Attractiveness

The 2 Most Attractive Personality Traits

People rate these personality traits as most attractive.

Being extraverted and having stable emotions are two of the most attractive personality traits, research finds.

Extraverts are generally outgoing, self-confident and cheerful and can also be impulsive, sensation-seekers.

Emotional stability is linked to being better at dealing with stress and minor frustrations.

People who are emotionally stable usually find it easier to control their urges and are mostly unselfconscious.

However, both personality traits may also explain the attraction of the ‘bad boy’ and ‘bad girl’.

Psychopaths and narcissists tend to be rated as being more extraverted and stable.

Nevertheless, both psychopaths and narcissists, despite their attractive qualities, can make terrible partners.

Psychopaths are very manipulative and empathise little, while narcissists are self-involved and can be highly disagreeable.

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 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 128 women who judged the personality profiles of various men.

One was high in the ‘dark triad’ of personality factors.

The dark triad includes narcissists, psychopaths and Machiavellians.

The results showed that the profile high in the dark triad traits was consistently seen as more attractive.

The study was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Carter et al., 2014).

2 Personality Traits That Make You More Physically Attractive

Beauty really is more than skin-deep, psychologists find.

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).

The Most Attractive Facial Characteristics (M)

People looked for this quality in facial characteristics — giving it the highest ratings for attractiveness.

People looked for this quality in facial characteristics -- giving it the highest ratings for attractiveness.

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An Easy Way To Instantly Make People Like You

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 Personality Trait That Makes You More Attractive

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).

Are Attractive People Really More Selfish? (M)

Study finds unexpected difference between attractive men and women in their selfishness.

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These 2 Dark Triad Personality Traits Are Highly Attractive

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).

People Are Attracted To Faces That Are Dissimilar To Their Own

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).