Being a great storyteller makes you more attractive to women, new research from the University of North Carolina suggests.
For the study, women reviewed profiles of hypothetical suitors that included a man’s photo alongside a story he supposedly told. Then they rated each guy’s potential as a long-term partner.
Women found the better storytellers to be 29 per cent more desirable than the less-skilled guys.
Stellar conversational skills signal that you’re intelligent and socially adept – qualities that make you a good partner, says study author Dr Melanie Green.
What constitutes a good story, then? According to Green, the anecdotes that boosted the men’s sex appeal got right to the point and contained vivid word choices and specific details, while the bad stories rambled, were vague and included unimaginative vocabulary.
For example, if you plan to talk about a camping trip, the sentence “From the time we left the dock, it seemed like we were cursed” is better than “I think it started out bad”.
“We swam furiously for at least twenty minutes” beats “We swam fast for a good amount of time”.
And space-fillers like: “Oh wait, is that the way it happened? Yeah, I think so” did not score points with the ladies.
