Attractiveness

This Quality Makes Women More Attractive — But Not Men

It benefits women but surprisingly had a slightly negative effect on men’s attractiveness.

Being nice makes women more attractive to men, research finds.

Men who think that women are more ‘responsive’ find them more feminine.

Femininity is linked to greater sexual arousal and so to increased attraction for most men.

However, for men, being nice did not make them more attractive to women.

If anything, being nice had a slightly negative effect on the attractiveness of a man to a woman.

Professor Gurit Birnbaum, the study’s first author, explained that:

“Some women, for example, may interpret responsiveness negatively and feel uncomfortable about a new acquaintance who seems to want to be close.
Such feelings may impair sexual attraction to this responsive stranger.
Other women may perceive a responsive stranger as warm and caring and therefore as a desirable long-term partner.”

The study tested different types of responses to the disclosure of a personal problem.

A nice, responsive answer might be: “You must have gone through a very difficult time”

A less nice answer would be: “Doesn’t sound so bad to me”

Professor Birnbaum said:

“We still do not know why women are less sexually attracted to responsive strangers; it may not necessarily have to do with ‘being nice.’
Women may perceive a responsive stranger as less desirable for different reasons.
Women may perceive this person as inappropriately nice and manipulative (i.e., trying to obtain sexual favors) or eager to please, perhaps even as desperate, and therefore less sexually appealing.
Alternatively, women may perceive a responsive man as vulnerable and less dominant.
Regardless of the reasons, perhaps men should slow down if their goal is to instill sexual desire.”

The study was published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (Birnbaum et al., 2014).

The Simple Behaviour That Makes You More Attractive

The behaviour is particularly attractive to women, although men also rate it highly.

Being altruistic — helping others without thought of reward — is particularly attractive to women, research finds.

But both men and women find those who are altruistic more attractive.

The results come from three studies including over 1,000 people.

People were asked about the behaviours they looked for in a mate.

Some of the suggested behaviours included donating blood and volunteering in a local hospital.

Women were more keen on these altruistic traits in a potential partner.

Dr Tim Phillips, the study’s first author, explained that humans were not the only species to display altruism:

“Evolutionary theory predicts competition between individuals and yet we see many examples in nature of individuals disadvantaging themselves to help others.
In humans, particularly, we see individuals prepared to put themselves at considerable risk to help individuals they do not know for no obvious reward.”

In a subsequent study, researchers asked people in couples how much they appreciated altruistic behaviour.

Those that preferred altruistic traits had partners who displayed these more.

Dr Phillips said:

“For many years the standard explanation for altruistic behaviour towards non-relatives has been based on reciprocity and reputation — a version of ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’.
I believe we need to look elsewhere to understand the roots of human altruism.
The expansion of the human brain would have greatly increased the cost of raising children so it would have been important for our ancestors to choose mates both willing and able to be good, long-term parents.
Displays of altruism could well have provided accurate clues to this and genes linked to altruism would have been favoured as a result.”

Dr Tom Reader, who co-authored the study, said:

“Sexual preferences have enormous potential to shape the evolution of animal behaviour.
Humans are clearly not an exception: sex may have a crucial role in explaining what are our most biologically interesting and unusual habits.”

The study was published in the British Journal of Psychology (Phillips et al., 2008).

How A Person’s Face Signals Intention To Cheat On You

Face shape is linked to sex drive in men and women and also how likely a man is to cheat on his partner.

People with shorter and wider faces have a higher sex drive, new research finds.

Men with wider, shorter faces are also more likely to report intending to cheat on their partner.

For the research, almost 500 people were asked about their sexual orientation, their relationships and whether they would consider being unfaithful to their partner.

It is the latest in a line of studies that have linked face shape to various psychological characteristics.

Men with square, wide faces are seen as more attractive as short-term partners, as well as more dominant, the research has shown.

The study’s authors write:

“…they are also perceived by naïve observers as being more socially dominant, untrustworthy, and aggressive compared to men with lower width-to-height ratios.”

The square, wide face has also been linked to financial success, prejudice, unethical behaviour and even psychopathic tendencies.

So, it is a fairly confusing cocktail of positive and negative characteristics (depending on your preferences, of course).

The theory is that it comes down to the hormones men are exposed to during development:

“Researchers have argued that the observed links between the FWHR and men’s dominant and aggressive attitudes and behavior may be a product of androgen exposure during critical periods of development.
In support of this, sex differences in facial structure arise with the onset of puberty, ostensibly reflecting increased testosterone in males relative to females.”

Hormonal exposure during development also seems to affects women’s sex drive.

Like men, women with shorter, wider faces had a higher sex drive, this study found, although they expressed no greater intention to cheat on their partner.

The study was published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior (Arnocky et al., 2017).

This Selfie Angle Makes You Look Most Attractive

Study finds the best angle to take a selfie for both men and women.

