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The men that I've tended to attract in the past have been pretty much unreliable. For the scientists these lovelorn people are guinea pigs. They present a rare opportunity to test different theories about the nature of attraction and compatibility. One theory held by zoologist Karl Grammer is that facial similarity is the key to a successful match. Facial similarity to a male might be a particular form relationships are built. Glen Wilson is a psychologist whose CQ test can tell if a couple will be compatible before they've met. How important to you is sexual explicitness? It's certainly very important. And total fidelity. I think the odd lapse is forgivable. This one is reciprocated and both in CQ and facial similarity. Chances are that would be an ideal match. If the scientists succeed it will herald a revolution in dating. Beth has volunteered to see if the scientists can make her more attractive before she's introduced to anyone. Can scientific insights also be used to make men more attractive to women? And if the scale of one to ten of attractiveness. If ten is really sexy and zero is rather no. Really sexy. Where most scientific studies suggest women are attracted to men who can provide resources. The next day a fashion stylist gives Peter a more affluent look. In spite of the scientific research many women claim that money isn't one of their priorities. I am looking for somebody who's not too bothered by his status in society. Not money-drive. Not dry. More of a tree hugger than a Porsche driver. So will Peter's new look actually make any difference. Have a guess. Forty thousand plus. And on a scale of naught to ten how attractive do you think he is? Be honest. Four. And a big difference was how attractive they found you. Your average score yesterday was. A simple insight into female psychology has made all the difference. Now it's Beth's turn to learn how to manipulate male perceptions. My name's Adrian Fenn and I am a psychologist. And this is Goff he's a professional stylist. Have a seat please. One of my interests is in the science of female attractiveness and it's something that a lot of male psychologists are interested in. And what we're going to do today is to try and understand how the science as it's been done. Informs us about how you can dress differently to make yourself more attractive to men. The scientists have taken Beth's vital statistics but which aspects of the female figure are actually the most important to men? What shall we work on first? Well the breasts I think. The legs. Or the bottom. Yeah I've a feeling I like that. To find out the dating agency has conducted a groundbreaking new study into what men find physically attractive. This software allows the men to manipulate female bodies in any way they like. Professor Fernham now averages out the differences to create the optimally attractive woman. Essentially hip to waist ratio is one of the best ways of seeing whether a woman is fertile. Men like curvy women. So much more attractive. The makeovers appear to have worked. Meanwhile a vast amount of data has been processed. And the scientists are preparing for the next phase of the experiment. To predict mutual attraction. We are looking at a number of variables and the way that they combine. There is physical attractiveness. There is similarity to one's self and the CQ that covers a vast array of personality. Social attitudes and personal preferences. People are attracted to other people who look like themselves. Dr Grammer illustrates this principle with some well known couples. Arnold Schwarzenegger. And his wife. Two very square faces. Almost identical structure - high cheek bones. These two have the same chin. Very round faces. With an almost identical nose. This is the same. Very identical mouth. They also have comparable nose. And the eyes are almost of the same form and color even. The zoologists believe that there are genetic benefits to inbreeding and that the men and women with similar faces will find each other the most attractive. Match found. So will Grant be attracted to Leanne? They want someone who's going to stay at home and not have the strong opinions that they. They were attracted to in the first place. As far as age and height are concerned it's ideal if the male is is about five inches taller than the female which is about the average height difference and it's also fairly ideal if. If he is perhaps four or five years older than she is. We see that on height three of them are taller so that this one goes out. And in terms of age they're all actually younger. The nearest is. At last she meets Dave. A lot of flirtatious signaling going on there. Well the knob has gone up a little bit there so she obviously likes the look of him. And what's he going to do? Yeah looks as though he's initially attracted to her as well. She's a good actress. She's smiling warmly and winding him down at the same time. This result is typical of the first impressions. She's flat-lining on him. But there's still everything to play for as the speed date proper now begins. The men and women meet for exactly three minutes. It's a hit and miss approach to finding love. But sparks of attraction are soon flying. And so what brings you to speed dating? It's a long story. So how come you so long at speed dating. The one man the scientists think is compatible with her. I am a director of a software company. Karl Grammer