How Facial Hair Changes A Man’s Attractivity (M)

In our evolutionary past, beards could carry bugs, lice and ticks — indeed, they still might.

In our evolutionary past, beards could carry bugs, lice and ticks — indeed, they still might.

Women who are single and want to have children prefer a clean-shaven man, new research finds.

In fact, full beards appear to put off women considering both long- and short-term relationships.

The results come from a study that asked heterosexual women to rate the attractiveness of clean-shaven and bearded men.

Part of the reason some women avoid bearded men is down to hygiene.

In our evolutionary past, beards could carry bugs, lice and ticks — indeed, they still might.

Dr Barnaby Dixson, study co-author, explained:

“We found women’s disgust towards ectoparasites—such as fleas that live on the skin—negatively affects preferences for men with beards.

This could be due to the increased cultural trends for men and women to remove hair in more regions of the body including their faces, chests, arms, legs and pubic region.

This is the first study to provide evidence to support the ectoparasite avoidance hypothesis which argues that hairlessness evolved partly in response to parasite abundance to reduce the likelihood of hosting disease carrying parasites.”

The study included 919 women who rated pictures of men showing varying levels of facial hair from clean-shaven to full beard.

The preference for clean-shaven faces emerged among single women looking to have children.

Cut it off?

Whether or not beards are attractive to women is a big area of controversy in beard-related psychological research.

Some studies find that bearded men are more attractive to women than the clean-shaven, especially for long-term relationships, other studies find they are not.

The most recent research goes against both beards and being clean-shaven and is starting to show the benefits of stubble.

But do women prefer light stubble or heavy stubble?

The jury is still out, with one study suggesting light stubble and another heavy stubble.

Naturally, beards have other functions than just attracting (or repelling) potential mates.

They make men look older, more angry and even of higher social status.

Because men with beards look older and of higher social status, they may be more likely to provide for their offspring.

That might be why some women think bearded men are good with babies.

The study was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science (Clarkson et al., 2020).

The Simplest Way To Make People Like You Instantly

People felt emotionally closer to strangers who did this.

People felt emotionally closer to strangers who did this.

Smiling is one of the best ways to make people instantly like you, research reveals.

However, a smile needs to be real: what psychologists call a ‘Duchenne smile’.

People are highly tuned to the Duchenne smile, which involves upturned lips and crinkly eyes.

Fake smiles are relatively easy to spot and involve only the mouth and not the eyes.

A genuine smile is a strong sign of cooperation and affiliation.

People are generally more aware of positive emotions in other people than negative.

A smile makes people feel emotionally closer to strangers.

Dr Belinda Campos, who led the research, said:

“Our findings provide new evidence of the significance of positive emotions in social settings and highlight the role that positive emotions display in the development of new social connections.

People are highly attuned to the positive emotions of others and can be more attuned to others’ positive emotions than negative emotions.”

For the study, participants watched a video of people interacting and showing both positive and negative emotions.

The results showed that positive emotions are particularly powerful in drawing strangers together.

People felt emotionally closer to strangers who showed positive emotions.

The positive emotion that was particularly attractive was awe.

The study was published in the journal Motivation and Emotion (Campos et al., 2015).

The Surprising Smell That Makes You More Attractive

Incredibly, this smell was more attractive.

Incredibly, this smell was more attractive.

Unattached men have stronger body odour than men with partners, new research finds.

However, this could be to their advantage as it is linked to women finding them more attractive.

The stronger body odour indicates higher levels of testosterone in the body.

Women can pick up the signal from the body odour.

Along with being able to smell single men, women also found the faces of single men more attractive than those in a relationship.

For the study, 82 women rated the body odour and faces of men.

Men who had a partner got an average rating of 3 for their body odour.

Single men, though, scored an above-average 3.5 out of six.

The study’s authors write:

“Consistent with the hypothesis, single men’s BO [body odour] smelled stronger than partnered men’s BO and single men’s faces were rated as more masculine than partnered men’s faces.”

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology (Mahmut & Stevenson, 2019).

The Simplest Sign of Attraction

Both sexes unconsciously do the same thing when they meet someone they are attracted to.

Both sexes unconsciously do the same thing when they meet someone they are attracted to.

Both men and women unconsciously lower their voices when they are attracted to someone, new research finds.

Men, in particular, keep their voices low to indicate their interest.

Surprisingly, women also lower their voices when speaking to the most attractive men.

For the study, 30 speed daters met in a cafe, half men, half women.

The researchers monitored voice pitch and asked everyone who they were attracted to.

The study’s authors explain that men lowered their voice when attracted to a woman:

“…men lowered the minimum pitch of their voices when interacting with women who were overall highly desired by other men.

Men also lowered their mean voice pitch on dates with women they selected as potential mates, particularly those who indicated a mutual preference (matches).