Women look more attractive to men when their picture is taken from above, new research finds.

A high camera angle makes women look thinner and younger, psychologists have found.

Men, though, appear more dominant if the picture is taken from below.

The angle the picture is taken from changes the perception of the viewer, the researchers found.

The study’s authors explained that…

“…being viewed from above (a downward angle) amplifies signs of youth and attractiveness, such as having a large eyes and forehead, and thus appears to be consistent with women’s motives.
Indeed, women appear more attractive when their heads are tilted down and they are thus viewed from a downward angle.”

For men, though, they explain:

“Being viewed from below (an upward angle) amplifies
signs of dominance, such as height and a large jaw, and thus appears to be consistent with men’s motives.
Indeed, targets appear more dominant when their heads are tilted back and they are thus viewed from an upward angle.”

Interestingly, the researchers found that men and women take pictures from different angles depending on their motive.

While women tend to take selfies from above when trying to appear more attractive, when the picture is aimed at other women, they take the picture straight on.

Men also switched from a low-angle selfie for attracting women, to a straight-on selfie if the audience was thought to be other men.

The study’s authors were inspired by dating profiles posted online.

They showed that women tended to take their online dating selfies from above.

Men showed no particular preference for dating pictures.

However, for professional pictures on LinkedIn, men had a tendency to lower the camera angle, thereby making them look more dominant.

The study was published in the journal Psychological Science (Makhanova et al., 2017).

How Your Relationship Affects Diet Motivation

Some women feel extra pressure from their partners to be thin.

Women who have more attractive partners feel greater motivation to diet, new research finds.

Women who are more attractive than their husbands, though, do not feel the extra motivation to diet.

In contrast, men’s diet motivation is low whether or not they are more attractive than their partners.

Ms Tania Reynolds, the study’s first author, said:

“The results reveal that having a physically attractive husband may have negative consequences for wives, especially if those wives are not particularly attractive.”

It is important to understand what might predict eating disorders among women.

Dr Andrea Meltzer, the study’s first author, said:

“The research suggests there might be social factors playing a role in women’s disordered eating.
It might be helpful to identify women at risk of developing more extreme weight-loss behaviors, which have been linked to other forms of psychological distress, such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse and dissatisfaction with life.
In order to better understand women’s dieting motivations, the findings of this study highlight the value of adopting an approach that focuses on a couple’s relationship.”

Studies have previously found that marriages are more successful if the woman is more attractive than the man.

Some women, though, feel extra pressure from their partners to be thin.

Dr Meltzer said:

“One way to help these women is for partners to be very reaffirming, reminding them, ‘You’re beautiful. I love you at any weight or body type.
Or perhaps focusing on the ways they are a good romantic partner outside of attractiveness and emphasizing those strengths: ‘I really value you because you’re a kind, smart and supportive partner.'”

The next step is to test the effect of attractive female friends on a woman’s motivation to diet, Dr Meltzer said:

“If we understand how women’s relationships affect their decision to diet and the social predictors for developing unhealthy eating behaviors, then we will be better able to help them.”

The study was published in the journal Body Image (Reynolds et al., 2017).

The Scientific Way To Choose A Profile Picture For Dating, LinkedIn And Facebook

Let’s face it, many people seem to have no clue how to pick their own profile picture.

You should let someone else choose your online profile picture, new research suggests.

The advice is sound whether it is for a dating profile, LinkedIn, or just for Facebook.

Other people pick more flattering profile pictures for us than we select for ourselves, it emerges.

Others seem to know better which pictures make us look more attractive, competent or trustworthy — whichever the context requires.

Dr David White, the study’s first author, said:

“Our findings suggest that people make poor choices when selecting flattering images of themselves for online profile pictures, which affects other people’s perception of them.
This effect is likely to have a substantial impact on online interactions, the impressions people form and the decisions they base on them, including whether to employ, date, befriend or even vote for someone.

Previous work has shown that people make inferences about an individual’s character and personality within a split second of seeing a photograph of their face, so our results have clear practical implications; if you want to put your best face forward, it makes sense to ask someone else to choose your picture.”

For the study, 102 students rated their own photos and those of strangers.

People were consistently better at picking profile pictures for others than for themselves.

Some examples are below.

Along the top line are the best and worst photos that people selected for themselves for each context: Facebook, dating and professional.

Along the bottom are the images that other people selected for each of those contexts.

The pictures they picked for others were a better fit for the intended site, Dr White said:

“Our results demonstrate that people know how to select profile pictures that fit specific networking contexts and make positive impressions on strangers: dating images appear more attractive, and professional images appear more competent.”

The study was published in the journal Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (White et al., 2017).

The images are taken from White et al. (2017)

This Common Personality Trait Leads To More Sex With More Partners

First ever study to link this common trait to mating success.

First ever study to link this common trait to mating success.

People who help others out have more sex, new research concludes.

