Mating intelligence: the two words don't seem to belong together. Surely our sexual urges are as instinctive as anything we feel? As for love, who could argue with Shakespeare's descriptions of it as "a smoke raised with the fumes of sighs", "a spirit all compact of fire"? Where's the intelligence in any of that? Yet "mating intelligence" is the buzz phrase among scientists trying to understand how we conduct our love lives. It makes sense if you consider that beyond the purple prose and blue movies lies a psychological minefield. Poets may wax lyrical, but anyone who has been in love knows that romantic relationships are full of rhetorical spin, misleading half-truths and barefaced lies. This is a game of manipulation, and the stakes are high. Each date is a crucial interview - the ultimate prize nothing less than the chance to form a fruitful lifelong partnership. No wonder we need our wits about us.
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