Chapter 19 Further Reading

Foundational Works

Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Anchor Books. The foundational text for the dramaturgical framework applied throughout this chapter. Readable, brilliant, and still the most useful conceptual toolkit for analyzing social performance. Every student of social interaction should read at least the first two chapters.

Perper, T. (1985). Sex Signals: The Biology of Love. ISI Press. Perper's synthesis of his observational work on courtship sequences. More accessible than the academic papers derived from it, and an important primary source for understanding the sequence-based approach to flirtation research.

Gagnon, J. H., & Simon, W. (1973). Sexual Conduct: The Social Sources of Human Sexuality. Aldine. The founding text of sexual script theory. Dense but important for understanding the framework that underlies much subsequent research on how cultural scripts organize sexual and romantic behavior.

On Female-Initiated Courtship

Moore, M. M. (1985). Nonverbal courtship patterns in women: Context and consequence. Ethology and Sociobiology, 6(4), 237–247. The original paper for Case Study 1. The methodology section is particularly worth reading — Moore's operationalization of behavioral coding is careful and informative.

Moore, M. M. (2010). Human nonverbal courtship behavior: A brief historical review. Journal of Sex Research, 47(2–3), 171–180. A retrospective review in which Moore situates her 1985 work in the subsequent literature and addresses replications and critiques. Excellent for understanding how the field has developed.

On Flirtation Ambiguity and Function

Givens, D. B. (1978). The nonverbal basis of attraction: Flirtation, courtship, and seduction. Psychiatry, 41(4), 346–359. An early and still-useful analysis of flirtation's structure and function, with particular attention to the sequential nature of courtship escalation.

Haselton, M. G., & Buss, D. M. (2000). Error management theory: A new perspective on biases in cross-sex mind reading. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(1), 81–91. The paper that systematically developed the sexual overperception bias and commitment overperception bias in the context of error management theory. Essential reading for understanding the gendered asymmetries in romantic signal interpretation.

On Cross-Sex Friendship and Misread Signals

Bleske-Rechette, A. L., & Buss, D. M. (2001). Opposite-sex friendship: Sex differences and similarities in initiation, selection, and dissolution. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(10), 1310–1323. The foundational study on cross-sex friendship perception asymmetry discussed in Case Study 2.

Diamond, L. M. (2008). Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love and Desire. Harvard University Press. Diamond's longitudinal research on sexual fluidity in women challenges the assumption of fixed, discrete categories of friendship and romance. Important context for the intersectional dimensions of the "friend zone" discussion.

Digital Flirtation

Ellison, N. B., Hancock, J. T., & Toma, C. L. (2012). Profile as promise: A framework for conceptualizing veracity and self-presentation in online dating profiles. New Media & Society, 14(1), 45–62. While focused on profiles rather than messaging, this paper develops a useful framework for thinking about digital self-presentation in romantic contexts. Connects to Chapter 20's discussion of dating apps.

General Theoretical Resources

Burgoon, J. K., & Dunbar, N. E. (2006). Nonverbal expressions of dominance and power in human relationships. In V. Manusov & M. L. Patterson (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Nonverbal Communication (pp. 279–297). Sage. An authoritative chapter-length treatment of how power and status operate in nonverbal interaction, relevant to understanding courtship dynamics.