Decoding men’s behavior or knowing what goes on inside a men’s head can be tough to decipher, and whether he likes you or not, sometimes guys like to play games with girls, even though they don’t mean any harm.
For instance, there are several signs he’s trying to make you jealous, and I will help you figure them out in this article.
They try to make you jealous, make you want him even more by doing certain things that will draw your attention to him.
Deciphering a guy’s emotions toward you sometimes can feel like you’ve been running through a maze.
When you think you have it all figured out, he creates a different path and leaves you wondering, “Is he being truthful or not?”
Maybe you like this guy or maybe you don’t know how you feel right now, but something is bringing you closer to him.
While time may reveal his true intentions, waiting for something to happen between the two of you can be really annoying.
Jealousy is a very powerful tool that both men and women use when trying to get the attention of the person they like.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a manipulative tactic that people shouldn’t be using.
I’m not justifying his actions, but the truth is women tend to use it more than women.
That said, there are certain signs he’s trying to make you jealous. While they might not be clearly visible at first, given some time, his true intentions will be revealed.
Eventually, you will have to decide on either pursuing that guy or moving on.
Guy’s actions are sometimes unpredictable. They don’t overthink too much when doing things.
That said, sometimes they hurt the woman they like because they think making her jealous will bring her closer to him.
The behavior he’s displaying now can change when he figures out what he wants from you.
Guys, just like girls, categorize. So, while getting to know you, he is thinking about whether or not you are girlfriend material or something that is a little bit more casual.
(Let’s face it, you’re not just girlfriend material, you’re exceptional, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.)
Remember, men are always going to have the desire to be desired by many women. They enjoy the attention they get.
There are various reasons why he’s trying to make you jealous.
For one, he could be a narcissist and a player.
Some guys just want their egos fed. They achieve that by making you jealous on some level.
Some of them are not even aware they’re doing just that, validating their sense of self.
A guy who only wants to get you in the bedroom can also fit into this category.
Such guys do whatever they want because they’re not looking for a relationship, but something rather casual.
You should not blame the guy who told you upfront that he doesn’t want a relationship.
Listening to what he has to say can reveal so much more than you think.
But not just listening – watching and observing his actions can reveal his true intentions.
Another reason why he’s trying to make you jealous is that he might be clueless.
A lot of guys out there don’t realize how much of an impact their actions have on another person, and especially on a woman’s emotions.
Guys can talk with a girl for quite some time without having any desire for her.
Sometimes guys don’t realize they are doing something wrong because they are clueless.
They’re making their girlfriends jealous, but they don’t see any harm in talking to another girl.
Such guys don’t have very good emotional intelligence.
They see nothing malicious in their actions. However, their actions make their girlfriends jealous.
In this case, the best thing you can do is to explain to him that his actions have consequences.
On the other hand, he might be trying to make you jealous because he’s testing you.
What does that mean, actually? Well, testing means to push someone’s buttons to see their reaction.
By testing you, he wants to know if he wants to pursue a romantic relationship with you or not.
And girls, you have to be honest with yourselves here. You do that too in your relationships.
You test men to see if they’re faking their confidence or not. But sometimes being real means having the courage to show your true self.
At the beginning of every relationship, people want to display their best selves.
Signs he’s trying to make you jealous can help you decipher his intentions, but if you are testing him already, is it really worth the effort?
You know that actions speak louder than words, that’s why you are testing him in the first place.
That said, most men don’t test women on purpose. They don’t make you jealous intentionally.
He simply wants to know how you handle your emotions. Jealousy brings out your true colors and just wants to see them.
He might be making you jealous because he’s immature.
Trust me, men aren’t as sharp as women when it comes to social games.
Men are always trying to avoid any unnecessary drama, unlike girls who are more emotional and tend to sometimes overreact.
It’s not true that guys make you jealous just to create some drama because they’re bored.
Your best option when your radar tells you that he’s using jealousy for game-playing is to get rid of him and move on.
Another reason why he’s making you jealous might be that he’s trying to show you what a great catch he is.
As I said before, guys want to be desired by women. They enjoy the attention they get, the same way women do.
By showing you that other women desire him, he wants to demonstrate how great he actually is.
He wants to show you how lucky you are to be dating him.
You should not fall for this trap. It will only stroke his ego if you behave jealously.
