Showing posts with label Dating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dating. Show all posts

How to end a relationship that isn’t working


How to end a relationship that isn’t working - First things first, you need to decide whether the relationship really is over or if what you are going through is just a little bump on the road to true love.

It can be a shock in any dating relationship when you have your first argument or notice a really annoying habit in your partner that you hadn’t seen before. The temptation can be to throw in the towel at the first sign of a problem but the reality is that all relationships take work. Even in the best relationships there will come a time when you need to recognise the differences between you, resolve conflict and face up to the fact that your partner isn’t perfect after all.



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But what happens when the rose tinted glasses come off and you realise that you really don’t love (or even like) this person anymore? What if you can no longer see yourself in a long-term relationship with them? What if you can’t be yourself when you are with them? What if you have discovered that they are abusive, unkind, dishonest or unfaithful? In these cases, the time may well have come to end the relationship.

Ending a relationship is never easy. It helps to try to do it as soon as possible after you’ve made the decision, because delaying the inevitable can make things worse, as Sophie discovered.

“I had dated Charlie for three years, we were living together, he had moved cities to be with me and was very much a part of my family. We were very much in love but I had realised that I didn’t want to marry him, so decided I had to end our relationship. It was a few weeks before Christmas and I confided in my mother, who insisted that I had to wait until after Christmas to break up with Charlie as he was joining us on our family Christmas holiday. He has no family where we live, and she thought it would be just ‘too mean’.

"I did what my mother suggested but Charlie wasn’t stupid and he realised that something was wrong during the holiday. He kept asking what it was, but I didn’t want to upset my family or him and ‘ruin Christmas’ so I pretended it was all OK.

"As soon as we were back home, I told him it was over and, yes, he was upset. But what hurt him most was knowing that I had felt that way for weeks but I had carried on as if nothing was wrong. He felt lied to. It was so awful and I decided never again to let convenience or the feelings of family or friends dictate the timing of my relationships.”

If you do have to end a relationship, do it kindly. Think about how you would like to be told. Make sure you do it face to face (where possible). I think texting is a definite no-no, as is splitting up via email or just changing your status on Facebook. If you can’t physically be in the same place, at least do it on the phone or over Skype so that you can have a two-way conversation.

Don’t bottle it and get your best friend to give the bad news on your behalf, as happened to one friend of mine. And don’t leave the person to guess that the relationship is over, as happened to Blake: “I was in a long-distance relationship. My girlfriend came back home to England early spring and invited me to come with her to Sydney for Easter. It was a great idea, although logistically it was going to be hard to organise a flight that close to the time… a few options of how I could do this were racing through my head until she said… ‘It would be great, you can meet my new boyfriend’… It wasn’t the best way to find out, and needless to say I didn’t take her up on her offer.”

When it comes to explaining why you want to break up, be clear (and gentle) about your reasons. Clichéd lines like, “It isn’t you – it’s me,” aren’t helpful. Give them an opportunity to ask questions and fully take on board what you are saying. You may have been deciding this for weeks but they may not have seen this conversation coming, so it could take them a little while to get their head around it. You may need to give them time to think about it and then chat again a couple of days later, when they have thought of all the things they want to ask.

It can help to discuss how the break-up is going to work. If you have been living together, discuss who will move out and when. If you have any joint possessions how will you split them? Will there be any contact? Talk together about what will happen if you are both going to the same event, party, friend’s house or meeting. Will there be a time when you can be friends? How will you let the other know if one of you starts to see someone else? These are difficult conversations to have but the clearer you can be the easier the break-up will be for both of you.

The worst thing you can do is to give false hope that you may get back together again one day if that is not true. The truth can hurt but lies can hurt even more. I have heard too many stories of people who have told their boyfriend or girlfriend that they just don’t want to get married at the moment or aren’t ready for a big commitment, and then four months down the line they are engaged to someone else.

If I had to sum up my advice for splitting up well it would be: be kind, be clear and be firm. Ending a relationship is never going to be a pleasant experience but if you can keep those three things in mind it will hopefully lessen the pain for you and for the other person.

If you are reading this and have a story of how not to end a relationship or any tips on how to do it well, please do include them in the comments section below. It would be great to hear about your experiences. ( telegraph.co.uk )


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Learn to read body language and you might just hit the jackpot


How to tell if someone likes you - Learn to read body language and you might just hit the jackpot - Right chaps, listen up. This is important. In fact, girls, there's plenty for you, too, so please read on. I have just received a lesson in understanding body language from a behavioural psychologist and dating coach. It was encouraging, disheartening and baffling all at once.

