E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Having trouble meeting an online date? You may want to reconsider the angle you’re using for your profile shot.
According to a new paper published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, men and women can make themselves more attractive to others by tilting their head a certain way.
“Our research investigated if looking at the face from different perspectives as a result of the height differential between men and women influenced perceived masculinity or femininity,” says Dr. Darren Burke, senior psychology lecturer at the University of Newcastle in Ourimbah, New South Wales, Australia. “The research found the way we angle our faces affects our attractiveness to the opposite sex.”
What’s the best angle?
“For women, a slight downward tilt of the head simulates the view from above and that is most feminine and most attractive,” says Burke, who conducted the research with his wife, Dr. Danielle Sulikowski. “For men, a slight backward tilt of the head is judged at most masculine, which can make the man more attractive.”
A perfect example of the attractive downward tilt of the head in women is the late Princess Diana, says Burke.
“She seemed to always have that demure, slightly down-tilted angle of her face,” he says.
Interestingly, that’s an angle some women already embrace.
“I always take pictures of myself from above,” says Krista Fedor, a 36-year-old retail buyer from Austin, Texas. “It’s definitely more flattering. When someone is sitting and you’re standing and they take a picture of you, it’s like, ‘I don’t want to see that.’”
Fedor says she also tends to tilt her head a bit to the right in photos.
“I don’t know what it is but as soon as a camera gets in front of me, I tilt my head,” she says. “Even in my Costco photo, my head is tilted.”
Burke hasn’t studied the sideways head tilt but says he’s been questioned about it.
“People have suggested that a tilted head is a flirtatious signal,” he says. “But we need to run the studies to find out.”
Speaking of studies, Burke says he and his wife plan to next look at whether men and women are already taking advantage of the “head tilt” in their daily lives.
“Our next step is to gather data about whether people exploit this height-driven difference to manipulate their attractiveness,” he says. “Maybe by adjusting their head tilt when interacting with someone they are attracted to. Or by choosing pictures of themselves on social networking or dating sites that have been taken from above or below.”
Fedor thinks the researchers are definitely on to something there.
“I’ve noticed a lot of people take their picture from above on Facebook,” she says. “I guess we’re all in on that same secret.”
Find The Body Odd on Twitter and Facebook.
Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.
Leave a Comment:
Photographers have known this for eons.
MySpace users as well....
So have morticians. Even the dead look better with their head tilted 10 degrees or so towards the viewers.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Photographers
Painters of portraits
Flirty girls
ALL know this...I didn't bother reading the article as the 'headline' was enough to tell me that some people, including the reporter, had wasted a good deal of time (and probably money) on nothing.
Gangersters and thugs have always known this from their mugshots.
*gangsters*
Something we really, really need to know! Gosh, to think all these years I've just been being myself. Silly me! If I tilt my head the wrong way, I could end up looking like Brad, or is it Angelina?
Christ, there is just no end to these stupid studies.
Just the other day when I saw "Snooki" on TV with an extreme version of the head tilt, I thought how ridiculous she looked. Her chin was almost touching her chest she had that head tilt so deep. I've seen this in millions of ads and every awards show and I can't get over the fact that these people look ridiculous. In fact, Ive noticed this for a very long time and I always thought, "Why don't these people just act naturally?" I assume they are trained to do this by their managers or some other person responsible for their "looks" on TV or an ad.
In my opinion, it doesn't make them any more beautiful...just the opposite. I can't even watch the dog and pony shows because of their level of ridiculousness. The head tilt just adds to that.
And as far as us guys tilting our heads back, I guess the women are checking for nose hairs. So maybe the head tilt is secondary to the nose hair check and that's what women are really turned on by. Additionally, I always hated guys walking around with their head tilted back or chin/nose in the air. It just makes me want to punch the punk. Add to that the "head bounce"...you know, when a guy walks and his head moves in such a way to exude his false sense of confidence. You might see cocky salesman at a car dealership doing it or at a club. It's sort of a bobble head movement. I just want to rock the sorry SOB.
@ Hal
I guess that we can be grateful, at least, that it's not the 3,977,418th "research" study on how dieting and exercise can reduce body weight.
And it's always presented in a wow-gee-whiz-you-won't-believe-this!-looky-here format.
Gah! This is idiotic. I always thought that pose makes women look like sulky/unruly teenagers in a facebook avatar photo *eye roll* "Look at me, I'll all like...um, sexy and petulant and stuff? and like, um, buy be stuff m'k 'cause I'm an incapable moron who will possibly wax yer knob like a champ? *insipid giggling*"
If this is what passes as "most attractive"...*ROFL* I suppose if you're scared of a real woman who takes photos straight on *growl* heheh :O)
I couldn't agree more.