Don’t reward him with attention when he’s behaving inappropriately.
If he truly likes you and wants you, he needs to charm you in order to sweep you off your feet, plain and simple.
There are no games when it comes to true love.
That said, there are signs he’s trying to make you jealous that could help you figure out his true intentions.
13 signs he’s trying to make you jealous
1. He stays in touch with exes
For a relationship to work out, you have to leave the past behind you.
That means you shouldn’t contact your exes, stalk them, keep all your pictures together on your phone, etc.
But a guy, when he’s trying to make you jealous, will do just that. His interaction with his ex is a sign he’s trying to make you jealous.
He keeps in touch with her, grabs a coffee with her, or even talks about her when you’re on a date.
It’s a sign that the guy hasn’t moved on yet, and you should probably move away from him too.
In order to start a new relationship, there should be no past that’s haunting you. You have to start anew and with a fresh set of emotions.
He may even subtly mention something she did or a quality she had that you don’t possess.
You have to know that when guys do that, they mean no harm.
They just want to see you get jealous, and that’s it.
2. He avoids you
When a guy wants to make you jealous, the best way to do that is to simply avoid you, right?
Well, if a guy suddenly doesn’t have time for you, then it’s a surefire sign he’s trying to make you jealous.
Maybe he cancels your plans or doesn’t accept your phone calls because he’s busy. All of a sudden, his schedule is packed.
It’s an immature way for a guy to show a girl he likes her.
Sometimes boys who do that think they have it all figured out because they saw it in a movie somewhere.
They see that the girl will chase them, but don’t know that it should be the other way around.
3. He posts pictures of himself on social media with other girls
As I said before, sometimes guys act immaturely. They want to assert their independence.
They achieve that by posting pictures of them partying with other girls.
He wants to feel better about himself by doing so. But he doesn’t realize he’s doing quite the opposite.
Sometimes he does this because he wants to make you feel threatened by other girls. He wants you to see he can have a great time without you.
But little does he know, you won’t fall for that trap. Never again.
If he tries to boost his ego by posting pictures with other girls, then you should move on, because that guy is not meant for you.
4. He compliments your friend
You’re certain that he wants to make you jealous and that he likes you when he compliments your friend more than you.
He pays more attention to your friend than to you.
His goal is to draw more attention to himself. He wants to instill in you a sense of insecurity.
If you think he likes you, this might instill in you the feeling that he likes your friend and not you.
Sometimes guys behave quite strangely.
There are times they don’t think clearly about the impact their actions have, and they mess up the whole situation.
5. He makes plans and suddenly breaks them
You can be sure a guy is making you jealous when he makes plans with you and suddenly breaks them off at the last minute.
He wants to build you up before letting you down. I repeat, guys’ behavior is hard to decipher.
Why they behave like this proves to be a mystery on its own.
But it’s maybe because he wants you to notice him.
The more grandiose the gesture is, the more you are let down and the more he wants you to notice him.
It’s a dumb plan, but one you should know about.
6. He gets mad at you
Sometimes guys want to make you jealous, just because they like you. And they do that by being mad at you when you are not jealous.
He wants to see you in your worst state. That’s when he knows he wants a relationship with you.
Men don’t like surprises, so they want to see your worst state – and the sooner the better for them.
7. He boasts about other women’s attention
A guy who wants to make you jealous will talk about how he gets attention from other women.
It’s his way of flirting with you. He wants to see your reaction and for you to feel threatened by other girls.
He thinks that by doing so, you will crave him, but boosting a guy’s ego is rather unappealing to you.
Instead of making you want him more, he creates the opposite effect and you’re moving away from him.
8. He texts someone in the middle of your date
Paying attention to your date is crucial. Nobody wants to be ignored, let alone interrupted when they speak.
Remember, some guys are rude enough to do this, but they are not aware of it.
The best way to rattle you a bit is to interrupt you in the middle of the conversation to text someone else.
Guys do this because they think it will make them more desirable. In a long-term relationship, this represents nothing and is no big deal.
But if you’ve just started dating, then the guy is trying to make you jealous.
9. He checks out other girls
This one I see most guys do when they’re trying to make the girl jealous. They check out other girls in front of you.
He wants to see a reaction from you. That’s why he’s doing that.
He wants you to see him checking out other girls. But if he tries to hide it, then it was just an accident.
