A smile, a toss of the hair, an arched back. Anthropologists, psychiatrists and dating experts agree that men and women send universal courtship signals. Irenaus Eibl-Eibesfeldt spent years photographing flirts in the South Pacific, Asia, France, Africa and the Amazon region. He found that women from all of these cultures flirted by smiling at men and raising their eyebrows briefly while widening their eyes to take a closer look.
Eyes also send signals.
Pupil dilation is a brief but definite sign of extreme interest, she says. M.D. If you're talking with someone who smiles broadly at you and then exposes all of their upper and lower teeth while quickly flashing their eyebrows up, this could be an invitation. On the other hand, grins that expose both rows of firmly clenched teeth may mean that someone is turned off and wants to end the encounter. Join the discussion. Unsubscribe from this newsletter.