EXTRAVAGANT but intrinsically worthless gifts such as expensive dinners and opera tickets are the most efficient way for a man to win a woman’s affections, according to research.

A model of human courtship patterns developed by British scientists has found that lavish presents with no lasting value beyond memories provide clear signals of a man’s serious interest.

By paying for dinner or by whisking her off to Venice for the weekend, a man incurs a significant cost in both money and time. This indicates to the woman that he is at least potentially willing to invest properly in any relationship that may result. If the man chooses to give a present of enduring value, however, he takes a greater risk. By giving her a diamond ring, he opens the possibility that she will accept it without giving anything in return.

His investment of money, but not his own time, in the gift also does less to convince her of his long-term intentions. The findings, from a team at University College London, offer an evolutionary explanation for the most familiar pattern of human courtship, in which the man pays for early dates but saves gifts of “hard” value until later. Details are published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society.

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