Can “Fake Love” Lead to the Real Deal?
Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone took their romance from on-screen to real life.A study conducted on 100 speed-daters found that singles who acted like they were in love on speed dates were more likely to make a genuine connection with the person across the table from them. From physical affection to sharing your dirty secrets, “faking” love with someone, no matter how small the gestures, can land you in real love.
The speed-daters who acted like they were already in love expressed affection “through intense eye-gazing, touching, and the sharing of secrets,” – all demonstrative actions that indicated they had an interest in seeing each other again.
As disappointing as the whole concept sounds, the truth is, even in long-term relationships partners fake love to some extent, even if real love is present. Everybody has nights when they try to act romantic even when they don’t particularly feel like it: He buys you flowers, you put on a nice dress and do your hair. And most of the time, it works! You feel, if not more “in love,” much more connected after making a true attempt to look good for each other and treat each other well.
This theory of fake love leading to real love is well-illustrated on the big screen – consider Brangelina, Bennifer, Emma Stone and her on and off screen beau Andrew Garfield, just to name a few – each of the couples started as an onscreen romance, but continued in real life.
So if you want to make a relationship work, consider those small lovey-dovey gestures: They could make all the difference.