I agree
My thought is that when a woman tilts her head down, it comes across as being submissive. Maybe that's the appeal.
Kate - that is f-ing classic. LMAO
dlincoln - right on, submissive women don't threaten guys, they are considered sexy and safe.
I wouldn't know anything about that. Even when I am self-deprecating I am considered a biatch, oh well...
couldn't have said it better myself.
When you go to see your doctor do you want her to look you in the eye and know she is competent, or do you want her putting her chin on her chest like a little girl? I will take people looking me directly in the eye with their head held high in any circumstance.
I would just like to know who is funding this study? Tax payers.... it would not be the first time we had to pay for something this stupid!
It's a study that was done in Australia. I'm pretty sure it didn't involve our tax dollars.
They are actually wrong. If a woman wants to appear more attractive in a picture to a man, she has but one thing to do. Lower the camera about 10 inches down.
and take off her clothes
At my age, I would have to lower it 18 inches...
LMAO Barb.
OK, this is dumb. The reason people take pictures from above is because you don't have a double chin at that angle. DUH! and you get a sharper jaw line. Obviously these "Dr's" never took a class on common sense.
I believe you are on to something,
Additionally, when people take a picture of themselves, many times they will hold the camera high...at an angle above their head. But then, they tend to be looking up at the camera and not tilting their head down.
In any case, it brings to question why in many rap videos are guys always looking down on to the camera. Is that a representation that said rappers just beat somebody down to the ground? Camera angles are sometimes just as ridiculous as the head tilt.
If you tilt your head forward all the time, it will weaken your neck and cause you spinal damage, so get this poison of the internet!
hahaa what if the guy has a bad chin or somthn nd the lady is bald..
Guess I need to tilt my head back. Its not much different than the way we were made to present ourselves in the Army.
True! And to this day, I have serious neck problems to go along with my knee and ankle problems. "Be All You Can Be" and painfully pay for it the rest of your life...wouldn't trade my experiences for anything though.
Everytime I see the top of a womens head I thought see was good looking!
Angelina has an elongated jaw, sure, she's gorgeous, but so is everything else God created! If you don't like yourself, maybe you are hanging out with to many insecure people who have nothing better to do than say dumb things about the way people look-
Everything is beautiful, accept it
You will look really nice if you smile.....................
Men with a strong, angled jaw are more attractive than those with double chins or a weak weasel look. And such in that gut!
And women should worry less about whether their photo shows them looking straight or demure: looking slender and fit increases their attractiveness more.
Our brains are wired to be attracted to partners who can best produce, provide for, protect, and raise children. Photos can't show many of these important features. That's why it's also important to get to know someone more than just their appearance.
Man there are so many bitter a**holes on the internet! Every d*mn article one could read is followed by moronic sarcasm or even worse...replies that are 100% serious and absolutely stupid!
People, myself included, in this day and age of the internet and it's anonymity are the most pathetic species on Earth! We're conditioned to p*ss and sh*t in our drinking water!...how f*cking bright are we?!?!?
This explains that dooshbag from CSI Miami.
It seems simple to me--most men are taller.
Good info, now that I'm middle-aged, g-damn it. So all this time love, success, approval could have been mine if I had the head tilted...just...so...
Blonde -
I feel your middle-aged angst. The sex drive is in overdrive, confidence is up there, but the body is sagging and the old man is the only one interested.
Let me keep what I know now and give me back my body of twenty years ago! LOL
Ditto!
I'd never go back. I like my middle-aged self, to heck with all those who don't like my look.
Everyone has a good side when photographed. You just have to find it and do it everytime your picture is taken. It doesn't have to be tilting our head as this "study" suggests.
People take their pictures, commonly, for facebook and other online profiles because their webcams are oftentimes hooked to the top of their computer monitor or on a post because it's the only practical place to put it.
I'm all in favor of science but this is a bit silly. People are intelligent, they can talk and get to know the real person. If you are moronic enough to fall for a head tilt or any other point of external beauty or appearance than you will end up with nothing and waste your life. Beauty fades. Our bodies are just the vehicle for our souls, it's the soul that matters.
The reasoning is simple. For women, tilting their head forward is like them giving a man a blowjob, and a man tilting backward is about the guy enjoying it. Crude but probably true.
lol now that makes a whole lot more sense
Yeah, Paddy that was crude and maybe a bit unnecessary.
He may be on to something there.
Paddy, you have offended the "To look better in photos, tilt your head, study suggests online community"! LOL!!!!