Over-confidence can help you get a girl

In every piece of literature related to dating advice ever written, confidence comes in as the No. 1 thing women look for in a man (just ahead of humor). However, most are quick to warn that there's a fine line between confidence and cockiness, with the latter being a major turnoff. According to new research by the University of Queensland, that may not be true - being just a tad overconfident may actually score you points with the ladies.

"People tend to think of overconfidence as an unappealing quality," said University of Queensland doctoral student Sean Murphy. "But our work indicates that confidence is such a powerful signal that a little overconfidence can actually be helpful."

Murphy and his colleagues conducted the study using 3,000 male and female participants. Each participant had their confidence levels measured, and were then instructed to create online dating profiles. Once completed, their profiles were rated by members of the opposite sex, and then those results were run through computer simulations.

It turns out that cockiness isn't effective in a vacuum - arrogance was found to be just as unattractive as confidence was desirable. The difference appeared to be competition, or the perception of it. When men thought there were other men competing for the same woman, less confident men were less likely to compete, while more confident men were actually more likely.

For the ladies, the effect was the same - cockier women deterred their less-confident counterparts just as effectively.

Cocky, confident men have the advantage in high-competition situations (a crowded bar, for instance), but not necessarily because women find their confidence attractive. In those cases, overconfident men sort of win by default, as their less-confident competitors are more likely to bow out rather than jockey for a woman's attention. In a way, this should be comforting - even if you have to fake it, just being confident enough to keep yourself in the running will improve your chances of winning her favor.

Finally, we know why so many women seem to end up with jerks - they were probably the only ones confident enough to ask them out in the first place.

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Ask The Big Question: Where is the line between being too confident and just being confident enough?

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Drop This Fact: Want to look more confident? Tilt your head back slightly - it's considered a masculine posture.