Do you believe in love at first sight?

Imagine this situation: at the party you go to the side of the bar. Suddenly, someone appears next to you, offering help with a choice of drink. You start a casual conversation. And suddenly you are struck by an unusual feeling that you may have just found the one you dreamed about all your life. But this can not be, is it? Or can it? Can a person really know his soul mate in our so fleeting, cosmopolitan life and fall in love at first sight? Do you believe in love at first sight?

How fast can you really evaluate a partner?

Yes. We are built in such a way that at first glance, we assess the potential partner. An intuitive skill that probably developed over many millions of years allows us to do this. For our ancestors this instinct was an indispensable necessity in the daily struggle for survival. Perhaps today the protection of a strong, mature male is not a vital necessity, but, despite this, we within the first three minutes after acquaintance make a decision at a subconscious level about whether this particular interlocutor can be a relevant partner.

Indeed, it takes less than one second to decide whether you find someone physically attractive or not. Too small, too tall, too old, too young, too shabby, or too neat - and he is immediately excluded from your list of interests. However, if it fits your general concept of Adonis, the brain moves you to the next roadblock: the voice. Once again, the reaction takes place in seconds. Women typically rate fast-talking interlocutors, as more educated, men with low, deep voice as more attractive.

Then follows the analysis of the speech of the interlocutor. We like people who use the same lexicon that we ourselves use in everyday life. We are also attracted by those who have, similar to our own, the degree of common development, shares our religious and social values, and is a representative of a similar social and economic class. All this we quickly determine by visual and auditory signs, paying attention to the gestures and words that a person uses in his speech. Of course, such details as hair styling, the presence of a briefcase or backpack, gold watches or tattoos, too, contribute their own factors when composing an initial opinion.

To be or not to be love at first sight?

But can this handsome, well-dressed stranger with a deep voice give you all that you need? Even in global issues, we often form our opinion within the first three minutes, if the conversation turns, say, to politics or children. So when you really feel the inner click, give yourself to your instincts.

However, love at first sight does not happen to everyone in a row. In one review by Ayala Malak-Pines, PhD, Ben-Gurion University in Israel, only 11 percent of 493 respondents said that their long-term relationship began with love at first sight.

As for the rest? Psychologists say that the more you interact with the person you love (even a little), the more you change your attitude towards him, and start treating him as a handsome, smart, and suitable person, of course, if you do not discover in him something that can coordinate your attitude in the opposite direction. Thus, it would be wise not to abandon the second meeting for a decision.

Sometimes it may take years for two people to fully appreciate each other. But it does not matter if it's love at first sight or the love of foresight, those first three minutes of your meeting will always be the most precious memory of your romance.