The more altruistic people are, the more sexual partners they have and the more frequently they have sex.

Could it be, then, that being nice to other people is the ultimate aphrodisiac?

Who would have thought it?

Dr Pat Barclay, one of the study’s authors, said:

“This study is the first to show that altruism may translate into real mating success in Western populations, that altruists have more mates than non-altruists.”

For the study people were asked about their altruistic tendencies and their sexual histories.

A second experiment tested whether people were as altruistic as they claimed.

The more altruistic people were, the more sex they had, the study revealed.

More altruistic men also reported more sexual partners.

Professor Steven Arnocky, the study’s first author, said:

“It appears that altruism evolved in our species, in part, because it serves as a signal of other underlying desirable qualities, which helps individuals reproduce.”

In other words: we are all generally descended from more helpful people.

Presumably, all those unhelpful people we still have around got here by pretending to be helpful in order to get a date.

Nice guys and gals

Of course this study is not saying that being nice is the only factor that’s important.

Indeed, altruism would need to be weighed up against the other traditional indicators of attraction.

Professor Arnocky said:

“Also, given the importance we place on attractiveness, resources and intelligence, it would be worthwhile to explore how individuals ‘trade-off’ altruism against other desirable qualities.”

Clearly there are plenty of people around who are tremendously unhelpful and still manage to get some action.

The study was published in the British Journal of Psychology (Arnocky et al., 2016).

8 Current Psychology Studies Every Lover Should Know

The power of nonconformists, neural synchrony, pathological personality traits and more…

The power of nonconformists, neural synchrony, pathological personality traits and more…

1. Men and women prefer nonconformists

When it comes to dating, both sexes prefer a non-conformist partner, research finds.

Although most people know a rebellious man is sexy; the results upend the common assumption that men prefer women who play by the rules.

Women in the study guessed that the personality trait of conformity would attract men, but it didn’t.

The study’s authors write:

“Women overestimated how attracted men would be to the conformist women.
People think that men prefer conformist women, but this impression is discrepant from reality.”

2. Neural synchrony

People who find each other’s emotions easy to read are naturally drawn to each other.

Reading emotions successfully gives people the feeling of understanding and connectedness.

Brain scans showed that interpersonal attraction was linked to a kind of neural synchrony.

The study’s authors explain:

“Individual changes in interpersonal attraction were predicted by activity in the participant’s reward circuit, which in turn signaled how well the participant’s ‘neural vocabulary’ was suited to decode the other’s behavior.”

3. Similar height

People choose partners who are a similar height to them because it’s in our genes, a new study finds.

For years its been known that people tend to choose partners who are a similar height to themselves.

This is despite the well-known preferences women have for taller men.

The link between partner’s height is surprisingly accurate, Dr Tenesa said:

“Using one partner’s genes for height, we estimated the height of the chosen partner with 13% accuracy.

4. Pathological pulling power

People with pathological personality traits — such as impulsiveness and neuroticism — have more luck in love.

Those with certain dark personality traits tend to have more partners and more children.

The conclusions come from almost 1,000 heterosexual men and women with a wide range of personality traits.

Find out more in the study’s full description.

5. Don’t smile (guys)

Women find swaggering or brooding men more attractive than happy guys, research finds.

Less smiling makes a man look more masculine, it turns out.

The results were the exact opposite for women.

Professor Jessica Tracy, the study’s first author, said:

“While showing a happy face is considered essential to friendly social interactions, including those involving sexual attraction — few studies have actually examined whether a smile is, in fact, attractive.
This study finds that men and women respond very differently to displays of emotion, including smiles.”

6. Shock finding: young and thin!

Women who are almost underweight are most attractive to men, a recent study finds.

Dr Lobke Vaanholt, one of the study’s authors, said:

“Although most people will not be surprised that extreme thinness was perceived as the most attractive body type, since this prevails so heavily in media, culture and fashion, the important advance is that now we have an evolutionary understanding of why this is the case.”

And, the simple reason men find a low BMI attractive is that it signals youth.

7. Expansive posture

Both men and women look more attractive when they adopt an expansive posture, a new study finds.

Expansive postures include having the arms outward rather than folded, generally leaning backwards or with the legs apart rather than crossed.

Expansive gestures tend to signify openness and dominance, which is why they are seen as more attractive.

The researchers recorded a speed dating event and used data from the dating app Tinder to verify their hypothesis.

In both cases people were more likely to be picked when they adopted more expansive postures.

8. A glass of wine

One or two glasses of wine can make the drinker look more attractive to others, a recent study finds.

Three or four glasses, though, does not make a person look more attractive than when they are sober.

This is different to the ‘beer goggles’ effect, which is well known: that alcohol makes other people look more attractive.

This is the first study to show that it works both ways, as the authors explain:

“The present study suggests that alcohol consumption increases ratings of attractiveness of the consumer by other people.”