Happy Men Are Not As Desirable?

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ok all you girls out there, do you like your men happy or not? I always thought there was nothing more sexy than a happy man & having a great laugh with a guy. But yet another study is now proving me wrong. It seems that happy men have been found not to be as desirable or sexy as unhappy men. Who would have known?

“Happiness is a positive cash flow.” Fred Adler

The research was mentioned in ScienceDaily in a post titled Happy Guys Finish Last, Says New Study on Sexual Attractiveness & here are some of the main points.

Women find happy guys significantly less sexually attractive than swaggering or brooding men, according to a new University of British Columbia study that helps to explain the enduring allure of “bad boys” and other iconic gender types.”While showing a happy face is considered essential to friendly social interactions, including those involving sexual attraction — few studies have actually examined whether a smile is, in fact, attractive,” says Prof. Jessica Tracy of UBC’s Dept. of Psychology. “This study finds that men and women respond very differently to displays of emotion, including smiles.”In a series of studies, more than 1,000 adult participants rated the sexual attractiveness of hundreds of images of the opposite sex engaged in universal displays of happiness (broad smiles), pride (raised heads, puffed-up chests) and shame (lowered heads, averted eyes).The study found that women were least attracted to smiling, happy men, preferring those who looked proud and powerful or moody and ashamed. In contrast, male participants were most sexually attracted to women who looked happy, and least attracted to women who appeared proud and confident.”It is important to remember that this study explored first-impressions of sexual attraction to images of the opposite sex,” says Alec Beall, a UBC psychology graduate student and study co-author. “We were not asking participants if they thought these targets would make a good boyfriend or wife — we wanted their gut reactions on carnal, sexual attraction.” He says previous studies have found positive emotional traits and a nice personality to be highly desirable in a relationship partners.

“It isn’t necessary to be rich and famous to be happy. It’s only necessary to be rich.” Alan Alda

The researchers say more work is needed to understand the differing responses to happiness, but suggest the phenomenon can also be understood according to principles of evolutionary psychology, as well as socio-cultural gender norms.For example, past research has associated smiling with a lack of dominance, which is consistent with traditional gender norms of the “submissive and vulnerable” woman, but inconsistent with “strong, silent” man, the researchers say. “Previous research has also suggested that happiness is a particularly feminine-appearing expression,” Beall adds.”Generally, the results appear to reflect some very traditional gender norms and cultural values that have emerged, developed and been reinforced through history, at least in Western cultures,” Tracy says. “These include norms and values that many would consider old-fashioned and perhaps hoped that we’ve moved beyond.”Displays of shame, Tracy says, have been associated with an awareness of social norms and appeasement behaviors, which elicits trust in others. This may explain shame’s surprising attractiveness to both genders, she says, given that both men and women prefer a partner they can trust.

“Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.” Guillaume Apollinaire

The only reason some women may be attracted to unhappy men is maybe because they are fixers. These women may think it a wonderful project to make a man happy. However in my advanced age, I can assure you that if a man doesn’t want to be happy or doesn’t know how to be happy, life is too short to spend it trying to make him happy!

Unfortunately even after reading the article I am not convinced. But I will leave you with this really funny video by Jeff Allen “Happy Happy Happy Man Comedy”. Hysterical, enjoy…