Study: Gaydar exists!

(Getty Images) Gay or straight -- are you able to tell? Did NPH ever trip your gaydar?

A recent study divided male and female students, both gay and straight, and showed them personal ads and Facebook profiles of 90 guys.

The findings? It only took 50 milliseconds (1/20 of a second) for the subjects  to say whether the men were gay or straight ... and they were accurate 55 to 70 percent of the time -- way more than chance.

The study was led by grad student Nicholas Rule, who researches people's reactions to  facial features and expressions, and published in July's Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 

No word on whether or not researchers found the 'dar of the gay subjects was more accurate than those of the straight subjects.

What do you think? Does everyone have gaydar? Only gay people? Only certain very observant people? Or is it a myth?

Story via Towleroad

Comments

[michaelj72]

i'm not surprised by these results. I do believe that most human beings are or at least can be sensitive enough to pick up a lot of non-verbal body/visual info-language in a very short period of time. so many men use the term gaydar that it just has to exist, right?! it certainly does, we all know it and have seen or felt it work intuitively - that's surely one way we've been able to survive and find each other even during very socially repressive times.....

It makes me curious what the results would be say in a line up like the cops do for suspects etc, could people pick out the gay guys etc. would have a person there instead of just a photo work the same.