London: In the mating game, no matter how many times they're rebuffed, overconfident men never give up and can ultimately be successful, say researchers.
The more such a man believes a woman fancies him, the more likely he is to keep trying and, therefore, "get lucky" the next time, says the study.
It concluded that if a man finds a woman irresistible, then chances are she's not interested, reported the Daily Mail, citing the journal Psychological Science.
The research involved 96 male and 103 female undergraduates, who were put through a "speed-meeting" exercise, talking for three minutes to each of five potential opposite sex mates.
Before the conversations, the participants rated themselves on their own attractiveness and were also assessed for the level of their desire for a short-term sexual encounter.
After each "meeting", they rated the partner on a number of measures, including physical attractiveness and sexual interest in the participant.
The results showed that men looking for a "quick hook-up" were more likely to overestimate the women's desire for them.
The "speed dating" model used by the researchers allowed them to study dozens of interactions between men and women - and build a clear picture of what "strategies" worked for mating males.
Carin Perilloux, psychologist at Williams College in Massachusetts, said: "There are two ways you can make an error as a man."
"Either you think: 'Oh, wow, that woman's really interested in me' and it turns out she's not. There's some cost to that, such as embarrassment or a blow to your reputation."
The researchers theorise that the kind of men who "went for it", even at the risk of being rebuffed, were eventually more successful more often.
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