{"id":4421,"date":"2002-06-03T22:13:00","date_gmt":"2002-06-03T22:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davebushe.net\/words\/2002\/06\/03\/why-do-we-flirt\/"},"modified":"2002-06-03T22:13:00","modified_gmt":"2002-06-03T22:13:00","slug":"why-do-we-flirt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davebushe.net\/words\/2002\/06\/03\/why-do-we-flirt\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do we flirt?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>Flirting is much more than just a bit of fun: it is a universal and essential aspect of human interaction. Anthropological research shows that flirting is to be found, in some form, in all cultures and societies around the world. <\/p>\n<p>Flirting is a basic instinct, part of human nature. This is not surprising: if we did not initiate contact and express interest in members of the opposite sex, we would not progress to reproduction, and the human species would become extinct.<\/p>\n<p>According to some evolutionary psychologists, flirting may even be the foundation of civilisation as we know it. They argue that the large human brain &#8211; our superior intelligence, complex language, everything that distinguishes us from animals &#8211; is the equivalent of the peacock&#8217;s tail: a courtship device evolved to attract and retain sexual partners. Our achievements in everything from art to rocket science may be merely a side-effect of the essential ability to charm.<\/i><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sirc.org\/publik\/flirt.html\" title=\"\" onmouseover=\"JavaScript: self.status=''; return true;\" onmouseout=\"JavaScript: self.status=''; return false;\">SIRC Guide to Flirting: What Social Science can tell you about flirting and how to do it<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Flirting is much more than just a bit of fun: it is a universal and essential aspect of human interaction. Anthropological research shows that flirting is to be found, in some form, in all cultures and societies around the world. Flirting is a basic instinct, part of human nature. This is not surprising: if we &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/davebushe.net\/words\/2002\/06\/03\/why-do-we-flirt\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Why do we flirt?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davebushe.net\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4421"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davebushe.net\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davebushe.net\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davebushe.net\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davebushe.net\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/davebushe.net\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4421\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davebushe.net\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davebushe.net\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davebushe.net\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}