Do Ladies Really Prefer A Cocky Guy?

Posted by Siofan | Wednesday May 25, 2011

Do you walk in a room and immediately zero in on the guy brooding in the corner? A study conducted by researchers at the University of British Columbia (the findings were released this week in the American Psychological Association's journal Emotion) proved some gender stereotypes are true(ish). The researchers showed 1,000 adults pictures of the opposite sex in various emotional states and asked them to rate their attractiveness.

Before we get in to what women find attractive, let's stop on men for a second. Images shown depicted women displaying the following facial expressions: happiness, pride, shame, and neutral. Men found the images of women smiling to be most attractive. The researchers believe their findings enforce that smiling is more feminine and that a smiling woman looks like she's happy to see her man.

What did women respond to? They looked at the same emotional poses of men, preferring the ones of those where they were looking full of pride. Pride could be interpreted as a man's ability to successfully provide for his family. Least attractive to the women in the study were the smiling men. There were some variables in age; while women both young and old responded best to pride, younger ladies found shame similarly attractive. Older women found shame almost as unattractive as those smiling guys.

"Shame says I'm a bad guy, but I know I screwed up so you can trust me," Jessica Tracy, the psychologist who headed the study, told The Vancouver Sun. "Older women may already have learned it's not such a good idea to go for [the bad guy]."

This totally explains the appeal of Mad Men's Don Draper who exudes confidence and pride and rarely smiles; the most sullen of them all, Twilight's Edward Cullen; and a host of other glum heartthrobs we'd be happy to look at photos of—in the name of science of course.

So what do you think? Does a cocky guy get your heart racing, or is a smile the first thing you notice?

More by Siofan
More on Relationships

Pin It

Summer Swim Trends: 15 Retro...

Members' Faves: Lipstick and Lip...

13 Comments

	on May 25, 2011 Emilee 923 said: I would say this is 100% true. Guys that are proud (and generally cocky) are always more attractive. I think its because as women, we sense that they know who they are and what they want. They are less threatening because you suspect what you see is what you get and they are confident in that persona. But arrogance really spoils the allure of the proud guy. It seems like a pretty fine line, and those that are able to be cocky but not arrogant are probably going to be attractive to most women.
	on May 25, 2011 jskim07 50 said: haha @becky. His arms were the first things I noticed.
	on May 25, 2011 TammyK 1,073 said: The pics are terrible! If those are the pictures that they used then of course the answer will be biased!
	on May 25, 2011 Becky 13,128 said: Wow those are really bad pictures!! Among those pics I would pick the "pride" one too only because the lighting is good, he sort of looks like he's not foreign to the gym (check out the arms) and really compared to the rest, it's the best pic imo. Coming into work today I was sitting across these two really good looking guys. Both were wearing suits, the one I thought particularly cute had the 'arrogant' look, so maybe (despite the bad pics) the research has something to it. The other less cute guy looked like his shirt was ironed onto his chest, it was so starched! He also had better eyebrows than me... I def' don't like my men to be higher maintenance than I am. I totally agree with those here who're saying that perhaps to us, pride = something to be proud about = successful = can take care of himself (and hopefully me)
	on May 25, 2011 Ali de Bold STAFF said: Ok I just looked at the pictures and it all makes sense now. If you have a goofy looking smile of course you'll look less attractive. I found none of those pictures attractive. I also don't think raising your arms in the air like you just won a marathon looks like pride. It totally depends on the person doesn't it?
	on May 25, 2011 jskim07 50 said: George Clooney doesn't count :] he's handsome in anyway. @Siofan, haha the story isn't even half as sweet as it sounds, how disappointing, eh? and the pictures are hilarious! The man's smile is so goofy.
	on May 25, 2011 mamaluv STAFF said: Oh, those are horrible pictures! The lighting is so bad on some of them that it'd influence me to not choose those poses just for that reason. I don't find the proud pictures to be very cocky at all - they look more celebratory. In this case, I'd have trouble picking between the pride and happy poses, but certainly wouldn't pick neutral or shameful. I do like the fact that they chose normal people with neutral outfits so as not to sway the vote in that manner.
	on May 25, 2011 Siofan 50 said: @jskim07 did a guy drive two hours to get you a chocolate bar? Sounds like a sweet story. @takoda I don't think the pictures they showed in the study were of George Clooney handsomeness. @mamaluv here are the pictures: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/05/24/science-smile-men-attractive.html
	on May 25, 2011 jskim07 50 said: I've always been telling everyone that women love cocky guys!!! I've always been proudly attracted to the ones who tell me why they are the best thing in the world. That being said, as nice as cocky is, there is no-one better than a boy who'll travel 2 hours by car to fetch you a chocolate bar.
	on May 25, 2011 TammyK 1,073 said: I think smiling is seen as unattractive because it shows that they are goofy and is a sign of immaturity and women are attracted to guys who can be successful in providing for the family, hence women are attracted to guys who are proud. Just my two cents.