Oh great: Study shows women only like men who play hard to get

A psychology research team at the University of Virginia has scientifically proven that all women are nuts. It's not our fault, though, it's just who we are. (Don't you wish that was a real excuse in today's world?)

Using Facebook and the emotions of college-aged girls, lead-writer Erin Whitchurch told the ladies that four cute college guys had looked at their profiles and ranked them according to how interested they were in the girl. Then the girls were told that a) the boys gave them high ratings, b) the boys gave them low ratings, or c) the researchers couldn't divulge what the guys thought.

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And guess which group of guys piqued the girls' interest.

No, it wasn't the guys who liked them. That would be too easy! How lovely a world that would be -- guys like the girls and girls like them back.

The girls reported that they found themselves thinking about the mystery men more than the others. What was it that Mick Jagger said? You can't always get what you want ...

This has got to be the most disheartening news ever. Women are now scientifically proven to like the guys who play hard to get. I can just see it -- online dating profiles of men turn into shrouded Da Vinci code-like melodramas that will have us eating out of their hand in no time, sending them emails, and pulling our hair out. If guys are smart and want to play the odds, it would seemingly behoove them to give us as little personal attention as possible, and to keep us guessing. So guys: don't email when you say you will, don't text, certainly don't call, and please, whatever you do, do not let on that you like us.

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I have a question for those researchers out there. When is there going to be a pill we can swallow that will prevent us from playing mind games? Sort of like a beta blocker for the dating pool that is mentally screwed up. Just a cure-all, so we can all be honest, say how we feel, and accept one another for it.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go think about a guy who may or may not have accidentally on purpose handed me the sugar at Starbucks this morning.

What do you think this study means for women?

Photo via matulio/Flickr

Written by Lindsay Mannering for CafeMom's blog, The Stir.

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