n the spring, a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love."
As poet Alfred Lord Tennyson illustrated, when spring approaches, the age-old notion also emerges that love is found more easily and often in the new season. As Bambi discovered Feline, and Thumper's foot went out of control with the sight of his bunny-mate, "young men", as well as girls, will feel the force of attraction turn their normal thoughts to love, and perhaps not so lightly as Tennyson proposes.
"I think spring definitely makes people change in relationships," said junior Jennifer Hewitt. "Relationships get better because there is more to do in the spring."
Most high school students don't just sit and wait to stumble upon their mate. They use the oldest games of flirting and philandering. Each sex has their own technique in the art of attraction.
"I think girls pick on (boys)," said sophomore Whitney York. "They'll hit them or make fun of them."
"Girls usually dress noticeably different," said junior Jessica Hadley. "They try to impress the guy any way they can."
Girls will also try to show they have "shared interests" with the guy, according to Hadley.
As for the male sex, they tend to drive faster and act smoother to get a girl's attention.
"Guys drive flashy cars and, more than anything, they act all smooth, like they're The Man," said senior Greg Little. "It doesn't really work very well, but they do it anyway."
"Guys show off and exert themselves, masculine style," said junior Parker Rader. "They get attention by being loud and obnoxious. They also drive their cars fast."
As for the opposite sex's reaction, it seems to depend on the girl.
"It depends on the chick," said Rader. "Either the chick will like it, or say 'Oh, my God, how immature!'"
esides the more obvious signs of attraction, such as the nightly phone calls, emotions can reveal themselves in much subtler ways. Body language and facial expressions play a huge part in alerting others of your feelings. Although these signals are often subconscious and seemingly go unnoticed, they are very prominent in our day-to-day communication with the opposite sex.
"If you really know a girl, just the little things can tell you how she feels," said junior Steve Satterly. "You can read her like a book."
If you like someone, generally you use more eye contact and place less distance between yourself and the other person. Touch is more common and also interaction with the other person is prolonged as much as possible. Researchers of nonverbal communication have found that personal space is often the most important clue in revealing intentions. If you see a boy standing close, leaning forward and looking deep into a girl's eyes while she talks, it's likely that he is attracted.
But there are many "differences between male and female communications," said English teacher Sue Brown, who has studied and taught communication skills in her sophomore English class. "There's a lot of room for miscommunication because males' and females' nonverbal language is very different."
Males tend to claim more territory. A study conducted in airplanes between 426 male-female pairings showed that 284 men claimed the armrest, compared to only 57 women. Males make more large gestures and spread their legs at a 10-15 degree angle, taking up more body space and apparently asserting a more intimidating presentation of themselves.
"I think guys are more domineering with their body language because they think it expresses more power and intimidation," said sophomore Molly Mason. "If they do it subtly, it's attractive. It shows they carry themselves well and it shows confidence."
Contrary to the theory that domineering body language shows confidence, junior Chris Hetrick feels that "only arrogant jocks have domineering body language."
In contrast to powerful male body language, women take up less space with their bodies, tending to cross their legs and arms and using fewer and smaller gestures, such as playing with their hair or clothing.
"When girls play with their hair or clothes I think they are either ditzy or nervous," said Hetrick. "I don't determine attraction merely on things girls do, but it may affect my decision."
estures and body position are just a tiny part of nonverbal communication. According to a 1994 issue of U.S. News and World Report, up to 2,000 facial expressions communicate emotions and send signals of hurt or surprise. The face and eyes are usually the most noticed of the human body, but that doesn't mean that the nonverbal cues of the face are easy to interpret.
The face is very complex because there are so many different emotions that just one part of the face can show. Researchers have found that there are at least eight different positions of the eyebrows and forehead, eight more in the eyes and the lids, and 10 in the lower region of the face. Facial expressions can also move at such a fast speed that it is not easy to analyze them. The eyes are probably the most readable area of the face.
"I can read everything in his eyes," said Hewitt. "You can really tell emotions through his eyes because he doesn't use words, just his face.
I can tell what he's saying "by the look in his eyes," agreed York. "It's deeper than his words will show."
It is often easy to read whether the message being sent is positive or negative. In fact, researchers have found that eye pupils dilate up to four times the normal size when one gets excited.
"I find guys body language attractive through the eyes," said Mason. "Winks drive me crazy."
Of the two sexes, women use more eye contact and tend to reveal more emotion through their facial expressions than males.
Another major clue is the amount of touch used when around that person. Touch can range from the professional level, such as the wrapping of an ankle in the training room, to aggressive and angry contact, such as a fight in the hallway. Researchers have found that touch is essential to children for their survival, but today touch is often mistaken.
"Touch is critical," said Brown. "But I think a disturbing trend is that our culture, despite that touch is essential to survival, is interpreting all touch as sexual at younger and younger ages."
Males are a good example of this, for they most often interpret a women's touch as sexual, while women can see touch either as a sexual invitation or as just a friendly pat on the back.
But after the initial flirting and use of body language, attraction can't exist for long without that certain feeling.
Said Hadley: "Besides all the body language and flirting, it eventually comes down to your deepest feeling inside. You feel you have that special thing; you're on the same radio wave."