In 2015, the Business Insider published a list of ways to become more attractive. From this we learned that walking the dog and listening to good music are the easiest ways to make yourself seem attractive. But what about the opposite? Are there things that can diminish our attractiveness?
The answer is almost certainly yes. The traits and behaviors mentioned in this list can make a big difference in how people see us.
Lack of sleep
We tend to look much less attractive when we are sleepy. In 2010, researchers photographed people who had slept at least eight hours the previous night and those who had not slept more than 24 hours. People who didn’t sleep not only looked tired (obviously), they also looked less attractive, less healthy, and sadder.
Inappropriate body language
If you’ve heard of the ‘power pose’, you’ll know that placing your hands on your hips, raising your arms up in a ‘V’ shape, or placing your hands on the back of your head can make you feel stronger and more confident, while crossing your arms and not straightening your back makes you feel for the less confident. It turns out that the second option can also make a person less attractive.
As part of a study, different profiles of men and women were created on a dating app. One set of profiles showed men and women with crossed arms and hunched shoulders. Other profiles showed the same men and women holding their arms up in a “V” shape or reaching out to grab something. The results showed that the latter were chosen more often.
You can feel someone else’s stress
Relax – you will already look more attractive. A 2013 study found that heterosexual men rated women with high levels of the stress hormone cortisol as less attractive. Researchers say this could be because high cortisol levels (and lower stress levels) are linked to health and fertility.
You look too happy or proud
While a happy man is generally attractive, women don’t like guys who smile too much. Conversely, while men generally like women who radiate pride, too proud ones are not the best.
In 2011, researchers conducted experiments with more than a thousand people, showing them photos of members of the opposite sex and asking them how attractive the people in the photos were. The results showed that men rated women as most attractive when they looked happy and least attractive when they looked proud.
Women, on the other hand, rated men as most attractive when they were proud, and least attractive when they looked overly happy.
Lack of sense of humor
A 2009 study found that not being funny and even having a mediocre sense of humor are less attractive than having a great sense of humor. The study also found that gender did not matter at all – a bad sense of humor is equally unattractive to both men and women.
Laziness
Some experiment showed that a person’s attractiveness is highly dependent on qualities such as helpfulness. Researchers asked archeology students to rate each other on various personality traits and attractiveness at the beginning and end of a six-week course. After analyzing the results, the researchers found that those students who were rated as moderately attractive at the beginning of the course were later rated as less attractive if they had been unhelpful during those weeks.
Smell too similar or too different
Science shows that humans seek out partners who are neither too similar nor too different genetically—partly because we judge this by body odor. For example, in 2006, researchers surveyed heterosexual couples to get answers to questions like how much their partners turned them on and how many other partners they had had sex with during that relationship. Meanwhile, the researchers took DNA from the mouths of the participants and their partners and took it to a lab for analysis.
The researchers found that the more similar the couples’ MHC, the less attractive the participants found their partners and the more likely they were to cheat on their partner.
At the same time, research has also found that we avoid partners who smell too different from us.
Dishonesty
If you’re tempted to lie about your age or income to make yourself more attractive, don’t. Research shows that dishonesty is a major rejection factor for both men and women.
In 2006, study participants read advertisements about men and women who were described as intelligent or not too bright, independent or non-independent, and honest or dishonest. They were then asked to rate these people on a number of criteria, including how much they liked the people and how attractive they found them.
Honesty was found to be the only one of the three traits that significantly influenced attractiveness and agreeableness.