Women prefer men who use metaphorical language when paying compliments in a romantic context

Zhao Gao,Lizhu Luo,Xiaole Ma,Shan Gao,Xiaoxiao Zheng,Keith M Kendrick,Lei Xu

doi:10.1038/srep40871

Abstract

Language plays an important role in romantic attachment. However, it is unclear whether the structure and topic of language use might influence potential mate choice. We investigated 124 female students’ preference for compliments paid by males incorporating either literal or metaphoric (conventional/novel) language and targeting their appearance or possessions (house) throughout their menstrual cycle. Male faces paired with novel metaphorical compliments were rated as more attractive by women than those paired with literal ones. Compliments targeting appearance increased male attractiveness more than possessions. Interestingly, compliments on appearance using novel metaphors were preferred by women in a relationship during the fertile phase but by single women during the luteal phase. A similar pattern of altered face attraction ratings was subsequently shown by subjects in the absence of the verbal compliments and even though they were unable to recognize the faces. Thus the maintained attraction bias for faces previously associated with figurative language compliments appears to be unconscious. Overall this study provides the first evidence that women find men who typically use novel metaphorical language to compliment appearance more attractive than those using prosaic language or complimenting possessions. The evolutionary significance for such a language use bias in mate selection is discussed.

Highlights

Project from one conceptual domain to another, involve higher cognition processes[13] and greater activation in key brain language and cognitive processing areas such as the inferior frontal gyrus, insula and temporal cortices[14,15,16]
Use of such conventional metaphors may be less associated with fluid intelligence[12,18] and are distinct from either novel metaphors or literal expressions in terms of difficulty in cognitive processing and ratings of creativity and saliency[19,20]
If mate selection is the evolutionary drive for development of creative language, a woman’s preference for certain linguistic structures and individuals should be influenced most during the fertile phase of her menstrual cycle when “good genes” in a prospective partner become a prerequisite for reproduction

Summary

Introduction

Project from one conceptual domain to another, involve higher cognition processes[13] and greater activation in key brain language and cognitive processing areas such as the inferior frontal gyrus, insula and temporal cortices[14,15,16]. If mate selection is the evolutionary drive for development of creative language, a woman’s preference for certain linguistic structures and individuals should be influenced most during the fertile phase of her menstrual cycle when “good genes” in a prospective partner become a prerequisite for reproduction. No studies to date have directly investigated the impact of figurativeness in verbal compliments on female preferences in a courtship context. On the basis of previous studies we hypothesized that: 1) Men who use metaphoric language to pay compliments, novel metaphors in particular, will be rated as more attractive than those who use literal compliments; 2) Men who compliment a woman’s appearance will be perceived as more attractive than those complimenting her possessions and 3) Any observed attraction bias for the figurativeness or topic of compliments will be strongest during the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle

Methods

Results

Conclusion