Evolutionary Psychology vol 5, p 621
George Gallup, State University of New York, Albany

The first kiss can make or break a couple's relationship, suggests a new study.

A kiss may contain potentially important information about your kissing partner, says George Gallup at the State University of New York, Albany, US.

He surveyed 1041 students on their attitudes to kissing (Evolutionary Psychology, vol 5, p 612).

Some views verged on the predictable: women, for example, placed more emotional importance on a kiss, valuing kisses during and after sex, and throughout a relationship.

The men tended to see kissing as a means to an end – sex – and placed less importance on kissing as a relationship progresses. Just over half the men said they would have sex with someone without kissing, compared with 15% of women. And more men than women said that a good kiss was one with tongue contact, where the partner made moaning noises.

But Gallup says the first kiss a couple share could make or break the relationship. In a separate survey within the study, 59% of men and 66% of women reported on occasion finding themselves attracted to someone, only to lose interest after kissing them for the first time.

"The complicated exchange of information that occurs during a kiss may inform evolved, unconscious mechanisms about instances of possible genetic incompatibility," Gallup says.