May 24, 2011 10:03 AM

Nice guys turn women off, sex study shows: Who turns them on?

By
David W Freeman
Topics
News ,
Sex and Relationships ,
Research

prayer, religion, man, stock, 4x3 (Credit: istockphoto)

(CBS) Lose the smile. For guys eager to attract a mate, that might be a killer strategy, according to a surprising new study from the University of British Columbia. It showed that women find swaggering, brooding "bad boys" a lot more attractive than "nice guys."

Time to update your profile photo?

The study - published in the journal Emotion - revealed dramatic differences in the way men and women rank the sexual attractiveness of potential mates who display common emotions like happiness, pride and shame.

Though smiling is often considered essential when trying to make a good impression, the study showed that "men and women respond very differently to displays of emotion, including smiles," study author Jessica Tracy, a professor of psychology at the university, said in a written statement.

For the study, more than 1,000 adult participants were asked to rate the sexual attractiveness of hundreds of images of the opposite sex. The images showed people in displays of happiness (broad smiles), pride (raised head, puffed-up chest), and shame (lowered head, averted eyes).

Who did the gals go for? The study showed they preferred guys who looked proud or moody and ashamed. But the guys were most sexually attracted to women who looked happy, and least attracted to those who appeared proud and confident.

Tracy and her co-author, graduate student Alec Beall, said women may have evolved to find proud guys attractive because pride implies status, competence and an ability to provide for a partner and offspring. And previous research has linked smiling with a lack of dominance - which men seem to find attractive in a mate, but not the other way around.

But Beall pointed out in the statement that the people in the study weren't asked to evaluate men on the basis of whether they might make a good mate. "We wanted their gut reactions on carnal, sexual attraction," he said.

What do you think? Ladies, do you go for bad boys? And gentlemen, do you prefer nice girls?



Add a Comment See all 29 Comments
by rwsmith29456 June 18, 2011 6:09 PM EDT
If you are in a 'pick up' situation, that brooding look may be attractive, but in the long haul it takes more qualities than a cool, movie star countenance.
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by 1stlttightwad June 16, 2011 1:05 PM EDT
The greatest "trick" to smiling at a woman and having her KNOW that you are sincere is to begin the smile with your "EYES" first. This "trick" will set the stage for the rest of the conversation. Guaranteed. Ladies, try it too.
Reply to this comment
by cullekp June 14, 2011 12:42 PM EDT
This study says if that women are attracted to smiling, confident males with good posture, but fails to recognize that a "nice guy" is also capable of possessing all of those things. Confidence is not exclusive to ********.
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by Victory_Unlimited_Show May 31, 2011 10:33 PM EDT
Wow...so has it come to "this" now? I guess if we're to believe what the researchers are saying in this article, then the key to getting women is to always keep a look on your face like somebody just stole your bicycle, huh?

This is ridiculous.

I think it's amazing what passes for a true study of human behavior these days. I don't totally doubt that the authors/researchers' findings have SOME basis in reality, but what I DO doubt is just how objective this study really is.

I think that in many cases these findings are VERY subjective. After reading closely, I'm still not quite sure how being a sullen, frowny-faced, sour puss somehow equals "swagger" in the mind of the imaginary women that they are referring to. That's quite a leap, I'd say.

Besides, there IS such a thing as a guy giving a woman a "sexy smile", isn't it? Hell, I do this all the time "strategically" myself-----and with GREAT success (and I hear from my listeners all the time who tell me the same).

In my estimation, if women find a guy attractive, she doesn't really give a damn whether he approaches her SMILING, frowning, or with absolutely no expression on his face at all. All she mostly cares about is that he DOES go ahead and come her way!

For instance:

I couldn't imagine most women being turned off by guys who look like Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, George Clooney, Shemar Moore, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, or "whoever the hell-else that they might find attractive"-----just because they had "too happy" a look on their faces when they saw them.

Sigh...I guess God forbid a guy actually approach some chick with a look on his face that looks like he may actually be enjoying being "alive".

