I originally wrote this piece as a reply to Newhums excellent "What most guys don't get about mystery" post, but it's morphed into something longer than I expected. Here's a breakdown on my take, with an actionable step to finish off for any guys out around town tonight

Attraction is based on SMV and the dynamic is: The higher someones smv is compared to their own, then the more we are attracted to them,and womens' criteria are different from men's (although most are shared to some extent).

With guys we pretty much are just looking for a tight body, attractive face and whatever your physical type is such as big tits, tight ass or long legs. If a women fills those criteria then most guys will bang her given the opportunity. When it comes to relationship criteria we extend them to psychological traits too, but mainly the absence of negative traits such as dark triad or general lack of intelligence.

With women the criteria are more biased towards psychological aspects than looks (although looks still pay a big part it's not as pronounced as it is in men). Whilst us horny guys can identify in a millisecond those women whom we wish to bang, with women a large percentage of your smv is hidden. For those of us who lack male model looks and Adonis bodies this is a very good thing and pretty much the method behind all pua techniques.

So... to get an accurate estimation of your "true smv" [ a spectrum of traits such as access to resources, intelligence, preselection status, social status etc] a woman needs as much information as possible about you to slot you in the correct position of her current smv hierarchy.

[You may have wondered why there is so much talk of women wanting guys to "open up" and "share their feelings"? This is the female imperative at work, the more accurate her psychological model of you, then the easier it is for her to manipulate you, and the easier it is to gauge your true position on the attraction/smv hierarchy to avoid wasting her time.]

If you remain a mystery to her then she's unable to pigeonhole you, and your smv state is in continuous flux. There's an interesting cognitive bias at work here too called the "Zeigernic effect"...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeigarnik_effect

...where you're strongly biased to remember unfinished tasks [Her own smv elicitation of you] until an accurate picture can be formulated. Your brain at its most basic level is a pattern recognition machine which gives you a dopamine boost whenever you get it right. When there's uncertainty you get cognitive dissonance because from an evolutionary perspective, uncertainty can be either very bad (get you killed) or very good (access to new novel resources if you take the chance to seize them).

If you think of yourself as "a potential new novel resource to her" you can understand why mystery keeps her interested; you could be an alpha leader of various groups, you may have a lot of status in society, hell you could even be a millionaire. She has no way of knowing until all the cards are on the table, until then you have another cognitive bias operating in your favour called "Neglect of probability"...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neglect_of_probability

...in that she will more err on side of you having high smv from a loss aversion dynamic, than she will underestimate your true smv. The result being that she will remain interested and pursue you until your true smv is in the open. The act of pursuing you creates a post hoc rationalization that she actually is attracted to you due to "confirmation bias" and various other hamstering shenanigans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

[Caveat here: If you act all needy around her, or too interested or lack frame and always dropping into hers then she will get a good idea regardless. Nail your frame on the wall and adopt alpha behaviours/body language and it will make your potential smv possibilities even more interesting].

To sum things up: Mystery and unpredictability create interest in a woman and the interest will remain until she knows your true smv [not forever though, eventually she will cut her losses.] Intrigue has a lot going for it.

Take away technique: If a woman asks you what you do for a living just reply "You wouldn't believe me" and then change the subject. They both hate and love this at the same time but it certainly keeps them interested. Whether your a forklift truck driver or a ceo, you're not actually lying.....