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The study assessed kissing behavior by measuring attitudes, preferences of kissing styles and sexual behaviors, as well as the attractiveness and physical traits of kissing partners.
After surveying 1,000 undergraduate students at the University of Albany, researchers concluded kissing means more to women than it does to men. Men were likely to say that the kiss was a means to a hook-up, while women used the kiss to determine a possible relationship.
Researchers also found that 60 percent of both men and women who had found themselves initially attracted to someone lost interest after the first kiss.
"I believe that a relationship is like work, but it's a job that you love to do so it doesn't seem that way," said Megan Davidson (senior-science).
Falling in love is different for every person, said Mary Anne Knapp, social worker at Penn State's Center for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS).
"People begin to fall in love based on a combination of factors that range from physical and emotional attraction, shared interests, the enjoyment of companionship, and feeling their partner is concerned about them," she said.
Niveditha Menon, who teaches Sociology 110 (Sociology of Gender), said the debate over which gender falls in love more quickly is hard to conclude.
"One of the problems of understanding the biology of a social being is that biology and social relationships are interactive," Menon said.
Trying to define if one gender is more or less emotional than the other is missing the point, she said,
"We miss out on the tremendous variation of human relationships and possibilities," she said.
While Menon said she doesn't think a kiss can predict if there is possibility of a relationship, it could be a start.
"A kiss gives us indications of sexual compatibility," she said. "I believe a kiss is probably an extremely useful indicator."
The study also claimed kissing a good kisser is not a valid reason to start a long-term relationship.
"Having sex with another person or 'hooking up' is still a true relationship, albeit a very short one. Relationships that transcend these sexual aspects, and dwell more on emotions and commitment are also true relationships," Menon said.
Still, she said, there is no true science to dating, she added.
"We might be biological creatures," she said, "but the ways in which we interact with each other are fairly social."
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