Category: Attractiveness

The top trait women find attractive in men.

Helping others with no thought for yourself is more attractive than good looks for a long-term relationship.

Women rated an average-looking man giving money to a homeless person as more attractive than a better looking man who walked right past, the researchers found.

The study suggests that good looks are not everything in the dating game, especially when it comes to long-term relationships.

When women were asked about short-term relationships, though, the research revealed a weird twist — being altruistic was then a liability.

For short-term relationships women preferred a man who was not altruistic.

This could be related to the fact that darker personality traits, such as narcissism and psychopathy can make men more attractive in the short-term.

Clearly these type of men are not going around rescuing kittens from trees.

For the study women were shown pictures of two different men — one was more attractive than the other.

They then read different scenarios describing how each man was behaving — sometimes altruistically, sometimes not.

Being both altruistic and attractive was the mother lode, the researchers explained:

“The preference for altruistic men was also further influenced by their physical attractiveness, such that the increase in desirability of men as attractiveness increased was significantly greater when they were also altruistic.

This suggests that altruism can have an additive effect to other mate choice qualities (in this case, physical attractiveness), such that possessing both qualities has a greater effect on a man’s desirability than just a combination of their individual desirability.”

For short-term relationships, though, the better looking man was the preferred choice for women, no matter what he was pictured doing.

If you had to choose between being selfless or good-looking, then this study suggests that a generous and charitable is more attractive for long-term relationships.

The study was published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology (Farrelly et al., 2016).

Many supposed signs of attraction were not linked to liking, the extensive research found.

There are only five main body language signals that reliably indicate people like each other, research finds.

These are:

1. making eye contact,
2. smiling,
3. initiating conversation,
4. laughing,
5. and maintaining physical proximity.

These are all nonverbal signs that people are developing trust and rapport with each other.

Many supposed signs of attraction were not linked to liking, the extensive research found.

These included:

• flipping hair,
• using gestures,
• tilting the head,
• lifting the eyebrows,
• primping clothes,
• maintaining open body posture,
• or leaning in.

Some of these might come as a surprise since many articles in the media frequently link them to liking.

People may still perform these gestures when they like you, but they are not reliably related to attraction, the study found.

Dr R. Matthew Montoya, the study’s first author, said:

“There is a specific suite of behaviors associated with liking, and this same set of behaviors can be found in cultures from around the world.”

The conclusions come from a meta-analysis, which brought together the results of 54 different studies.

These all looked at how much someone likes another person and how they act towards them.

It included descriptions from hundreds of different cultures.

The results are not just relevant for romantic attraction, but for any kinds of human liking, Dr Montoya said:

“Whether we engage in these behaviors has little or nothing to do with romantic desires.

These behaviors apply when doctors interact with their patients, parents interact with their kids, or when salespeople talk to their customers.”

Acting in these ways is about increasing trust, Dr Montoya said:

“When we like someone, we act in ways to get them to trust us.

From this perspective, we engage in these behaviors to increase the degree of overlap, interdependence, and commitment to an agreement.”

The study was published in the journal Psychological Bulletin (Montoya et al., 2018).

The feature is also linked to higher genetic fitness.

Longer legs make a man more attractive to women, research finds.

It’s not just about being taller, though.

Instead, it is about the ratio of leg to total height.

In other words, men with a slightly higher ratio of leg to body look more attractive to women.

The reason is that a slightly longer leg (in relation to the whole body) is a sign of genetic fitness.

For the research over 800 heterosexual women were shown a series of computer-generated images of men with slightly different leg and arm lengths.

While long arms weren’t much of a turn-on, the slightly longer leg was a winner.

The leg shouldn’t be excessively long, though, just a little bit more than normal.

Short legs are linked to heart disease, diabetes and dementia.

Very long legs are often linked to genetic problems.

The study’s authors explain their findings in evolutionary terms:

“From the perspective of evolutionary biology, attractiveness judgements reflect the biological fitness of a prospective mate (i.e. their ability to survive and reproduce in their environment), because a high-fitness mate is likely to be better able to provide resources, care, and protection, to be less likely to transmit harmful pathogens, and to pass on ‘good genes’ to the offspring.”

In case you want to check your own legs, the average leg-to-body ratio is 0.491.

The leg is measured from the hip to the ankle, then divide this by your height.

The magic number for the ‘perfect’ ratio is around 0.506.

The study was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science (Versluys et al., 2018).

These positive personality traits can make people  people look more attractive, psychologists find.

Positive personality traits — like helpfulness and honesty — make people appear physically more attractive, research finds.

