Random Features Science Says You Are Attracted To Without Even Knowing (14 items)

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  (#10) Shared Speech And Grammar Are Sexy

  According to a Texas Tech study, people who speak in a similar way, using the same function words, are more likely to be attracted to each other. Function words - as opposed to content words - are the words that signify grammatical relationships or just fill pauses ("a," "the," "he," "she," "okay"). Researchers monitored subjects who were meeting in a speed-dating setting, and they found that people who had higher similarity in their use of function words were more likely to go on a second date together. They were even likely to still be together three months later. The strength of the effect was significant; people with similar speech were three times more likely to express interest in each other than people with dissimilar speech.
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  (#12) The Smell Of Hormones In Sweat Really Revs Human Engines

  Scientists have yet to find evidence for functioning human pheromones. We don't appear to have anything that works the same way as, for example, the attractants of the luna moth (who can detect one molecule of sex pheromone from six miles away). However, one Berkeley study found that women who sniffed a bottle containing androstadienone - a derivative of testosterone - reported an improved mood and heightened sexual arousal compared to control subjects. They also demonstrated physiological signs of increased arousal (higher heart rate, faster breathing). Another study that asked female participants to smell t-shirts worn by various men found that the women preferred the scent of men with higher testosterone but only when the women were ovulating.
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  (#11) The Larger The Limbal Rings, The Better

  Limbal rings are one of those features that you look directly at every day but probably don't think about. These are the dark circular lines that surround the iris; they increase the contrast between the iris and the sclera and generally make your eyes stand out more. You also, probably unconsciously, associate them with youth; limbal rings appear largest in children and grow less pronounced with age. Studies have demonstrated that they aren't only something we take note of and consider attractive; they're also something that we notice almost instantaneously. Even when presented with two images of the same exact face, with only the limbal rings adjusted, people will rate the face with more noticeable limbal rings as more attractive.
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  (#2) Cues That Someone Eats A Healthy Diet Are Highly Attractive

  This one isn't about having an athletic body shape; although that sort of thing is obviously attractive (you probably don't need a study to tell you that muscular men have more sex, but here's one for you anyway). Rather, this is about how we can subconsciously determine the healthiness of someone's diet from his or her skin. One study found that a diet high in carotenoids from fruit and vegetable sources resulted in a complexion that was rated as healthier and more attractive. Counterintuitively, another study even found that consumption of garlic, which has numerous health benefits, made a person's body odor smell more pleasing to sexual partners in the long run.
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  (#5) Men With Wide Faces Come Across As More Sexually Fit

  Several traits are associated with facial width; for example, men with wider faces have higher levels of testosterone than average (and also, as a corollary, higher levels of aggressiveness). A higher facial width-to-height ratio ("fWHR ") is seen as more dominant and powerful. Women also consider these men more attractive - at least, as short-term romantic partners, not necessarily as long-term marriage prospects. A speed-dating study found that women expressed more interest in men with a high fWHR and were more likely to want a second date with them. (This is a distinction the researchers noted; the women didn't just find these men more attractive; they were actually willing to pursue real-world interactions with them, as opposed to just rating their appearances in an experimental setting.)
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  (#13) Humans Love Seeing Personality Traits In Potential Mates' Faces

  You're probably aware of what personality traits you like, but you might not realize that you're also attracted to the physical features you associate with those traits. British researchers showed pictures of male and female faces to participants who had also answered a questionnaire about the traits they wanted in a partner. Then, they made composite images that represented attraction to a trait - for example, if all of the men who liked assertiveness tended to all like a few faces, those faces were merged into a composite face that represented assertiveness. The same was done in reverse (e.g. with the faces that didn't interest people who liked assertiveness). The researchers ended up with a whole series of faces representing 10 traits and their opposites (a Relaxed face, a Not Relaxed face, et cetera), and other participants could mostly guess which trait these resulting faces were supposed to represent. In short, when you find someone attractive, you're not just deciding that he or she is beautiful and that's the end of it. You're ascribing some trait to the person's features - warmth, or assertiveness, or maturity - and that's influencing your assessment.

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