Attractiveness

New research explores how our brains react to seeing others in pain. The findings reveal that a person's physical attractiveness and moral history alter our empathy levels, shifting how our minds process compassion in fractions of a second.

A new psychological study of 192 portraits confirms that beauty and attractiveness are not identical. Researchers found that judging an artwork’s beauty involves cognitive processes and structural symmetry, while assessing the subject's attractiveness does not.

Young adults vastly overestimate their likelihood of having children before age 30, but a person's relationship status and physical attractiveness can strongly predict how accurate their family planning expectations will actually be.

A survey of medical students reveals a strong preference for symmetrical breast proportions and smaller areolas. The findings aim to help plastic surgeons provide better guidance for patients seeking cosmetic procedures.

A study of nearly 2,000 Dutch high schoolers reveals that when it comes to being someone's crush, a strong network of friends and one-on-one interactions matter far more than a widespread reputation for physical attractiveness.

Japanese men prefer a female body proportion that is exceptionally rare in real life. New research suggests that waist-to-bust ratio, rather than waist-to-hip ratio, drives attractiveness ratings, pointing to media influence over evolutionary biology.

A recent study published in the International Marketing Review suggests that flaunting luxury experiences online, rather than material goods, can make people appear more attractive. However, this effect depends heavily on a potential partner's cultural background and gender.

When the gap between rich and poor grows, people become more likely to view themselves as objects to be looked at—and the effect holds equally for men and women, according to new experimental research.

New research reveals that men who crave social power and hold traditional views on masculinity are significantly more likely to expect women to spend heavy time and money on their physical appearance.

A new study published in Psychotherapy Research reveals that prospective clients are more likely to select psychotherapists with attractive faces from online directories, even when perceived competence, trustworthiness, and client sexual preferences are carefully controlled.

A recent experiment shows that subtle facial features shape our first impressions. Researchers found that faces displaying more of the white of the eye receive higher ratings for trust, sociability, and physical attractiveness.

New research reveals that men judge female body size in a strict order, looking first at the torso. However, the study shows that men have highly varied, individualized preferences when it comes to judging physical attractiveness.

New research provides evidence that measurable aspects of a person's 3D facial shape determine how attractive they are perceived by others. Furthermore, these external social judgments closely match the physical traits that boost a person's self-esteem.

As cosmetic procedures targeting the lower body surge in popularity, aesthetic surgeons are turning to evolutionary biology, geometry, and medical imaging to decode the exact proportions and structural features that define the ideal female buttocks.