- Joined
- Oct 9, 2012
- Messages
- 6,673
I've long noticed (as I imagine many guys here have) that women are much more active (and emphatic) in signaling me when I'm in a confident, alert state. Just recently, playing around with @Ratata's in-field visualization concept, I went from "girls trying to get my attention from time to time with mild approach invitations" to "women sending obvious/dramatic approach invitations, parading around in front of me, and planting themselves right next to me."
I was attributing that to small-but-detectable changes in how I was carrying myself (start picturing yourself walking around with a bunch of chicks grabbing all over you, and you get a certain bounce in your step, sparkle in your eye, and sly grin on your face that wasn't there earlier). I have talked about the AI boost you get from attunement in the past.
However, here's a recent MIT brain study finding that things actually become more or less 'visible' to you based on your level of alertness / psychological arousal:
The primary visual cortex of the brain becomes more attuned to specific things you are looking for at higher levels of alertness.
Get to a VERY high level of alertness, and your orbitofrontal cortex starts shutting out irrelevant details to help you zero in with minute detail on whatever it is you're actually looking for.
This matches up with what you will see when you are on 'runs', where you are picking up a lot of girls in quick succession and it feels like suddenly, receptive women are everywhere, and you just know exactly what to do with them. You're in a very high arousal state where you are focused on women's signals and receptivity to the exclusion of almost everything else, and are picking up on signals most guys aren't and that you in a lower arousal state wouldn't even detect (or might detect, but might second guess yourself on: "Is she really...? Or am I reading that wrong..?").
(To be clear: I believe both effects are in play. When you are alert, and behaving in a more confident, attractive way, you are both more attuned to women's signals yourself, and also putting out your own signals that encourage women to notice you and signal for you to approach, signal you to make move and close in the conversation, signal you to move faster with them if they are ready for that, etc.)
WHAT KIND OF AROUSAL IS REQUIRED?
I've talked to beginners who've said they went out looking for approach invitations and saw none at all.
They also do not feel that women ever signal them while in conversation with them.
For some of the real hard-case guys, who claim women must not like them because "women don't signal me, ever", I have given them the task of going out to see if they can see women signaling to OTHER men... and they always come back and say nope, I didn't see that either.
I have taken out all kinds of overweight, unattractive, old guys and found girls who would signal them. And no matter where you are there are always women signaling. So, these signals are out there, but some guys don't see them much or ever.
What I think is happening for these guys is their brains may (sometimes) also be in a state of alert, but they are looking for rejection signals rather than invitations.
I had a guy recently tell me, "I went out, but all I see are women looking away from me, trying to avoid me, closing themselves off to me. Honestly, looking for women's signals and getting all these rejection signals made me feel like a creep!"
The mind sees what it is looking for. If you are looking for rejection signals, the mind is going to focus on those and ignore anything else (including signals of receptivity).
When you are in a HIGHLY attuned state, where you are also calm and outcome independent, you will go out and have women shooting you both rejection signals and approach signals. In conversation, they will be shooting you "do not escalate" and "escalate" signals. You will recognize these signals without much emotion and simply adjust your approach accordingly.
That is the one cautionary note for any guy going out "trying to be more alert to women's signals": make sure you are doing so in an excited and opportunistic way, ideally also outcome detached, where you are seeking positive signals, and not a fatalistic "women are probably not going to be interested in me" way, where you are subconsciously telling your brain to focus on rejection signals (and ignore invitations).
(It is probably also the case that there is a similar 'two pronged effect' in play here, with pessimistic guys putting out signals that make women more likely to want those guys to stay away, as well as pessimistic guys simply ignoring approach invitations and zeroing in on rejection signals.)
tl;dr: Seeing is believing... however, with how the brain works, believing is also seeing.
Chase
I was attributing that to small-but-detectable changes in how I was carrying myself (start picturing yourself walking around with a bunch of chicks grabbing all over you, and you get a certain bounce in your step, sparkle in your eye, and sly grin on your face that wasn't there earlier). I have talked about the AI boost you get from attunement in the past.
However, here's a recent MIT brain study finding that things actually become more or less 'visible' to you based on your level of alertness / psychological arousal:
ScienceDaily said:MIT scientists found that what we see is strongly influenced by how alert or active we are. Parts of the brain responsible for planning and control send specialized signals that either boost or quiet visual details. These areas seem to balance each other, sharpening important information while dimming distractions. The study shows vision is constantly being shaped by our internal state.
ScienceDaily said:[H]igher arousal increased ACA's tendency to help VISp sharpen its visual representations. ORB, however, became influential only when arousal was very high, and its involvement appeared to decrease the clarity of visual encoding. According to Ährlund-Richter, ACA may help the brain focus on potentially meaningful visual details as arousal rises, while ORB may act to reduce attention to distracting or overly strong stimuli.
The primary visual cortex of the brain becomes more attuned to specific things you are looking for at higher levels of alertness.
Get to a VERY high level of alertness, and your orbitofrontal cortex starts shutting out irrelevant details to help you zero in with minute detail on whatever it is you're actually looking for.
This matches up with what you will see when you are on 'runs', where you are picking up a lot of girls in quick succession and it feels like suddenly, receptive women are everywhere, and you just know exactly what to do with them. You're in a very high arousal state where you are focused on women's signals and receptivity to the exclusion of almost everything else, and are picking up on signals most guys aren't and that you in a lower arousal state wouldn't even detect (or might detect, but might second guess yourself on: "Is she really...? Or am I reading that wrong..?").
(To be clear: I believe both effects are in play. When you are alert, and behaving in a more confident, attractive way, you are both more attuned to women's signals yourself, and also putting out your own signals that encourage women to notice you and signal for you to approach, signal you to make move and close in the conversation, signal you to move faster with them if they are ready for that, etc.)
WHAT KIND OF AROUSAL IS REQUIRED?
I've talked to beginners who've said they went out looking for approach invitations and saw none at all.
They also do not feel that women ever signal them while in conversation with them.
For some of the real hard-case guys, who claim women must not like them because "women don't signal me, ever", I have given them the task of going out to see if they can see women signaling to OTHER men... and they always come back and say nope, I didn't see that either.
I have taken out all kinds of overweight, unattractive, old guys and found girls who would signal them. And no matter where you are there are always women signaling. So, these signals are out there, but some guys don't see them much or ever.
What I think is happening for these guys is their brains may (sometimes) also be in a state of alert, but they are looking for rejection signals rather than invitations.
I had a guy recently tell me, "I went out, but all I see are women looking away from me, trying to avoid me, closing themselves off to me. Honestly, looking for women's signals and getting all these rejection signals made me feel like a creep!"
The mind sees what it is looking for. If you are looking for rejection signals, the mind is going to focus on those and ignore anything else (including signals of receptivity).
When you are in a HIGHLY attuned state, where you are also calm and outcome independent, you will go out and have women shooting you both rejection signals and approach signals. In conversation, they will be shooting you "do not escalate" and "escalate" signals. You will recognize these signals without much emotion and simply adjust your approach accordingly.
That is the one cautionary note for any guy going out "trying to be more alert to women's signals": make sure you are doing so in an excited and opportunistic way, ideally also outcome detached, where you are seeking positive signals, and not a fatalistic "women are probably not going to be interested in me" way, where you are subconsciously telling your brain to focus on rejection signals (and ignore invitations).
(It is probably also the case that there is a similar 'two pronged effect' in play here, with pessimistic guys putting out signals that make women more likely to want those guys to stay away, as well as pessimistic guys simply ignoring approach invitations and zeroing in on rejection signals.)
tl;dr: Seeing is believing... however, with how the brain works, believing is also seeing.
Chase

