The study found the 'attractiveness' of a person increases when people find out about their pro-social activities and behaviours. (file image) Photo: 123RF / Yuri Arcurs peopleimages.com
Our beauty could be more than just skin deep as the saying claims. Apparently, you can make yourself more attractive to others just by being kind, according to researchers.
The research, recently published in the British Journal of Psychology, conducted more than 10 studies in different contexts involving more than 4000 participants.
They found the 'attractiveness' of a person increases when people find out about their pro-social activities and behaviours - like giving to charity and generosity.
Natalia Kononov Photo: Natalia Kononov
However, research author Natalia Kononov says the effect was less significant when it was explicitly mentioned to participants they would not be having any relationship with that person they were evaluating.
"When we talk to participants that here's a target, and that's a person who volunteers but tell them that you will not have a relationship or you will never see that person again, so we took out the context of the possible relationship, the effect was much smaller," the Fulbright postdoctoral fellow at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania told Sunday Morning.
"We always have an assumption that there could be something [in terms of forming a relationship] but if you completely, explicitly tell people 'no, you won't have the relationship with that person', the effect could be smaller."
When dating someone, pro-sociality has a stronger effect on attractiveness than intelligence or sense of humour, she says.
"We believe that although both humour and intelligence are very valuable, we think that in the context of social relationships, people value pro-sociality more because it has a larger potential to impact on them.
"We all have this motivation to be associated with people who are good, it's beneficial to us, perhaps more than being associated with someone who is intelligent.
"If you have someone who is close to you, there is also research that shows you have a motivation to see them as more attractive because you want the person, the people who surround you, to be attractive, this is a very important motivation. We like to surround ourselves with beautiful objects and people."
One of the surprise findings for researchers was that this finding was not affected by gender, she says.
"Even men see other men who see good stuff as more beautiful."
It's win-win in a world where people do a lot physically to look better, she says.
"Think about the resources and the time and money spent on becoming more attractive."
It would be harder to conclude that celebrities and high-profile figures seen doing good completely transforms or enhances our view of them because there are so many other influencing factors due to our knowledge about their various activities and lives, she says. The research focussed on asking participants about strangers.
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