It’s what’s inside that counts: People rate others as more attractive if they know good things about their personality, finds new research from China.
In the study, a group of college students judged unfamiliar faces on a scale of attractiveness. Two weeks later, the participants split into three groups and checked out the faces again.
This time, researchers showed the first group photos with positive personality descriptions (like “decent” or “honest”), and gave the second bunch pictures with negative traits (“mean” or “evil,” for example). The third group only saw the photos.
The students who viewed the nice traits rated the photos as significantly more attractive than when they judged them the first time. People who thought they were staring at a-holes, however, scored the faces as much less good looking.
Hey, we’re not so shallow after all! Chalk it up to something called the halo effect, says study author Yan Zhang, Ph.D. Our overall impression of a person impacts the way we judge them on their specific traits—so if we think someone’s nice, we might be more likely to think other positive traits follow in line, too.
And attractiveness is looked upon as an indicator of morality due to the “beauty-is-good” stereotype, Zhang says.
So you don’t need to be Charlie Hunnam’s doppelganger to have women think you’re a stud—just let the warm-and-cuddly parts of your personality seep through. Ask her how her dad’s been feeling if she mentioned he was under the weather, or scrape the ice off her car before you head off for work.
