One makes people look sexually receptive, the other more fashionable.
How much makeup should women apply for maximum effect.
How the body shape of Miss USA winners has changed over the years.
How people signal attraction with their voice.
How people signal attraction with their voice.
People signal attraction to each other by lowering their voice pitch.
For both men and women, a lower voice pitch signalled attraction, a study finds.
Dr Susan Hughes, the study’s first author, said:
“We found that both sexes used a lower-pitch voice and showed a higher level of physiological arousal when speaking to a more attractive opposite-sex target.”
For the study, 48 people were asked to leave a scripted voice message while viewing a picture of an invented person.
When they looked at a picture of a more attractive person, people used a lower pitched voice for the message.
Men were expected to lower their tone to signal attraction, which is what they did.
Dr Hughes expected that women would raise their voices to seem more attractive, but the opposite happened.
Dr Hughes said:
“There appears to be a common stereotype in our culture that deems a sexy female voice as one that sounds husky, breathy, and lower-pitched.
This suggests that the motivation to display a sexy/seductive female voice may conflict with the motivation to sound more feminine.”
It could be that women learn to lower their tone as it is an accepted signal, Dr Hughes said:
“When a woman naturally lowers her voice, it may be perceived as her attempt to sound more seductive or attractive, and therefore serves as a signal of her romantic interest.”
The research also found that the change in voice tone was large enough that people could spot it.
Dr Hughes said:
“These findings may have implications for the important role voice plays in mate selection and attraction.
If people can perceive changes in others’ voices when speaking to attractive individuals, this perception may be adaptive for identifying interested potential mates, detecting partner interest in others, and possible detection of partner infidelity.”
The study was published in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior (Hughes et al., 2010).
The type of compliment that women prefer.
The type of compliment that women prefer.
Using metaphorical compliments makes men more attractive to women than using literal ones, new research finds.
Women in the Chinese study found men more attractive if they used phrases like “Your eyes are morning dew”.
On the other hand, saying things like “Your lips are so sexy”, was not the way to go.
It is very clear which type of compliment is most romantic, but the use of metaphor has another subtle purpose.
Metaphors require more intelligence and creativity to generate so they are indirect signals of a person’s creativity and intelligence.
The study’s authors explain:
“We tend to form very rapid impressions about a person’s attractiveness in social contexts and thus for women, cues from language usage during initial encounters may provide a rapid first assessment of a potential mate’s intellectual and creative abilities.”
Alongside complimenting women’s appearance, the study also tested complimenting their potential girlfriend’s house.
They either said metaphorical things like “Your roof is a lover’s shoulder” or literal things like “Your door is very strong”.
Naturally these house-based compliments didn’t go down as well as those directed at the woman’s appearance.
Still, though, the metaphorical compliment created more attraction than the literal one.
The authors write:
“…women, in contrast with men, prefer creativity and intelligence rather than physical attractiveness and for the compliments used in our current study women did indeed perceive those which were figurative as indicating higher intelligence in a man than literal expression compliments.”
The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports (Gao et al., 2017).
People look more attractive when gazing in this way.
People look more attractive when gazing in this way.
Looking directly at someone makes you more attractive to them, research finds.
People were particularly attracted to opposite-sex faces that were looking at them and smiling.
Dr Claire Conway, the study’s first author, said:
“When asked to think of examples of attractive facial characteristics, most people think of physical traits such as healthy looking skin, symmetrical features or a strong jaw.
Here we show that gaze direction can also be important for attraction.”
People in the study looked at a series of pictures in which faces were sometimes looking at the viewer and sometimes away.
Different facial expressions were also tested.
Dr Conway explained the results:
“Faces that were looking directly at the viewer were judged more attractive than faces with averted gaze.
This effect was particularly pronounced if the face was smiling and the opposite sex to the viewer.
This shows that people prefer faces that appear to like’ them and that attraction is not simply about physical beauty.
It is possible that our brains are wired this way to allow us to invest our time in attracting members of the opposite sex who seem the most receptive to our interest in them.”
The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B (Conway et al., 2008).
People were shown happiness, fear, anger, disgust and surprise, as well as a neutral expression.
People were shown happiness, fear, anger, disgust and surprise, as well as a neutral expression.
The most attractive facial expression for a photo is any one you like.
People judge facial attractiveness from your features, so your expression makes little difference to a photo.
Smiling is often thought to be the most attractive facial expression, which is partly why most people smile in photos.
However, this study finds otherwise.
For the research, 128 people looked at a series of pictures of both men and women shown with different facial expressions.
They were shown happiness, fear, anger, disgust and surprise, as well as a neutral expression.
The men and women were given the same ratings for attractiveness, no matter what facial expression they displayed.
Bear in mind that this study only tested people in pictures.
If you were meeting someone face-to-face, then it will clearly matter if you smile or scowl.
But even when scowling it is obvious whether someone is good looking (or not).
The study’s authors conclude:
“Since the hard tissues of the face are unchangeable, people may still be able to perceive facial structure whatever expression the face is displaying, and still make attractiveness judgements based on structural cues.”
The study was published in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior (Morrison et al., 2013).
Eating carrots, wearing red, how to walk sexy and more…
Eating carrots, wearing red, how to walk sexy and more…
Click the links for more on each study.
Yellow and red skin pigments are perceived as 50% more attractive in Caucasian people, new research finds.
Although these pigments in the skin are supposed to be signals of good health, they can be faked.
Taking beta-carotene supplement, for example, will have the same effect.
Beta-carotene is the pigment that gives carrots — and other fruits and vegetables — a strong red/yellow colour.
Wearing the colour red makes both men and women more attractive to the opposite sex, studies find.
When men wear it, red sends signals of status and dominance to others.
When women wear it, the extra pull on men may have deeper, biological roots.
Attractiveness is about more than just body shape and facial features — it is also about the way people move.
Women who sway their hips while walking increase their perceived attractiveness by 50%, research finds.
Men who walk with swagger in their shoulders more than doubled the perception of their attractiveness.
Swagger involves dipping the shoulders slightly with each step to create a rolling motion.
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.
Nodding the head increases attractiveness to others by up to 40% research finds.
Head nodders were rated as both more likeable and more approachable.
It was primarily people’s personality that appeared more attractive when they nodded.
Essentially, nodding makes people more likely to approach you in social interactions.
A slight arching of a woman’s back — extending her buttocks outward — makes her more alluring, research finds.
It might help to explain the mystery of why high-heeled shoes are so popular.
They cause women to arch their backs slightly to help them balance.
The study found that only relatively small changes in how much a woman’s back was arched made her look more appealing.
Women judge fully bearded men to be a better bet for long-term relationships, new research finds.
This might be because it makes men look more ‘formidable’.
Certainly, beards make men look older and more aggressive.
Beards are also often judged to make men look like they have higher social status.
However, for short-term relationships, women judge stubble to be most attractive, the new research found.
.
It benefits women but surprisingly had a slightly negative effect on men’s attractiveness.
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 behaviour is particularly attractive to women, although men also rate it highly.
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).
Join the free PsyBlog mailing list. No spam, ever.
