New research suggests a promising strategy for larger ladies who are looking for love: Find a singles bar near a workplace where the men are really stressed out. Researchers writing in the journal PLOS ONE report men who had just been experiencing acute stress were more likely than their calm counterparts to find overweight women attractive. When it comes to changing a man’s perspective, beer goggles may be less effective than frazzle frames. Psychologists Viren Swami of the University of Westminster and Martin Tovee of Newcastle University describe an experiment involving 81 male ... Read More
Flowers Make Women More Receptive to Romance
April 7, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Men have been known to engage in all sorts of behaviors to enhance their sex appeal. Work out. Write bad poetry. Buy expensive cars. Well, guys, it turns out there’s a simpler way. If you want to increase the odds a woman will find you attractive, all you have to do is buy her a beautiful bouquet. Or, alternatively, hang out near a rose garden. Research from (where else?) France, just published in the journal Social Influence, found females were considerably more likely to accept an invitation for a date if they had just been sitting in a flower-festooned room. “These results ... Read More
Sexy News Anchors Distract Male Viewers
January 24, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Scholars, critics and viewers have noted that some TV newscasts can be momentarily mistaken for Victoria’s Secret specials. In an apparent attempt to capture channel-surfing male viewers, stations have hired attractive female anchors, often outfitting them in attire that emphasizes their sexuality. This strategy may boost the ratings, but in terms of the programs’ purported purpose — informing the public — recent research suggests it has a definite down side. Males may be drawn to those alluring anchors, but they may not remember what they were talking about. Two Indiana ... Read More
College Guys Will Remember the Pretty Ones
December 30, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
From the "Studies That Should Surprise No One" file: A new study in Applied Cognitive Psychology found that college-aged men were more likely to remember whether a woman showed sexual interest in them when she was deemed attractive, dressed provocatively and expressed her attraction toward them. Who'da thunk it? The guys were shown full-body photographs of collegiate women who were signaling either attraction or rejection — for instance, a frown of rejection versus a pleasant smile. The researchers found that the average young man demonstrated an excellent memory of the women's initial ... Read More
Uncertainty Heightens Romantic Attraction
December 28, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
With the ultimate date night fast approaching, men and women alike are attempting to decipher the seemingly random rules of romantic attraction. What combination of factors impels one person to think of another as potential mate material? Newly published research suggests one potent element in the mix is mystery. “Keeping people in the dark about how much we like them will increase how much they think about us and will pique their interest,” a research team reports in the journal Psychological Science. University of Virginia psychologists Erin Witchurch and Timothy Wilson, and ... Read More
Beauty Leads to a Closer Look
November 10, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
As we recently reported, the beauty-is-good stereotype is alive and well, perpetuated in part by the heroes and villains of Disney animated films. But politically correct parents shouldn’t discard those DVDs just yet. While the dangers of automatically equating good looks with virtue are obvious, newly published research finds a potentially positive aspect to this dynamic. It suggests we judge good-looking people not only more favorably, but more accurately. That is, our quick-read analysis of their personalities is more likely to be in line with their own self-assessment. “Overall, ... Read More
Qualified, But Just Too Handsome
July 5, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Good-looking people have it easier than the rest of us. Considerable research has come to that conclusion, including a 2009 study that found that personal attractiveness enhances one’s income prospects. But a newly published paper points out an exception to that rule. An attractive person appears to be at a disadvantage in certain academic or workplace situations: specifically, if he or she is being evaluated by a member of the same sex. “Although physical attractiveness should have little to do with the way people evaluate scholarship applicants and job candidates, we found that ... Read More
Admire Her Body, Hamper Her Brain?
March 15, 2010 • By • 10 Comments
Guys, here's something to consider the next time you ogle an attractive woman: Your desirous gaze may be reducing her capacity to think. That's the startling implication of a research paper titled "My Body or My Mind," recently published in the European Journal of Social Psychology. It suggests some women who are objectified by men internalize this perception and think of themselves as "a sexual object to be scrutinized." For reasons that are not entirely clear, this process appears to undermine their cognitive ability. Psychologists Robin Gay and Emanuele Castano of the New School for ... Read More
A Whiff of Desire: Testosterone Levels Sensitive to Scent
January 13, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
For centuries, women have worn perfume in an attempt to attract the attention of men. But newly published research suggests the most seductive scent may be one their bodies produce naturally. Writing in the journal Psychological Science, Florida State University psychologists Saul Miller and Jon Maner find evidence of a connection between male testosterone levels and the scent of an ovulating female. They describe a study in which 68 male undergraduates, age 18 to 23, put their nose to the opening of a plastic bag containing a T-shirt and inhaled deeply three times. They repeated this ... Read More