Those displaying negative personality traits — like rudeness and unfairness — look physically less attractive to observers.

The finding is particularly strong for when women are evaluating men, since women place a little more emphasis on personality.

The finding helps justify those who say that ‘inner beauty’ is important.

Dr Gary W. Lewandowski, Jr., who led the research, said:

“Perceiving a person as having a desirable personality makes the person more suitable in general as a close relationship partner of any kind.”

Personality makes you attractive

For the study, participants viewed pictures of strangers and rated them for attractiveness.

Then they got some information about their personalities, and rated them again.

This mimics the way we evaluate people in real life.

First we just see them without known anything about their personality.

Then we adjust our view of them as we learn about their personality.

Those displaying positive personalities were deemed more attractive, the results showed.

It didn’t matter whether someone was in a relationship or not, or whether they were considering the person for a romantic relationship or not.

Dr Lewandowski said:

“This research provides a more positive alternative by reminding people that personality goes a long way toward determining your attractiveness; it can even change people’s impressions of how good looking you are.”

This study clearly shows that we can adjust our perception of someone’s physical attractiveness as we get more information about their personality.

The authors said that…

“…it demonstrates the substantial power of personality information, in that it is sufficient to overcome initial evaluations.”

The study was published in the journal Personal Relationships (Lewandowski et al., 2007).

Psychologists call this slightly weird phenomenon ‘spontaneous trait transference’.

Saying nice things about others when talking to an acquaintance reflects positively on your own personality, research finds.

If you describe another person as genuine and kind, your acquaintance will assume that you are genuine and kind.

The nice things you say about others are transferred to yourself.

So, to make the person you are speaking to like you more, say nice things about others.

On the other hand, bitching makes people think you have these negative traits.

It reflects the old saying that if you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything at all.

Spontaneous trait transference

Psychologists call this slightly weird phenomenon ‘spontaneous trait transference’.

The effect is so strong that it even works when people know that the traits do not describe you.

For example, let’s say I am a nice person and my friend knows it.

Then I start describing another person who is a cheat and a liar.

Just this will be enough to start the person I am talking to thinking that I am a cheat and a liar — even though they know I am not!

Of course, this makes no sense.

But, the reason it happens is not logical, it is down to a purely mindless associative process.

The study’s authors write:

“…trait transference is not simply a tendency to attribute negative characteristics to those who disparage others, or to ascribe positive characteristics to those who compliment others.

Rather, communicators are ascribed the very traits implied by their descriptions of others.”

The conclusions come from a set of four studies involving hundreds of people.

Participants watched a video in which another person talked about themselves or an acquaintance.

The results showed that participants reliably transferred the traits people described in others onto the person who was speaking.

The authors conclude that:

“It suggests that gossip and other forms of social discourse may have rather surprising, and often unintended, implications for a communicator.

Thus, it supports the cliche that if one cannot say something nice about someone, one ought not to say anything at all.

It also indicates that self presenters may achieve desired trait attributions merely by talking about others who have the desired traits.”

The study was published in the journal Attitudes and Social Cognition (Skowronski et al., 1998).

The trait is also linked to being happier, having more confidence and better physical health.

Generous people are rated as more physically attractive by others, research finds.

All kinds of generous acts are effective, from giving up time for charitable causes to just giving affection to others.

The researchers call it the ‘good-looking giver effect’.

It is one more benefit of being helpful and giving to others that researchers have discovered.

Generous people are already known to be happier, have more confidence and even be in better physical health.

Dr Sara Konrath, the study’s first author, said:

“Poets and philosophers have suggested the link between moral and physical beauty for centuries.

This study confirms that people who are perceived as more attractive are more likely to give and givers are seen as more attractive.”

The conclusions come from three large studies, two of which followed participants from adolescence into adulthood.

The results revealed a two-way relationship between giving and attractiveness.

People who are more attractive are also more generous, the study found.

It disproves a common misconception that good-looking people are more selfish — in fact, the reverse is true.

Professor Femida Handy, study co-author, said:

“Although we cannot fully explain why the link between giving behaviors and attractiveness exists, we find remarkable consistency across the three studies, despite being conducted at different times, using different participants, and using different methods and measures.”

People already spend a lot of money on beauty products and cosmetic surgery.

Could good deeds become the latest beauty trend, asks Dr Konrath:

“Our findings suggest that beauty products and procedures may not be the only way to enhance an individual’s attractiveness.

Perhaps being generous could be the next beauty trend.”

The study was published in the journal Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (Konrath & Handy, 2020).