robert Keisner, it was reported that people were more attracted to those folks who didn’t click with them in the first meeting and warmed up eventually than those counterparts who have always had a ‘thing’ for them. The reason behind this, the researchers concluded, could be the fact that people like the idea of having earned the ‘interest’ of a person over consecutive meetings- thereby, feeling worthy of the reward!

13. Because… of birth control

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Research has shown that women on birth control pills tend to prefer less ‘masculine’ men while her contraceptive method also affects her perception of her sexual partner. If a woman was on birth control when she chose her partner, she reported having less attraction, as more likely to initiate a breakup (if it were to occur), and as having experienced decreasing sexual satisfaction. So much power hath that small pill! Who knew!

14. Because… of music

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Researchers in France found a direct correlation between musical practice and sexual selection. In an experiment where a man with a guitar case and a man with a sports bag walk upto women on the street to get their numbers, the former wins by leaps and bounds! Ahh, Sing to me, baby! 😉

15. Because… of facial hair

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In an Australian experiment, researchers found that women consider faces with heavy stubble more attractive than those with heavy beards, light stubble, and clean-shaven faces. Beyond attractiveness, however, researchers also found that facial hair impacts perceived fertility. The more facial hair a man had, the more masculine a woman perceived him to be — especially when she was in the fertile phase of her menstrual cycle. It seems that full beards indicate high parenting ability and healthiness. Johnny Depp, baby! 😉

Can you believe that?? Well, am sure the next time that cute guitarist from your college band you’d been crushing on, who sports an ohh-so-adorable stubble, walks past you coz hey, he just moved to your neighborhood and needs to walk his dog in the evenings, I bet you’d start walking at the same pace too! What? It’s Science-approved! 😛

And who knows, Cupid might be around shooting his darts so you can fall in love easier! 😉

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Summary