Los Angeles Valley College Friendly & Sexually Interested Behavior Research

Research has indicated that men and women interpret the same behaviors as having different intentions regarding sexual signals. Frank Saal and his colleagues (Saal, Johnson, & Weber, 1989) studied the interpretations that men and women give to the behavior of a woman in an interpersonal interaction. Their results showed that the men tended to see the woman’s behavior as sexy, whereas the women tended to see it as friendly.

Let’s explore the extent of these differences by having the men and women in our class examine what you consider to be sexy versus friendly in the behavior of both men and women. What signals are clear to both and which ones differ? Which signals are ambiguous, and what do you use to disambiguate the situation? Do we show the differences that Saal and his colleagues found? What suggestions do you have for better communication in this area?