Let's get the bad news out of the way first. It's not easy being a man and here's why. A woman is capable of giving off approximately 50 different signals through body language, whereas the less complex gentleman is only able to muster around 10. This makes men easier to understand, putting us at an immediate disadvantage. It gets worse. According to my coach, Jo Hemmings, females are better at picking up and understanding signals. But it's a doddle for them, isn't it? When they're on a date, they only have to decipher a few signals.

Men, Hemmings tells me, struggle to appreciate what different gestures mean. But, surely we get confused because when we are out with a girl we have to unravel the meaning of dozens of signals. It's not our fault! Apparently, males' interpretations are based more on what they hear than what they see. So what body language signals should men look out for if they want to know whether a girl likes them or not?

Cocking of the head, maybe? Flicking of hair? Smiling?

"People cock their head to listen," says Hemmings. "Just because someone is listening doesn't mean they are interested in you, and flicking your hair is a nervous gesture. Smiling is, to a degree, a sign of attraction but it's also something you can put on. You can fake a smile. It's fairly easy to do."

OK, what then? "A woman may pull up her sleeves."

Sorry?

"Yes, it's a subconscious way to show you the soft, gentle, tender woman that she is. It is one of the unusual ones but it's very common and fun to watch out for.

"The other thing we like to do is shut the distance between us. I would push something towards you slightly. It could be a glass or a menu on a table. I'm leaning in and delivering a message that I want to get closer. It's quite odd because it looks like you are pushing someone away but in fact you are drawing them towards you."

Other indicators to look out for are stroking the rim of a glass, playing with a necklace, looking at you then looking away before she fixes her gaze back on you.

I'd have thought those were symptoms of nervousness. What was that about men being unable to read the signs?

The most important body language for both sexes is eye contact. "If you want to deliver a message without speaking you would hold someone's eyes," says Hemmings. "The danger is it makes you look bonkers if you hold it too long. You need to time it perfectly."

My coach says a man's body language only really differs when he is lying or finds a woman attractive. So don't cover your mouth with your hand. She won't believe you.

If you are attracted to her you should subconsciously be giving off the appropriate signals. But, if you are so simple that you are incapable of even that, then fear not. It is, says Hemmings, possible to practise and rehearse the correct body language.

Pay attention girls. If you find a man doing the following don't be perturbed, it's probably because he likes you.

"A clear sign is what is known as the flirting triangle. It's looking to each eye, down to her mouth and then back up to her eyes to reconnect." Yes, I'm pretty sure I've done that.

"Another thing men do is to hold their shoulders back. They breathe in and sort of puff themselves up." I've definitely done that but isn't it just having good posture?

A third, Hemmings says, is "putting your thumbs through the belt loops of your trousers". That's ridiculous. I've never done that. Oh well, I suppose if you get your thumbs stuck in your trousers you could always tell her how you feel. ( telegraph.co.uk )

  • For information on dating coaching (London and South East only) jo@datingcoaches.co.uk or datingcoaches.co.uk

BODY LANGUAGE: A FEW INSTANT GIVEAWAYS

She likes you if

  • She pulls up her sleeves (the wrist is the softest part of her body)
  • She pushes her wine glass – or yours – towards you (keen to close the distance between the two of you)
  • She plays with her necklace and flicks her hair

He likes you if…

  • He looks at each of your eyes, then mouth, then back to your eyes again (known as the flirting triangle)
  • He breathes in and pushes his shoulders back (imagine a strutting peacock)
  • He adopts a cowboy pose – hands on hips and thumbs in belt loops



Blog : Creative Styles
Post : Learn to read body language and you might just hit the jackpot

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8 Terrible Tips from Love Experts


8 Terrible Tips from Love Experts - There's questionable dating advice and then there's unquestionably bad dating advice. This Valentine's day we've hand selected some of the worst, off-color, and unintentionally amusing feedback from self-proclaimed experts in the art of romance. In an over-saturated market of relationship how-to's, it's almost easier to isolate the worst advice and avoid it at all costs. We can't promise it will lead to love, but at least you'll be able to live with yourself.