10. He talks (or brags) about his achievements
He may have been skydiving or at the Bahamas, etc.
Whatever his achievements are, he will brag about them because he wants you to be jealous of him.
He wants to impress you and at the same time get your attention.
Every girl wants an adventurous guy. A guy who’s not afraid of anything.
If he boasts about his achievements, then you can be sure he’s trying to make you jealous.
11. His friends tell you he likes someone else
Another sign he’s trying to make you jealous is when he asks your mutual friends to tell you he likes someone else (he doesn’t).
Mutual friends are a great way to hand over a message.
They might tell you how he went on a date with another girl, or how he’s interested in someone else, etc.
The goal is to get you jealous and to make you want him more. Maybe he wants to test how you’ll react to see whether or not you like him.
12. He asks unusual questions
While you may think that some questions are harmless and don’t have an agenda, there are questions that a guy will ask you that are quite unusual.
If a guy wants to make you jealous, he’ll ask you questions such as “Is it okay if I go with Jane to the mall tomorrow?” or “Do you mind if I hang out with her next week?”
Those are pretty unusual questions and they have the same goal: to make you jealous.
13. He spends more time with “his guys” than with you
A guy who wants to make you jealous will probably spend more time with his friends because he wants to show you how great and outgoing he is.
He will try to make excuses for a guy’s night out on a regular basis just to see your reaction. Don’t fall for it.
What should you do when he tries to make you jealous?
Now that we’ve covered most of the signs that he’s trying to make you jealous, you might be wondering what to do about it and how to respond.
Well, in most cases guys want to make you jealous because they like you. It’s their way of flirting with you.
He hopes that it triggers some sort of emotional reaction in you. That said, he wants you to focus on him and give him your utmost attention.
What you can do is to give him no reaction at all.
Yes, you heard it right. Ignore his behavior and give no emotional reaction at all because it will only boost his ego.
If he doesn’t get any reaction from you, his insecurities will pop up and he will stop playing games with you.
He might start to worry if you are really into him or if you don’t care as much as he thought.
On the flip side, he will turn on his charm and work harder to gain your love and affection.
The way he looks at you might even change. By not reacting at all to his games, you will look like a confident, independent, beautiful woman.
I know you are already all of that, but you have to show him.
He’ll be surrounded by those insecure women, and after he meets you, it will be like a breath of fresh air and he’ll be turned on by your self-confidence.
If you let your emotions control your actions, he’ll learn how to push your buttons in the future.
It means that whenever he wants your attention, he’ll know how to act around you.
Another thing that you can do is to counter him with your own games.
You can also try to make him jealous and show him that you are better than him.
So, how do you make a guy jealous?
Well, you can do that by looking good and stunning. There shouldn’t be a specific occasion to look beautiful or to take care of yourself.
If you take your time and get all dressed up when going out, those changes won’t go unnoticed, trust me.
He’ll be jealous because you’ll get attention from all the other guys around you. And he will step up his game and try to impress you harder.
That’s how you’ll make him miss you like crazy.
You can also make his guy friends appreciate you.
When his guys’ friends start appreciating or complimenting you, he will start feeling jealous.
But be careful not to overstep the boundaries and don’t be overly flirty with his friends. Act innocent and classy in every situation.
Just be yourself in front of his friends and the rest will follow. His guys will talk more about you when he’s around them and you’ll grab his attention.
Another way to get him jealous is to be indifferent when he flirts with other girls.
Just act naturally and don’t react at all. Enjoy your time and stay calm. He flirts because he wants to see a reaction from you.
Don’t give him the satisfaction. Eventually, he’ll start feeling neglected and will come back running to you.
Another great subtle way to make your guy jealous is to compare him with a celebrity.
You can always compare him to a movie star that you think he reminds you of. He won’t appreciate it, and he’ll be jealous for sure.
It doesn’t matter to him if the guy is a celeb or an ordinary guy.
One of the worst feelings that you can have is jealousy. It is frustrating when a guy goes out of his way to make you feel jealous, and I know that.
Sometimes they are aware of their actions and how much of an impact they have.
If that’s the case, you can always move away from such guys or take matters into your own hands and show him that two can play that game.
If you know that the guy means no harm and that he genuinely likes you, you can forgive him and not overreact. Just talk to him and move on.
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