Bottom Line:

If men spent more time continuously working to become men that they themselves are proud of being, the less time they'd spend trying to make themselves over into whatever the latest pop-psychology "says" that they should be. Why? Because no amount of smiling, brooding, or "FROWNING" is gonna attract women to them if they don't think of THEMSELVES as men worthy of having a quality woman in their lives.

Enough said.


Victory Unlimited Show

"The Greatest Dating, Relationship, and Life Strategy show "for men" in the World!"
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by 1stlttightwad June 16, 2011 12:22 PM EDT
Amen, The last time I checked a smile indicated that you approve of someone and are happy to be there. Approach a woman, a man, a business client with a frown and see how far you get. To paraphrase an old saying "me thinks the author doth protest too much."
by Elliott-1 May 28, 2011 11:43 PM EDT
The results of this study shouldn't surprise anyone except maybe the smiling nice guys who try so hard to be nice and can't understand why women are frustrated with them. While researching my book, Being the Strong Man a Woman Wants: Timeless Wisdom on Being a Man, many women told me they want men who are strong and can show leadership and make decisions. They are fed up with smiling "nice guys" who ask them on a date and can't even decide where to go for a cup of coffee -- he wants her to decide. Many nice guys told me they couldn't understand why women didn't appreciate how nice they were and how they try to please. Nice guys don't need to become bad boys, they need to develop backbone and become strong men who show leadership and make decisions.

Elliott Katz
Author: Being the Strong Man a Woman Wants
Reply to this comment
by Bojax39 May 31, 2011 12:54 PM EDT
Unfortunately much of the ingratiating behavior many men display, (at least in the US), comes from 40+ years of being trampled for behaving in any other way by our increasingly feminist culture. Male assertiveness and natural aggression is demonized as being controlling, brutish or sexist. So men are taught to be overly sensitive, politically correct feminist "nice guys" while women are taught ersatz male traits under the misconception such behavior is being "self-reliant".

Perhaps these same "self-reliant" women are attracted to strong, capable, masculine men because they see so damned few of them.

It would be hilarious if it weren't so pathetic.

Still, despite their rarity there are "strong men" who are self confident, capable and decisive but at the same time are kind, humorous, mannerly, emotionally connected people. They don't seek to control others because they already control themselves. And they don't allow themselves to be controlled or held hostage emotionally either.

These men will never be mistaken for ill mannered, humorless, loutish, emotionally disconnected he-men who take themselves much too seriously. Nor should they be passed over or discarded as weak, ingratiating "nice guys" just because they have a sunny disposition and choose to smile now and again either. :-)

That's my view. Take it or leave it.
by 1stlttightwad June 16, 2011 12:26 PM EDT
Who decided that being nice and capable of making a decision are incompatible?
by Bojax39 May 27, 2011 1:47 PM EDT
All it takes to attract women is being, (or at least the ability to mimic being), a swaggering, scowling alpha male?

Drat! And here all this time I thought kindness, manners, self confidence without arrogance, a sense of humor and physical cleanliness went a long way.

Silly me.......
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by erasmus111 May 26, 2011 3:43 PM EDT
I like a guy with a great sense of humor. He doesn't have to be smiling all the time, but he has to be FUNNY.
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by magnumdr May 25, 2011 12:18 PM EDT
You gotta be kidding me. If you are a happy guy dont let the ladies know it. Im gonna keep on smileing no matter what. This sounds insane.
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by Jhihmoac May 25, 2011 12:04 PM EDT
Yeah, right...Good boys wind up finishing last, bad boys wind up paying child support...SHEESH!
Reply to this comment
by 1stlttightwad June 16, 2011 12:34 PM EDT
Nope. Bad boys wind up with kids wearing a t-shirt saying, "Who's yo daddy"
by babooph May 25, 2011 6:56 AM EDT
They can always marry them & wipe that smile off their faces...
Reply to this comment
by erasmus111 May 26, 2011 3:31 PM EDT
Hahahahaha.....shut up.
by Bojax39 May 27, 2011 1:02 PM EDT
@ babooph

Being quick with a quip, especially a truly apt one, is a sign of intelligence. Well done! :-)
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