Honesty and helpfulness can make you look more attractive

　　What would you think of this lady's physical attractiveness if she exhibited bad personal traits?

　　If you exhibit positive traits such as honesty and helpfulness, the chances are that you will be perceived as a good looking person, for a new study has found that the perception of physical attractiveness is influenced by a person's personality.

　　The study, led by Gary W. Lewandowski, Jr, found that people who exhibit negative traits, such as unfairness and rudeness, appear to be less physically attractive to observers.

　　In the study, the participants viewed photographs of opposite-sex individuals and rated them for attractiveness before and after being provided with information on personality traits.

　　After personality information was received, participants also rated the desirability of each individual as a friend and as a dating partner.

　　Information on personality was found to significantly alter perceived desirability, showing that cognitive processes modify judgments of attractiveness.

　　"Perceiving a person as having a desirable personality makes the person more suitable in general as a close relationship partner of any kind," said Lewandowski.

　　The findings show that a positive personality leads to greater desirability as a friend, which leads to greater desirability as a romantic partner and, ultimately, to being viewed as more physically attractive.

　　The findings remained consistent regardless of how "attractive" the individual was initially perceived to be, or of the participants' current relationship status or commitment level with a partner.

　　"This research provides a more positive alternative by reminding people that personality goes a long way toward determining your attractiveness; it can even change people's impressions of how good looking you are," said Lewandowski.

        如果你表現出誠實和樂于助人等美好品質，那么別人會覺得你的外表也很迷人。

　　一項最新研究發現，一個人的性格會影響別人對他或她的外表吸引力的看法。

　　該項由蓋里?W?勒萬多維斯基負責的研究發現，人們認為，表現出不誠實和粗魯等惡劣品質的人外表也不夠吸引人。

　　研究對象首先觀看了一組異性的照片，隨后分別在得知照片中人物的性格特點之前和之后給他們的外表評分。

　　研究對象在得知照片中人物的性格特點后，還對與其中每個人交朋友或做戀人的期望值進行了評分。

　　研究人員發現，有關人物性格特點的信息大大改變了之前的喜好度評分，研究對象的認知過程改變了他們對照片中人物外表的評價。

　　勒萬多維斯基說：“總的來說，如果人們認為一個人的性格較好，那么他們會覺得無論與這個人做朋友還是做戀人都更合適。”

　　研究結果表明，人們更期望與性格較好的人交朋友、成為戀人，從而會認為他們的外表更迷人。

　　無論照片中人物給人的“第一印象”怎樣、或者研究對象目前的情感關系狀況以及與伴侶的親密程度如何，研究結果都是一致的。

　　勒萬多維斯基說：“該研究提出了一個更為積極的觀點，它提醒人們，性格在很大程度上能決定你的吸引力；性格甚至能夠改變人們對于你外表的印象。”