Bad Advice #1: Speak inaudibly

Men love it when they can barely hear a woman's voice, even when she's speaking directly to them. This useless nugget from the recently published "The Geisha Secret: Ancient Dating Rituals Proven to Win a Modern Man's Heart." Author Hanako extols the virtues of being a woman of few words and much face paint. "Don't speak too loudly. Kyoto Geishas speak a special dialect that is much softer than the modern Japanese language because it is more attractive. A loud, harsh voice is unfeminine." Know what else is unfeminine? Confidence. "Avoid appearing aggressive. It's okay to be confident but soften your confidence so it's unthreatening."


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Anyone have advice on love? Anyone besides the guy in the furry hat and goggles?

Bad Advice #2: Act like everything is such a coincidence...an insulting coincidence.

Women aren't the only targets for bad advice. Our boy Mystery (i.e. the former TV dating guru who looks suspiciously like the lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots) has created the world's worst pick-up tactics for guys. Overall, he believes women turn to jelly when a man speaks sends mixed signals in under 10 seconds. Here's his sample conversation tactic from "The Massive Complete Book of Mystery's Pick-up Artist Routines":

Guy: "What nationality are you?"
Girl: "French"
Guy: "Seriously? No Way!!! The girl I had the biggest crush on in high school was French!I Can't even talk to you now."

An important clincher, as you may have noticed above, is for guys to express that their own enthusiasm has in effect totally turned them off to a woman. Confused? Here's another example:

Guy: "If you could be anything in the world with no chance of failure what would you be? And don't say ''princess' haa."
Girl: "Um an actress."
Guy "Really? When I was little I wanted to grow up and be a magician!...I bet you'd be an amazing actress. But what if you get more attention than I? I can't even hang out with you now."

Here's what would happen next, not according to Mystery, but according to reality:

Girl: "That was weird. What just happened?"
Girl's Friend: "I have no idea."

Bad Advice #3: Don't act like you won an election, or anything

"In our household, Jim is the president, and I am the vice president," writes Real Housewives of Orange County's Alexis Bellino on her blog. "This is what we have found to make our lives run most smoothly. Please understand that this does not mean that I do not have my say or that I don't have my opinions." That's awesome that she gets to have her opinions, but let's be perfectly clear as to who has the veto power.

Bad Advice #4: Don't cook for him until you're married

"No title, no chicken," Tionna Tee Smalls, author of the gruesomely titled,"Men Love Abuse: The Guide to Losing the Nice Girl Image & Getting the Man You Want," advised in an interview with S2S Magazine. "You don't cook for a guy that you're dating. You don't know nothing about this guy to be sitting here and cooking for him. He needs to earn that. If he wants you to cook for him, he'll make you his girl." It's like the old saying goes, why buy the cow when you can get the chicken cooked for free.

Bad Advice #5: Stop nagging and just let your husband enjoy his affair

The dating doesn't stop when you're married, according to a nifty advice book for couples (but mostly men) called, "Your Affair: How to Manage Every Aspect of Your Extramarital Relationship with Passion, Discretion and Dignity." In addition to over-reasoning why cheating is totally natural and perfectly within your rights as a man, there's a chapter just for the suspicious wife who ruins everything. If you think your husband is having an affair, author H. Cameron Barnes suggests the following tactic. "Don't investigate. Don't ask. Don't tell...[Confronting your spouse] is a futile exercise that will only make yourself feel more miserable than you already do. It's true that some men crave and are fascinated by variety and isn't a heck of a lot that you can do about it." Any questions? Yes this book was published this past year.

Bad Advice #6: Date like an aggressive realtor

In an interview about her book, "Secrets of Jewish Mother," Jill Zarin (another Real Housewife with a thing or two to say about love) extols the virtues of online dating. But buyer beware: before you agree to an online date, Zarin suggests you do a credit check, "to make sure they aren't pretending to be someone else." If there's anything a man loves about a woman he's never met, it's her eagerness to check his credit score. Zarin also compares dating to working on commission: "Like a good sales girl, never leave a cold lead. If somebody says, 'I have a guy for you,' you have to go on every single fix up you get. You are not allowed to say no-even if you don't like him, you may like his friend." Remember the matchmaker is always right.

Bad Advice #7: Over-think your outfit

"The Geisha Secret" offers another gem, this time in preparation for meeting the man of your dreams who thinks talking to women is icky. "Wear feminine clothing and shoes: skirts, dresses high heals...Every time you get dressed, ask yourself if you look feminine." If the answer is no, lock yourself in the closet to shield others from your hideous lack of maiden-flowery-ness.

