Are Opposite Sex Friendships Possible?
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin explored the age-old question of whether or not men and women can be just friends.
The question of whether or not women and men can have a successful platonic relationship has fueled the plots of hundreds, if not thousands, of books, movies, and television series.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin not long ago decided to explore the question in an entirely new storytelling environment – the science lab.
88 undergraduate pairs of opposite sex friends were interviewed, having been promised complete privacy and confidentiality.
The scientists dug deep into each participant’s honest feelings about the person they walked into the experiment with and found some common truths.
They learned that friend zone relationships between men and women tend to be rife with potential drama that could be the undoing of their beautiful friendships.
Overall, the males tended to have romantic feelings for the women in question and believed that those feelings were reciprocal.
Women, on the other hand, did not harbor dreams of their friendships blossoming into young love and imagined things continuing exactly as it currently were.
That doesn’t mean all is lost. It’s also believed that having platonic friends of the opposite sex can be beneficial.
One of the greatest gifts they can give is insight into how the other half thinks and operates.
The question of whether or not women and men can have a successful platonic relationship has fueled the plots of hundreds, if not thousands, of books, movies, and television series.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin not long ago decided to explore the question in an entirely new storytelling environment – the science lab.
88 undergraduate pairs of opposite sex friends were interviewed, having been promised complete privacy and confidentiality.
The scientists dug deep into each participant’s honest feelings about the person they walked into the experiment with and found some common truths.
They learned that friend zone relationships between men and women tend to be rife with potential drama that could be the undoing of their beautiful friendships.
Overall, the males tended to have romantic feelings for the women in question and believed that those feelings were reciprocal.
Women, on the other hand, did not harbor dreams of their friendships blossoming into young love and imagined things continuing exactly as it currently were.
That doesn’t mean all is lost. It’s also believed that having platonic friends of the opposite sex can be beneficial.
One of the greatest gifts they can give is insight into how the other half thinks and operates.