People looked for this quality in facial characteristics — giving it the highest ratings for attractiveness.
Psychologists call this slightly weird phenomenon ‘spontaneous trait transference’.
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.
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.
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).
Study finds unexpected difference between attractive men and women in their selfishness.
The study showed 128 young women personality profiles of various men.
The study showed 128 young women personality profiles of various men.
Extraverts with stable, or non-neurotic personalities are particularly attractive, research finds.
However, both of these personality traits also help explain the attraction of the ‘bad boy’ to women, who also tends to be laid-back and extraverted.
Narcissist and psychopaths are seen as both extraverted and having stable, non-neurotic personalities, the study found.
Both of these contribute to the attractiveness of men with ‘dark triad’ personalities.
The ‘dark triad’ of personality factors includes narcissism and psychopathy, along with Machiavellianism.
The study’s authors write:
“Women, particularly in respect of short-term mating, may be attracted to ‘bad boys’, possessing confidence, hard-headedness and an inclination to risk-take – all accurate descriptors of Dark Triad [DT] men; all attractive to women.”
Another explanation for the attractiveness of bad boys could be their superficial charm, the authors write:
“Women may be responding to DT men’s ability to ‘sell themselves’; a useful tactic in a co-evolutionary ‘arms race’ in which men convince women to pursue the former’s preferred sexual strategy.
This ability may derive from a ‘used-car dealer’ ability to charm and manipulate, and DT-associated traits such as assertiveness.
Men with a DT personality are undoubtedly well-placed to successfully implement such a strategy.”
The conclusions come from a study in which 128 young women were shown personality profiles of various men.
One was designed to be high in dark triad personality factors.
The results showed that women saw the ‘bad boy’ as more attractive, when appearance was held constant.
Here are the authors’ quick description of the dark triad personality traits:
“Narcissism is defined by a sense of entitlement, dominance and a grandiose self-view.
[…]Machiavellians are interpersonally duplicitous, insincere and extraverted.
[…]Psychopathy consists of callousness, a lack of empathy, and
antisocial, erratic behaviour.”
The study was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Carter et al., 2014).
Fascinating theory as to why opposites only attract us sometimes.
Fascinating theory as to why opposites only attract us sometimes.
When people are single they are more attracted to faces that are dissimilar to their own, research finds.
But, when people are already in a relationship, they are more attracted to faces that look similar to their own.
In other words: opposites attract for single people, but not for those in a relationship.
The reason that dissimilar faces attract could be down to avoiding incest or other people with similar genes.
So, when people are single, they are automatically less attracted to faces that look like their own.
For the study people were shown images of opposite sex individuals that were digitally altered to look more or less similar to their own.
Dr Jitka Lindová, who led the study, said:
“We found that single participants, those not in relationships, rate dissimilar faces as more attractive and sexy than self-resembling faces.”
Our perception of how attractive other people’s faces are seems to change with relationship status, the findings suggest.
Dr Lindová said:
“For the first time, we have observed how our partnership status affects who we find attractive.
Our interpretation is that attractiveness perception mechanisms that give us a preference for a genetically suitable partner may be suppressed during romantic relationships.
This might be a relationship maintenance strategy to prevent us from finding alternatives to our own partner, or perhaps self-resemblance becomes more important in terms of the social support we expect receive from relatives, which are known as kinship cues.”
The explanation for avoiding similar faces could come down to avoiding incest and similar genetic structures.
The study’s authors explain:
“…incest avoidance is beneficial because it reduces the likelihood that offspring are homozygous for recessive genes carrying deleterious or even lethal mutations.
In addition to cultural incest taboos, a further mechanism to efficiently prevent mating with unknown kin is disassortative (or negative assortative) mating, for example through low attraction toward genetically similar individuals.”
The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology (Lindová et al., 2016).
The amount of alcohol that makes the drinker themselves look more attractive to others.
Certain personality types are particularly attractive for short-term relationships — less so for the long-term.
Both better health and higher attractiveness were linked to the most attractive height and weight for females.
Both better health and higher attractiveness were linked to the most attractive height and weight for females.
Young men prefer young women of normal weight, research finds.
Flying in the face of the size zero trend, normal weight young women are seen as more healthy-looking and attractive than skinnier peers.
‘Normal’ weight for a young woman who is the average height in the US of 1.64 metres is between 50 kg and 68 kg.
This range is higher for women who are taller and lower for those who are shorter.
Dr Vinet Coetzee, the study’s first author, said:
“We often remark on how healthy or unhealthy someone looks, but it can be very difficult to say precisely how we know this.
Scientists have been trying to answer this question for decades, and have made many breakthroughs in our understanding of health and attractiveness, but until now they have tended to overlook the influence of weight.”
Researchers asked male students to rate the attractiveness and health of a group of female students.
Dr Coetzee said:
“We studied a group of young healthy students.
However, amongst this group, those students that were rated as more overweight reported more frequent and longer lasting cold and flu bouts, used antibiotics more frequently and had higher blood pressure than the students that were considered normal weight.
Even at this young age, their health was already suffering because they were overweight, and what is more, other people can spot this in their face.”
The results showed that young women whose weight was in the normal range were considered the most attractive.
Professor David Perrett, study co-author, said:
“A take home message for young people is that maintaining a normal weight benefits current health and will improve good looks.
In our study, people in the normal weight range were judged healthier and more attractive than under or overweight individuals.
This sends a strong message to all the girls out there who believe you have to be underweight to be attractive.
The people making judgments in our study were all between the ages of 18 and 26 and they did not rate underweight girls most attractive.
They preferred normal weight girls.”
The study was published in the journal Perception (Coetzee et al., 2009).
These are the traits that make a male face most attractive to a female.
These are the traits that make a male face most attractive to a female.
Women find masculine faces more attractive, research finds.
This trait can be added to the other aspects of the face that are generally considered attractive, whether for a man or a woman.
These are:
For the study of masculinity and attractiveness, heterosexual women were shown a series of faces that had been made to look more masculine.
Here is an example of a face made to look more masculine that was used in the study:
The face on the left (a) is masculinsed, whereas the face on the right (b) has a more feminine look.
Women consistently chose the masculinised face as more attractive.
Women were particularly interested in the more masculine face in the context of a short-term relationship.
The researchers were trying to see if women’s hormone levels have any effect on the type of male faces they find attractive.
Other studies have found that women prefer more masculine faces when they are fertile.
In other words: do changing hormone levels make women go for more manly men?
Professor Benedict Jones, who led the study, explained that this was not what they found:
“We found no evidence that changes in hormone levels influence the type of men women find attractive.
This study is noteworthy for its scale and scope — previous studies typically examined small samples of women using limited measures,.
With much larger sample sizes and direct measures of hormonal status, we weren’t able to replicate effects of hormones on women’s preferences for masculine faces.”
There was no evidence that fertility-related hormones like estradiol and progesterone were linked to changes in attractiveness judgements.
Previous studies suggested that the birth control pill, because it affects fertility hormones, reduces women’s attraction to masculine faces.
Again, there was no evidence of this in the current study.
All that emerged was that women thought more masculine looking men were more attractive.
Professor Jones said:
“There has been increasing concern that the birth control pill might disrupt romantic relationships by altering women’s mate preferences, but our findings do not provide evidence of this.”
The study was published in the journal Psychological Science (Jones et al., 2018).
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