Bad Advice #8: Have your feelings surgically removed from your brain

Jezebel called our attention to some advice from Samantha Daniels, a New York City matchmaker, on how date a Wall Street guy. Ironically, she makes a better case for why NOT to a Wall Street guy. But if you're really curious what Daniels thinks it takes to attract a man who takes the six train all the way downtown, know this: it's not going to be pretty. "You need to be prepared that the volatility of the markets might make your guy's mood unpredictable," writes Daniels on CNBC, "especially on a day that his personal portfolio went down dramatically." So unchecked mood disorders, unpredictable bouts of rage. That all?

Unfortunately not. He really hates when you have friends. "You need to be accommodating of his schedule and time constraints or he will get frustrated and find another woman," writes Daniels.

Also, ladies, please shut your trap. He doesn't want to hear it. "Tell stories that are short and sweet because the mind of a Wall Street man is always moving so rapidly and focusing on so many different things that his attention span for social stories is very short."

Finally, if you really want to seal the deal with this mythological figure, you may need to quit your job. "Wall Street men tend to be attracted to women who are in industries other than Wall Street," adds Daniels. "This does not mean that if you work on Wall Street, you won't end up with a Wall Street man, however his eye tends to be looking towards non-Wall Street women." In other words, just become a Geisha. ( yahoo.com )

READ MORE - 8 Terrible Tips from Love Experts

Dating? Be aware of the '3-month rule'


Dating? Be aware of the '3-month rule' -- First thing one morning I got a text from one of my friends, the kind I get all too often: "Met my future husband last night!" My response was my standard one: "Get back to me in three months."

If I've learned one valuable thing from the dating whirligig I've been on for the last six years (give or take six months here or there), it's that you must wait at least three months before getting excited about the long-term possibilities of a new person.

I don't want to sound cynical or jaded. I totally believe in love for myself and my friends, but what I believe in more is that it takes a really long time to get to know someone and it's a complicated process. Whirlwind romances were all the rage for me in 1997, but I'm older and wiser now ... and no longer wear red velvet leopard-print pants.

The first three months of knowing someone is a time of illusions. Instead of seeing the person objectively, you see them for who you want them to be. Your object of desire is laden with fantasies and projections. I think it takes about three months to strip away the layers and start to see this person for who they really are.



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I can't even count the number of times that I or a friend started dating someone and days or even weeks later found out there was something seriously messed up about him.

"Oh, you've never been in love and you're 35?" "Oh, you just got out of a 10-year relationship last week?" "Oh, you don't ever want to have children?" "Oh, you're mentally unstable?"

The more and less obvious discoveries about another are made in that three-month period. That's stuff you need to know before you move forward.

Also, I think three months gives you enough time to see if the new person in your life is consistent. Do they call when they say they're going to? Do they cancel dates? Do they even have time for dates? Do they want to hang out once a week or six times a week and does that mesh with what you want? How do they treat you after a month? Any major disagreements on fundamental things? How do they behave in different situations?

The compatibility check list is endless. You need those three months to gather the data you need to decide if you want this person in your life for the next three months.

With all the disappointments that can come along with dating, I say why bother getting yourself in a tizzy about someone who could be a Russian spy? That's why I always say to myself, to my friends, and to you, single people, check in after three months and tell me how great the new person you're dating is.

If everything is still coming up roses, maybe I'll dance a jig with you. But it might take me six months to a year before I'm buying this "my future husband" business. (The Frisky)

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You're next down the aisle, Harry told Chelsy


Royal wedding: You're next down the aisle, Harry told Chelsy - With Prince William’s wedding completed in such spectacular style, attention has already shifted to whether Prince Harry will soon follow his brother down the aisle.

The 26-year-old Prince is back together with his long-term girlfriend Chelsy Davy, and is reported to have signalled his intentions at the royal wedding party by telling her: “You're next.”

Miss Davy, whose on-off romance with the Prince began in 2004, was the Prince’s guest at the wedding and at the all-night party at Buckingham Palace, where the couple were never far apart.

The Prince visited Miss Davy the day before the wedding, spending an hour inside her flat in west London before returning to Clarence House to help with preparations for the ceremony.

