Whether it’s updating their wardrobe or opting for a new haircut, many people will try anything to look more attractive.
But a new study suggests that your physical beauty is actually linked to one key attribute.
Humor or intelligence might be the first two attributes that come to mind.
However, researchers at Tel Aviv University say it really all comes down to agreeableness, also known as prosociality.
“Prosociality, because of its central role in human relationships, uniquely influences evaluations of physical attractiveness,” the team said.
Whether it’s updating their wardrobe or opting for a new haircut, many people will try anything to appear more attractive. But a new study suggests that physical beauty is actually linked to one key attribute (file image)
Previous studies have discovered a number of factors that influence your physical beauty.
This includes facial symmetry, flirtatiousness and confidence.
However, until now, the impact of kindness on physical beauty has been largely unexplored.
“In a society that values appearance, it is important to understand the factors that influence the evaluation of beauty,” the researchers, led by Dr. Natalia Kononov, wrote in their study, published in the journal British Journal of Social Psychology.
‘We examine how prosociality, defined as actions that benefit others, such as cooperation and kindness, ‘affects the evaluation of beauty.
The results revealed that in all 10 experiments, prosocial people were rated as more physically beautiful.
In their new study, the researchers conducted a series of experiments with a total of 4,192 participants.
Participants were presented with passport photographs of smiling men or women, along with descriptions of them.
The descriptions included different attributes, such as working in a soup kitchen (which indicated the person was kind), humor, and intelligence.
After participants saw the images and descriptions, they were asked to rate how attractive they thought the people in the photos were.
The results revealed that in all 10 experiments, prosocial people were rated as more physically beautiful.
Surprisingly, the researchers also found that prosociality had a greater effect on beauty than humor or intelligence.
“While other personality traits have their merits, this study demonstrates that prosociality significantly influences beauty evaluations more than other positive traits such as humor or intelligence,” the team explained.
Overall, the researchers hope the findings will highlight the “unique and central role” of prosociality in shaping physical appearance.
“At the individual level, performing kind and helpful acts may lead to more favorable evaluations of one’s appearance,” they concluded.