Women also lowered their voice when attracted to a man:

“…although women spoke with a higher and more variable voice pitch toward men they selected as potential mates, women lowered both voice pitch parameters toward men who were most desired by other women and whom they also personally preferred.”

Women, though, were more discerning in their choice: only lowering their voice for the most attractive men.

The study was published in the journal The Royal Society Proceedings B (Pisanski et al., 2018).

The Key To Making A Good Impression On Anyone

Most people do not use this simple way to make a good impression.

Most people do not use this simple way to make a good impression.

Emphasising the hard work involved in your accomplishments is the key to making a good impression, new research finds.

While most people like to talk about their talents, it is describing the effort involved that really impresses people.

The reason is that effort and dedication is automatically linked to warmth and relatability in people’s minds.

So, to make a good impression — whether on a date or at a job interview — don’t forget to mention how hard you worked to get where you are.

Dr Janina Steinmetz, the study’s author, said:

“A success story isn’t complete without the hard work and explanation of why we were successful.

Did the success come easy, thanks to one’s talents, or was it attained through hard work?

Both of these attributions can be part of successful self-promotion, but my research shows that emphasising effort is more likely to garner a positive impression and people really want to know the story behind your success.”

The conclusions come from three experiments in which people imagined themselves on dates and at interviews.

An analysis of what they talked about revealed that most people focused on their talents and achievements.

Few people mentioned the hard work involved.

However, describing the hard work was what really won over interviewers and potential romantic partners.

Dr Steinmetz gives two examples:

“…if you’re on a date and talking about a marathon that you recently ran, perhaps talk about all the training that helped you to cross the finish line.

Or, if you’re in a job interview and are talking about a successful project that you led to completion, include a few details about the challenges along the way, and how you overcame them.”

The study was published in the journal Basic and Applied Social Psychology (Steinmetz et al., 2018).

The Head Tilt That Makes You More Attractive (S)

The study used computer-generated models of male and female faces that were tilted upwards or downwards.

The study used computer-generated models of male and female faces that were tilted upwards or downwards.


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A Trick That Makes People Like You More

The trick works well when other people already see you as competent.

The trick works well when other people already see you as competent.

A small mishap or blunder can make you more likable, research finds.

In the psychology study, people spilled a cup of coffee over themselves, after which people rated them as more attractive.

The blunder made people appear more human and approachable.

The trick works well when other people already see you as competent.

The authors explain that talented people are sometimes disliked by others:

“…group members who are considered the most able are not necessarily the best liked.

It has also been demonstrated that people who initiate the most ideas and are acknowledged as the best “idea” men [or women] by other members of their group are usually not the best liked group members.

[…]

A great deal of ability, in and of itself, might make the stimulus person seem “too good,” unapproachable, distant, non-human.”

Called the ‘pratfall effect’ by psychologists, it relies on the blunderer already being seen as confident.

In contrast, the incompetent blunderer is seen as less attractive after a pratfall.

So, just knocking things over, spilling drinks and slipping on bananas all day won’t do the trick!

The study’s authors write:

“Taken as a whole, these data support the contention that a blunder on the part of a superior person removes the onus of being “too good”; it increases his approachability and makes him seem less austere, more human-while a blunder on the part of a mediocre person makes him seem that much more mediocre.”

The study was published in the journal Psychonomic Science (Aronson et al., 1966).

The Four Traits People Want In A Partner

People ranked the most desirable characteristics in a partner for the survey.

People ranked the most desirable characteristics in a partner for the survey.

The four traits people look for in a partner are kindness, easygoingness, intelligence and physical attractiveness, new research finds.

In a twist on these familiar findings, though, people can have too much of some these traits, the psychologists also found.

People who are too intelligent and too easygoing are less attractive.

It may be because intelligence can make other people insecure and being too easygoing might be a bad sign.

Dr Gilles Gignac, the study’s first author, explained:

“Previously published research suggests that elevated levels of intelligence may incite feelings of insecurity in some people, which may reduce desirability.

Correspondingly, exceptional easygoingness may be viewed as an indication of a lack of confidence or ambition.”

The conclusions come from a survey of 383 people in Australia.

They were asked to rank the most desirable characteristics in a partner.

Once a potential partner was in the top 10% for IQ or easygoingness, they became less attractive.

However, being in the top 10% for physical attractiveness and kindness was not detrimental, although desirability ratings did not increase at this level.

Dr Gignac said:

“So, on average, there doesn’t appear to be any gain to being exceptionally kind or exceptionally physically attractive in the context of attracting a romantic partner.”

A minority of people are especially interested in the highly intelligent, the research showed.

However, the research could not pinpoint what type of people these were.

It certainly wasn’t more intelligent people who preferred other more intelligent people — which is what you would expect.

Dr Gignac said:

“This result is surprising, considering there is assortative mating for intelligence that indicates a correlation between people in a romantic relationship having similar intelligence levels.”

The study was published in the British Journal of Psychology (Gignac & Starbuck, 2018).