Although the couple left Buckingham Palace separately in the early hours of Saturday, they met up again at the Middleton family’s party at the Goring Hotel in Belgravia.

Miss Davy, 25, is reported to have giggled and kissed Prince Harry when he made his off-the-cuff remark about getting married. The couple’s relationship appeared to have ended last year when Zimbabwean-born Miss Davy, having graduated from Leeds University, moved to South Africa to begin a legal career.


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Prince Harry is reported to have told Miss Davy 'you're next' at his brother's wedding party


Earlier this year, however, she set up home in London, where she is due to start work as a trainee solicitor at the law firm Allen & Overy.

Friends of Miss Davy have suggested that it is she, not Prince Harry, who is reluctant to stage another royal wedding.

She has reportedly told them that she is determined to have her own career and freedom to determine her own future, and has deep-rooted reservations about the sacrifices that joining the Royal family would entail.

Prince Harry, meanwhile, will spend the rest of the year based at RAF Wattisham in Suffolk, where his training on Apache helicopters continues, and is then likely to be deployed to Afghanistan next year. ( telegraph.co.uk )


READ MORE - You're next down the aisle, Harry told Chelsy

Is Harry single or not?


Is Harry single or not? - Though Prince William gets the fancy wedding watched by the world, the stunning bride, and the right to one day be crowned king, it is his brother, Prince Harry, who truly has the lifestyle envied by millions.

Harry, the self-styled playboy prince, has a public image as a dashing, debonair young man with good looks, a charming manner, and a status as undoubtedly one of the most eligible bachelors on the planet.

The question hopeful young women around the world are desperate to know is this: Is Harry single?

A few months back and the answer was a resounding "yes," as Britain's third in line to the throne reveled in the young-and-free lifestyle, being seen in the company of a series of stunning women and reportedly enjoying a fling with Norwegian pop starlet Camilla Romestrand. His confident persona, coupled with the fact that not too many women find a royal title a turn-off, meant there was no shortage of interest from the opposite sex.

However, it emerged recently that Harry's on-off girlfriend Chelsy Davy will accompany him to William's marriage to Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey on April 29, as well as two further private functions on the same day.

Chelsy, born and primarily raised in Zimbabwe, had looked very much like the one that got away. Royal insiders say she is the only woman ever to have truly captured Harry's heart, and the pair dated from 2004 to 2009. In 2007 Harry was said to be so smitten as to be considering proposing marriage, sparking speculation that he could beat his older brother down the aisle.


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However, Chelsy's return to the scene does not automatically mean a full-blown reconciliation. The independent 25-year-old disliked the way she became paparazzi fodder during her relationship with Harry and came to be wary of life in London--preferring the quieter confines of her family's home in South Africa. Earlier this year, however, she returned to accept a position at a London law firm, meaning she could be in the United Kingdom for the foreseeable future.

Either way, the Harry and Chelsy Show keeps the British papers on their toes, with several publications gleefully reporting that the pair had been smuggled away from a London club in the trunk of a royal vehicle to avoid detection earlier this year.

Whether or not it is accurate to once again refer to Davy as "Harry's girlfriend," she is certainly back in the picture, even having played a role in organizing a second bachelorette part for Middleton, along with the bride-to-be's sister, Pippa.

If her presence is enough to steer Harry clear of the single scene remains to be seen. But if she can't, perhaps no one can. Preferring to keep things close to his chest, Harry has spoken about Chelsy in public on only one occasion--but it was heartfelt and somewhat moving.

"She is very special," he said, on his 21st birthday. "I would love to tell everyone how amazing she is. But, you know, that is my private life, and once I start talking about that, then I've left my own self open, and if anyone asks me in the future, then they'll say, 'Oh well hang on, you told them but why aren't you telling us?'"

He has said nothing on the subject since, and is not about to break that habit in the weeks leading up to his brother's wedding. And so the most intriguing question surrounding the royal family is still yet to be answered. ( yahoo.com )


READ MORE - Is Harry single or not?

Why Kate Middleton won’t toss her bouquet


Why Kate Middleton won’t toss her bouquet --The ceremonial fight for the bride's bouquet is a symbolic, entertaining, and occasionally violent staple of most weddings, but there won't be a throng of eager young ladies queuing up to catch Kate Middleton's lavish flower arrangement on April 29.

