Flirting involves various signals communicated between individuals. To attract potential mates, men and women exhibit flirtatious behavior to get the attention of, and potentially elicit sexual or romantic interest from, a desired partner. In this first large, preregistered study of judgement of the effectiveness of flirtation tactics based on Sexual Strategies Theory, we considered the effects of flirter’s (actor) sex and mating contexts in addition to rater's (participant) sex across two cultures, Norway and the U.S. Culturally relevant covariates such as sociosexuality, extraversion, mate value, age, and religiosity were examined. Participants from Norway (N = 415, 56% women) and the US (N = 577, 69% women) responded to one of four different randomized questionnaires representing a factorial design considering either short-term versus long-term mating context and either female or male sex of actor. We found that sexual availability cues were judged more effective when employed by women in short-term mating contexts. Friendly contact, such as hugs or kissing on the cheek, was not. Cues to generosity and commitment were judged more effective when employed by men in long-term mating contexts. Humor was rated as more effective when used by men and in long-term contexts, and least effective when used by women in short term contexts. However, laughing or giggling at someone's jokes was an effective flirtation tactic for both sexes. Overall, predictions for culturally relevant covariates were not supported, but cultural differences were found in bodily displays, initial contact, and generosity. These findings dovetail neatly with findings from the self-promotion literature, and further support that flirtation is a universal mate signaling strategy.

中文翻译：

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调情策略的感知有效性：美国和挪威样本中性别、交配背景和个体差异的影响

调情涉及个人之间交流的各种信号。为了吸引潜在的伴侣，男人和女人会表现出调情的行为来引起想要的伴侣的注意，并可能引起他们对性或浪漫的兴趣。在第一项基于性策略理论的关于调情策略有效性判断的大型预先注册研究中，我们考虑了调情者（演员）的性别和交配环境以及评估者（参与者）的性别在挪威和美国两种文化中的影响检查了文化相关的协变量，例如社会性、外向性、配偶价值、年龄和宗教信仰。来自挪威（N = 415，56% 为女性）和美国（N = 577，69% 的女性）对代表因子设计的四种不同随机问卷之一做出了回应，该问卷考虑了短期与长期交配背景以及演员的女性或男性性别。我们发现，当女性在短期交配环境中使用时，性可用性线索被认为更有效。不是友好的接触，例如拥抱或亲吻脸颊。当男性在长期交配环境中使用时，慷慨和承诺的线索被认为更有效。幽默被认为在男性和长期环境中使用时更有效，而在女性在短期环境中使用时效果最差。然而，对某人的笑话大笑或傻笑是一种有效的调情策略，无论男女。总体而言，不支持对文化相关协变量的预测，但在身体表现、初次接触和慷慨方面发现了文化差异。这些发现与自我推销文献中的发现完全吻合，并进一步支持调情是一种普遍的伴侣信号策略。