thought that facial similarity would predict sexual attraction. Sarah was Peter's best match facially and for personality. So we're really onto something. Unfortunately it wasn't enough. Really nice guy. But I don't think I was initially attracted to him. And for me I need to have physical attraction to be with somebody. This reaction was shared by all of the couples who were informed of their face match. You might possibly think he was your brother. It would be quite weird for you to date him. I don't want to date my brother that's the thing. You don't want to date him. That sameness or likeness would predict sexual attraction. This was apparently not the case in the data. Actually the other - the opposite came around that dissimilar people make their dates together. So we have to revise our theory. This facial prediction has failed spectacularly but first impressions were decisive. The perception analyzers who that men and women who decided to date had made up their minds within seconds. With few exceptions the three minute conversation made no difference at all. Clearly looks are all important but it's not the face. It's the body that counts. In terms of physical attractiveness there were two very important physical factors that made all the difference. They were different for men than for women. For men the factor that blew all the others out of the water was waist to hip ratio. Waist to hip ratio is the size of the waist in relation to the hips and is a reliable indicator of fertility. Well let's go for the curvaceous women. On the software the men had created women with hourglass figures. A caricature of the female form. And at the speed date women whose figures most closely resembled this ideal got the most offers of dates. So how much did male physique matter to women? The women also went to considerable lengths to specify their ideal body types. They're actually a bit bigger. I'm happy he looks nice. And this is what they found optimally attractive. But at the speed date there was no relationship between this figure and the body shapes of the most popular men. For women it was height. Women wanted tall men. They were less interested in all the other possibilities of male shape. It was height that was the most important physical attractiveness feature for men. The two most popular men. Both over five foot eleven. Got thirty offers of dates between them. Tall is good. Tall is healthy. Tall is successful. So don't bother about going to the gym. Don't bother about putting on new flashy clothes. Be tall. With the speed date over the men now come to the women's bar to meet them informally. Do you look like those two? The experiment has shown that attraction is driven by physical attributes. Which have little to do with similarity or compatibility. But there is one scientist who did succeed in predicting facial attraction. Here we are concerned with your facial preferences for male faces. Dr Fink's morphing device replicate the effect of sex hormones on the face. Moving from extreme female to extreme male. Everyone in the agency was asked to select the most sexually attractive face. Beth was matched to frame ten ninety-six. What Dr Fink found was a clear attraction of opposites. Males with very masculine faces preferred females with very feminine faces and vice versa. Are we going to kiss? Pretty soon yeah. Well maybe. You only ever say no. Simon and AJ are an obvious example. Sex hormones have pushed their faces in very different directions. But the morphing device also predicted attraction between another couples. Match found. Beth and Dave matched for facial similarity. But unlike most similar couples they also had reciprocal preferences according to the face morph. So I do think there is a great chance that she will find him sexually attractive. If I compare her face with regard to her femininity. So we match. What are you saying? We match scientifically. Facially and mentally. Really. So I'm suggesting we elope and just try it out. I think you're an arse and I did write that on my paper but now I've spoken to you again you're actually quite nice. I mean I think you're attractive. And I find you attractive. Well I think I was quite right with my prediction. I'm only surprised. I'm really happy. All our experience is that the immediate chemical attraction is of priority for most people. In libido or sexuality which might suggest that she would make the play in this situation. She's evaluating his humor in a completely different way. The date went well enough for Beth and Dave to meet up again. There wouldn't be a relationship because he. You know he found me attractive but there was no. Find her attractive I guess. Men were more things oriented. And women were more people oriented. Women like relationships, men like facts. The hormone testosterone plays an important part in competitiveness. The sex of our brain is not as clear cut as the sex of our body. I'm much more feminine than I realized. While women tend to have female brain sex, and men usually have male brain sex, as individuals we are a mosaic, a unique mixture of both. As a child-minder looking after kids, I'd have hoped my empathy score would be a bit better. To predict mutual attraction. We are looking at a number of variables and the way that they combine. There is physical attractiveness. There is similarity to one's self and the CQ that covers a vast array of personality.
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