British royal protocol dictates that instead of being hurled skyward and giving one lucky and sure-handed girl a superstitious shove toward marriage, Kate's bouquet will come to a far more solemn rest.

As she heads back down the aisle at Westminster Abbey, having completed her nuptials to become either Her Royal Highness Princess William of Wales or another title of the queen's choosing, she will take a moment to lay her floral creation at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, a historic grave embedded into the church floor in 1920 to commemorate anonymous soldiers killed at war.

"It is one of the ways I remember the boys who didn't come home," Michael Selby, a private during World War II who honors the tomb whenever he visits the Abbey, told Yahoo!. "It is a symbol for the men whose bodies lay in a foreign field, a lot of them never identified."

The tomb, carrying the body of an unidentified soldier brought home from the first World War, is a revered site in British military history. It became etched into royal tradition in 1923 thanks to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, who would later be known as the queen mother.


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Bowes-Lyon, much loved and expertly portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter in the Oscar-winning movie "The King's Speech," set the tradition when she wed her "Bertie," King George VI, by laying a wreath on the tomb in honor of her brother Fergus, who had died during the war. On that occasion the arrangement was laid on the way to the altar. It has since been followed by every royal bride, though subsequently on their way out of the church.

As preparations for William and Kate's wedding got into full flow earlier this year, Kate made it known that she wished to pay a tribute to the military. Such a gesture surely met with the approval of Prince William, who continued family tradition by serving as a search and rescue pilot in the Royal Air Force and is currently stationed at a flight base in Wales.

William's brother, Prince Harry, has also vigorously launched himself into a career of service, flying Apache helicopters and recently being promoted to the rank of captain in the British Army Air Corps.

With the queen closely involved in planning for the wedding ceremony, it was agreed that the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior would be a fitting way to stick with royal practice, while also giving a touching nod to the services.

But what of the flowers that will be laid there? There has been some mystery regarding the creation. The Daily Mail reported that floral expert Shane Connolly would be given the honor of piecing together what will perhaps be the most-viewed bouquet in history.

Whatever form it takes, it is virtually certain that it will contain the royal staple of myrtle, known as the herb of love. Queen Victoria planted a myrtle bush at one of her residences, Osborne House, in the 1840s, and every royal wedding bouquet since has contained a sprig taken from the same plant.

William and Kate are very much a modern couple, but their wedding looks like it will be notable for its deference to history, right down to the concoction, placement, and symbolism of the bouquet. ( Yahoo.com )

READ MORE - Why Kate Middleton won’t toss her bouquet

In the dating game, speaking styles count


In the dating game, speaking styles count - American researchers have found a new way to predict the success of a relationship -- compare the speaking style of a couple.

In a study of college students they found that couples whose language was in sync were almost four times more likely to want to see each other again than those who did not use similar language.

"We are able to predict this at higher rates than the people themselves," said Professor James Pennebaker, of the University of Texas, who headed the research team.


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In a study of college students they found that couples whose language was in sync were almost four times more likely to want to see each other again than those who did not use similar language.


The researchers, who reported their findings in the journal Psychological Science, focused on function words -- which are not nouns or verbs but the words that show how those words relate. For example: a, be, anything, that, will, him.

"Function words are highly social and they require social skills to use," Pennebaker explained. "For example, if I'm talking about the article that's coming out, and in a few minutes I make some reference to 'the article', you and I both know what that article means."

As part of the experiment, about 40 pairs of college students participated in four-minute speed dates and had their conversations recorded.

"We found that function words are a powerful reflection of somebody's psychological state," Pennebaker said. "You can tell when people are in the same state or are on the same page."

A second part of the study examined the everyday instant message conversations between already dating couples over a 10-day period. The conversations were analyzed by a computer for words and conversational patterns.

Pennebaker said that researchers were once again able to fairly accurately predict which couples would continue dating.

They found that the speaking and writing styles couples use during interactions are a good indicator of whether or not a relationship will be successful.

"The higher their style matching scores, the more likely they were to still be dating later on," Pennebaker said.

About 80 per cent of the couples whose conversational styles were similar were still dating three months after the experiment, compared with just 54 per cent of couples whose styles were markedly different.

Pennebaker said that the results were notable because they occur during everyday conversations, even though most people don't notice.

"None of us pay attention to these words," Pennebaker said. "What's wonderful about this is we don't really make that decision; it just comes out of our mouths." ( Reuters )




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