You're right ladies... Men really do have sex on their mind

Women often accuse men of having sex on their mind. Now scientists have found that, most of the time, it's true. Men frequently mistake friendliness foe flirting when they talk to a woman. American researchers took 43 male university students and paired them off with female students aged between 18 and 22. Each pair was sent to a room and encouraged to have a five-minute chat about college life - believing it was part of a study on 'conversational smoothness'.

Participants later rated themselves and their partners on extroversion, agreeableness and physical attractiveness and judged sexual traits such as being a flirt, seductiveness and promiscuity. Psychologists from Elon University, North Carolina, found men were much more likely than women to infer a sexual chemistry.

Lead researcher Professor Maurice Levesque said all men are prone to oversexualise conversations with women. But those who see themselves as 'sexy' are more likely to perceive a sexual dynamic. Women are more likely to link sexiness with other attributes, like extroversion and friendliness. "If he found her to be physically attractive, he would tend to rate her as sexier," said Professor Levesque.