If you've ever played dumb to flirt with a guy or get his attention, then keep it up!

A new study done by researchers at the University of Buffalo, California Lutheran University, and the University of Texas at Austinprovedthat men are subconsciously intimidated by intelligent women. So if you don’t know what “subconsciously” means, then you’re on the right track.

To conduct this study, the researchers gave 105 men a hypothetical situation where a woman either did better or worse than them in a math or English class.

“They then instructed the men to imagine this woman as a romantic partner,” Market Watch reports.

During this study, the majority of men ranked the women who did better than them as more desirable.

According to the report, "Men formed favorable impressions and showed greater interest in women who displayed more intelligence than themselves.”

So men say they like smart girls….

However, in the next part of the study, the men took an intelligence test. Then the researchers told the men they were about to meet women who had taken the same test.

The men who learned they were going to meet a woman who scored higher on the test “distanced themselves more from her, tended to rate her as less attractive, and showed less desire to exchange contact information or plan a date with her,” the study said.

“Feelings of diminished masculinity accounted for men’s decreased attraction toward women who outperformed them in the live interaction,” according to the report.

So according to science…guys think they like smart girls, but they don’t actually want to date any.

Honestly, this study isn't exactly groundbreaking. Everyone likes to have their egos stroked, especially men.

The part that doesn't make sense is how masculinity is at all related to intelligence. This study clearly shows society's gender expectations - men are supposed to be the smart money makers, while women should be dumb and obedient housekeepers.

Well if that's what guys are looking for, then we should all drop out of college and take some cooking classes.