Attractiveness

Listen For This Simple Clue That Someone Is Attracted To You

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).

7 Simple Behaviours That Make You More Attractive

Eating carrots, wearing red, how to walk sexy and more…

Click the links for more on each study.

1. Eat carrots

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.

2. Wear the colour red

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.

3. Walk sexy

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.

4. Help other people

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.

5. Nod your head

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.

6. Arch the back (women)

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.

7. Grow a beard (men)

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.

This Quality Makes Women More Attractive — But Not Men

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 Simple Behaviour That Makes You More Attractive

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).

How A Person’s Face Signals Intention To Cheat On You

Face shape is linked to sex drive in men and women and also how likely a man is to cheat on his partner.

People with shorter and wider faces have a higher sex drive, new research finds.

Men with wider, shorter faces are also more likely to report intending to cheat on their partner.

For the research, almost 500 people were asked about their sexual orientation, their relationships and whether they would consider being unfaithful to their partner.

It is the latest in a line of studies that have linked face shape to various psychological characteristics.

Men with square, wide faces are seen as more attractive as short-term partners, as well as more dominant, the research has shown.

The study’s authors write:

“…they are also perceived by naïve observers as being more socially dominant, untrustworthy, and aggressive compared to men with lower width-to-height ratios.”

The square, wide face has also been linked to financial success, prejudice, unethical behaviour and even psychopathic tendencies.

So, it is a fairly confusing cocktail of positive and negative characteristics (depending on your preferences, of course).

The theory is that it comes down to the hormones men are exposed to during development:

“Researchers have argued that the observed links between the FWHR and men’s dominant and aggressive attitudes and behavior may be a product of androgen exposure during critical periods of development.
In support of this, sex differences in facial structure arise with the onset of puberty, ostensibly reflecting increased testosterone in males relative to females.”

Hormonal exposure during development also seems to affects women’s sex drive.

Like men, women with shorter, wider faces had a higher sex drive, this study found, although they expressed no greater intention to cheat on their partner.

The study was published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior (Arnocky et al., 2017).

This Selfie Angle Makes You Look Most Attractive

Study finds the best angle to take a selfie for both men and women.

Women look more attractive to men when their picture is taken from above, new research finds.

A high camera angle makes women look thinner and younger, psychologists have found.

Men, though, appear more dominant if the picture is taken from below.

The angle the picture is taken from changes the perception of the viewer, the researchers found.

The study’s authors explained that…

“…being viewed from above (a downward angle) amplifies signs of youth and attractiveness, such as having a large eyes and forehead, and thus appears to be consistent with women’s motives.
Indeed, women appear more attractive when their heads are tilted down and they are thus viewed from a downward angle.”

For men, though, they explain:

“Being viewed from below (an upward angle) amplifies
signs of dominance, such as height and a large jaw, and thus appears to be consistent with men’s motives.
Indeed, targets appear more dominant when their heads are tilted back and they are thus viewed from an upward angle.”

Interestingly, the researchers found that men and women take pictures from different angles depending on their motive.

While women tend to take selfies from above when trying to appear more attractive, when the picture is aimed at other women, they take the picture straight on.

Men also switched from a low-angle selfie for attracting women, to a straight-on selfie if the audience was thought to be other men.

The study’s authors were inspired by dating profiles posted online.

They showed that women tended to take their online dating selfies from above.

Men showed no particular preference for dating pictures.

However, for professional pictures on LinkedIn, men had a tendency to lower the camera angle, thereby making them look more dominant.

The study was published in the journal Psychological Science (Makhanova et al., 2017).

How Your Relationship Affects Diet Motivation

Some women feel extra pressure from their partners to be thin.

Women who have more attractive partners feel greater motivation to diet, new research finds.

Women who are more attractive than their husbands, though, do not feel the extra motivation to diet.

In contrast, men’s diet motivation is low whether or not they are more attractive than their partners.

Ms Tania Reynolds, the study’s first author, said:

“The results reveal that having a physically attractive husband may have negative consequences for wives, especially if those wives are not particularly attractive.”

It is important to understand what might predict eating disorders among women.

Dr Andrea Meltzer, the study’s first author, said:

“The research suggests there might be social factors playing a role in women’s disordered eating.
It might be helpful to identify women at risk of developing more extreme weight-loss behaviors, which have been linked to other forms of psychological distress, such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse and dissatisfaction with life.
In order to better understand women’s dieting motivations, the findings of this study highlight the value of adopting an approach that focuses on a couple’s relationship.”

Studies have previously found that marriages are more successful if the woman is more attractive than the man.

Some women, though, feel extra pressure from their partners to be thin.

Dr Meltzer said:

“One way to help these women is for partners to be very reaffirming, reminding them, ‘You’re beautiful. I love you at any weight or body type.
Or perhaps focusing on the ways they are a good romantic partner outside of attractiveness and emphasizing those strengths: ‘I really value you because you’re a kind, smart and supportive partner.'”

The next step is to test the effect of attractive female friends on a woman’s motivation to diet, Dr Meltzer said:

“If we understand how women’s relationships affect their decision to diet and the social predictors for developing unhealthy eating behaviors, then we will be better able to help them.”

The study was published in the journal Body Image (Reynolds et al., 2017).