How to be sexy? Be yourself

Scientists say that far from making us more attractive, small changes to our appearance can actually make us seem less appealing.

This is because they confuse the brain of the beholder.

A walk that seems out of step with the person’s body shape, a hair colour that doesn’t match the eyebrows and makeup that disguises the natural features could all backfire.

The study’s Canadian authors said: ‘It is not easy to convince someone that you are something you are not.’

The Queen’s University, Ontario, research looked at effect of walking style.

Volunteers were shown short films of people walking and asked to rate how attractive they seemed.

Crucially, the volunteers couldn’t see the people themselves, but just an outline of their shape and their movements.

And when a highly attractive walk was combined with a beautiful body, the overall effect was less appealing than expected.

As a result, a pretty woman who tries to adopt a sexy walk may actually make herself seem less attractive.

Researcher Nikolaus Troje said: ‘We found that attractiveness depends on internal consistency – whether the movement and shape match each other or not.

‘Our visual system is a sensitive lie detector that perceives even slight inconsistencies and responds negatively to them.’

Dr Troje believes the brain has evolved to be alert to mismatches in looks and movement.

This skill would have allowed our caveman ancestors to zero in on young or injured animals in a herd and pick them out as easy prey.

Similarly, a person who moves awkwardly may be ill and so not a good mate.

Although he studied mismatches movement and body shape, Dr Troje believes other subtle changes to the appearance may be similarly off-putting.

He said: ‘If you have blonde hair and dark eyebrows and want it to look natural and want to appear prettier, it might not work because it might signal to someone else that there is something odd about you.

‘If in doubt, just be yourself.’

However, changing your walking style can have some benefits.

Dr Troje’s previous research that a person’s mood can be lifted by adding a bounce to their gait, while deliberately slumping shoulders leads to us dwelling on the negative.

The latest study is published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour.  

(dailymail.co.uk)