Celebrating Valentine’s Day during the current COVID-19 Outbreak - Psychology-based Tips on Attraction by Samuel Low

You might have successfully asked your crush out on a date this weekend to celebrate Valentine’s Day, or perhaps celebrating Valentine’s Day has been a long-practiced tradition in your relationship with your partner. However, due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, you might be thinking of cancelling your initials plans to ensure safety and minimize risks. The current COVID-19 outbreak is most certainly a very unfortunate period of time that the whole world is battling against. Fret not, we at SGPsychStuff have made a list to help you still celebrate love and romance, and hopefully create some sparks with your date, using psychology-based tips.

‘You can still celebrate love without feeling the need to wear a hazmat suit.’

Your dreams of holding hands with your date may be dashed as people are now rather wary of unnecessary physical contact in a bid to reduce the risk of transmission. It may also seem rather unromantic if both of your faces are half-covered behind masks during the date. Not to worry! Read on to find out what are some of the ways to build attraction and create some sparks, with or without wearing masks!

1.      Eye Contact

You may already know this, but it’s still the most effective trick in the book. Maintain eye contact! Eye contact is one of the most important non-verbal communication tools we have to express our emotions and feelings. Maintaining eye contact also signals trustworthiness, attentiveness, openness, and confidence. In a study by Kellerman, Lewis, and Laird (1989), it was found that participants who maintained mutual eye contact for at least two minutes reported significantly higher feelings of affection and attraction than in any other conditions. So do remember to look at your date when they are telling you a story about themselves, or when you guys are sharing your favourite films with each other. It’ll be highly effective, mask or no mask!

‘Lots of affection happening right here.’

2.      Sense of Humour

Almost everyone loves to laugh at a good joke. Humour is undeniably an effective tool we use in social settings to build warmth and liking for each other. Good humour helps to give the impression that you are confident and witty, very attractive traits indeed! But of course, everyone has a different sense of humour, like how this study revealed that it requires a similar sense of humour between couples to predict attraction and liking (Murstein & Brust, 1985). We think that as long as you stay away from any jokes about sensitive topics such as race, religion, and political beliefs on your date, you should be fine.

3.      Manners and Etiquette

Having manners is truly an attractive quality to possess. Everyone likes someone who has good etiquette, this includes social etiquette (your please and thank yous, attentive listening, not interrupting), and table manners/dining etiquette (yes I know that pizza looks really good but don’t gobble it all up by yourself, and remember to wipe that tomato sauce off your cheek!). Having manners and etiquette shows that we are respectful, mindful, and aware to our surroundings and our date, and that is certainly quite attractive!

4.      Personality and Communication

Last but not least, one of the most important components of a good date is good conversation. This is where you get to impress your date with your personality. Find time during the date to share favourite list of things together (movies, music, food, or published studies on caffeine and memory if you are both psych-nerds), and share your stories, experiences, and aspirations. This tip is based on the need for mastery, connectedness, and positive association of one’s self. Only very few things are more attractive than a person with drive and depth!

And that concludes our list of tips that may help you kindle some romance and attraction on your date this Valentine’s weekend. We hope you have found this useful and if you have any tips to share, do comment in the comment section down below! Have fun, stay safe, and remember to wash your hands frequently!

References

Kellerman, J., Lewis, J., & Laird, J. D. (1989). Looking and loving: The effects of mutual gaze on feelings of romantic love. Journal of Research in Personality, 23(2), 145-161.

Murstein, B. I., & Brust, R. G. (1985). Humor and interpersonal attraction. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(6), 637-640.