Category: Social psychology

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).

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).

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).

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).