Treat ‘Em Mean, Keep ‘Em Keen: Does Playing Hard to Get Actually Work?

The Backstreet Boys once crooned that we should “quit playing games with their hearts.” And while we’d never dream of hurting one of the boys, according to a new study, playing games could be the way forward when it comes to relationships. Yes, we were surprised about this too.

A new study published in the European Journal of Personality surveyed a host of male and female college students as part of a series of experiments about dating habits. Shockingly the study revealed that playing hard to get actually worked for the students who were looking for a long-term relationship.

So how does one go about playing hard to get? The most common strategy is to be unavailable to the object of your affections. The women who were surveyed tended to keep busy, not call the men they were interested in and to turn them down if they asked them out.

Research suggests that playing hard to get works out well for relationships in the long term

Researchers discovered that students who play hard to get actually increase the demand for them and appear more attractive in the eyes of people who are interested in them. Playing hard to get was also revealed to be a way of testing a potential partner to see if they were willing to commit.

The research found that ‘acting confident’ and ‘talking to others’ were two of the most popular methods of playing the game – who knew?

So what do you think? Does playing hard to get actually work?