Creative men are as attractive to women as handsome men
- Researchers showed people pictures of faces of men and women
- They were also shown text apparently written by each person
- Results showed that creativity and facial attractiveness had independent effects on men’s overall attractiveness
Colin Fernandez Science Correspondent For The Daily Mail
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Men who are not blessed with matinee idol good looks can still attract the opposite sex – if they are creative, a study suggests.
It seems having a way with words, talent with a paintbrush or the ability to strum a guitar gives the impression a man has artistic skills.
And an experiment has found that a creative fellow whose face is rather plain, is just as attractive to women as a handsome man who is not creative.
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Men who are not blessed with matinee idol good looks can still attract the opposite sex – if they are creative, a study suggests. Pictured are Jay-Z and Beyonce
THE STUDY
Researchers carried out a series of tests to see what effect being creative had on perceptions of attractiveness.
In the experiments, participants were shown pictures of the faces of men and women.
They were also shown text apparently written by the individuals whose pictures they were looking at.
Results showed that regardless of the sex of the judge, creativity and facial attractiveness had independent effects on men’s overall attractiveness.
The effect did not work the other way: creative women were not viewed as more attractive than those who were rated as less imaginative.
The idea that creativity can help a man seem more alluring is an old one in literature.
A classic example is Cyrano de Bergerac – a man with a large nose who eventually wins over his love interest, Roxanne, by the eloquence of his poetry.
Dr Christopher Watkins from the University of Abertay, in Dundee, carried out a series of tests to see what effect being creative had on perceptions of attractiveness.
In the experiments, participants were shown pictures of the faces of men and women.
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The findings showed that creativity and facial attractiveness had independent effects on men’s overall attractiveness. Pictured is author, Salman Rushdie, with ex-wife Padma Lakshmi
They were also shown text apparently written by the individuals whose pictures they were looking at.
This included an interpretation of a surrealist painting – ‘The Lovers’ by Magritte and ‘alternative’ uses for an everyday object.
An example of a more creative approach to describing the Magritte painting – which features a man and a woman embracing with cloth bags covering their faces – was ‘it conjures images of how single people can spend hours upon hours on dating websites scrolling through images of people and judging their physical appearance over substance…it also made me think that even if you are in a relationship with someone, perhaps you don’t know who this person really is.’
The idea that creativity can help a man seem more alluring is an old one in literature, but it appears to still be alive and well today. Pictured is Ed Sheeran with girlfriend, Cherry Seaborn
A less creative example of text was ‘this is a picture of a man and woman, who appear to be kidnapped somewhere, in their home perhaps … are they being held hostage?’.
Dr Watkins said: ‘Regardless of the sex of the judge, creativity and facial attractiveness had independent effects on men’s overall attractiveness.’
Writing in a Royal Society Journal, he added: ‘Collectively, across three experiments, these findings suggest that creativity may compensate for putative cues for lower biological “quality” and that the benefits of creativity to social groups more generally enhance attraction to creative men, and creative men and women.’
MAGRITTE’S ‘THE LOVERS’
Frustrated desires were a common theme in René Magritte’s work.
In his 1928 painting, ‘The Lovers’, a barrier of fabric prevents the intimate embrace between two lovers, transforming an act of passion into one of isolation and frustration.
Some have interpreted this work as a depiction of the inability to fully unveil the true nature of even our most intimate companions.
He explained that if you are already rated attractive as a man, being creative had less impact.
He wrote: ‘Creativity had a more substantial effect on the attractiveness of men with less attractive faces than it did for men with attractive faces.
‘Indeed, creative men with less attractive faces were equivalent in attractiveness to attractive, but less creative, men.’
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