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In 2005, the Seduction Community was brought to mainstream attention when Neil Strauss published his book The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists . Since beginning in the U.S. in the 1970 s, the community is dedicated to finding methods for success with women. Currently, in addition to a self-organised exchange of information via the Internet, there is a flourishing market of self-help literature and seminars promising to transform anybody into a woman-seducing Casanova. Helping others with their dating skills has become an industry that makes millions of Euros per year. So-called flirt gurus make their fortune with personal coaching, promising not just to change one s relationship status but one s whole life. The industry s outrageous claims and the attention they re currently garnering make it time to put their methods to the test. To see if there is a scientific foundation for the claims the industry makes, Andreas Baranowski compares its most common advice with current scientific findings. He investigates questions such as if it is really good to play hard to get, how to overcome approach anxiety, and if it is possible to get somebody to think he or she is in love with me.

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Andreas Baranowski has studied psychology at the University of Salamanca and the University of Klagenfurt, where he graduated in 2011. Currently, he is teaching and doing research at the University of Mainz. His research in the field of seduction has led to a number of media appearances including "Der Spiegel" and "Times Higher Education".

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