The trait that attracts us the most at first sight (according to science).

Find out what the key to attractiveness is in less than five seconds.

Hundreds of studies have been hundreds of studies have been conducted on attraction and falling in love.. And to this day, not everything has been said about the great mystery of our brain's relationship with romantic behavior. The truth is that both falling in love and attraction to another individual are complex phenomena to study, involving both individual and cultural factors.

In today's article we echo a research that claims to have found the key to the attractiveness of men and women (at least in the West). (So don't miss it!

What science says so far

That said, and before moving on to the subject of this article, perhaps you might be interested in another article we published just a few months ago, in which you can find a compilation of the results of the different researches that talk about falling in love and attraction.

Because in recent decades the studies in this field have been many and varied, and although there has not always been consensus on the matter, they allow us to draw some curious conclusions about this phenomenon and help us to understand what happens inside the mind of the person in love..

These conclusions of different works carried out by psychologists, sociologists and doctors can be found in our article. "Love and falling in love: 7 surprising researches".

The trait that men and women find most attractive.

But what is the trait or characteristic that men or women think is most attractive in the opposite sex? That is what Jessica Tracy, a professor at the University of British Columbia (United States) and director of research conducted by the same university and published in the American Psychological Association Journal of Psychological Psychology, sought to discover. American Psychological Association Journal.

The study subjects were presented with different photographs of the opposite sex. The participants were then asked how they reacted to their attraction to the expressions they saw. The results can be considered surprising in terms of women's tastes: "The men who are considered most attractive are those who show a more serious feature and smile less,"says Tracy.

Men's reaction is the opposite of women's.

However, men's reaction was opposite to that of women. "For men, women who smile are very attractive. This was the characteristic most appreciated by the men." Tracy said.

Researchers admit they don't know exactly why this difference exists. Now, there are also several studies that claim that women like bad boys or tough guys, in which smiling is not exactly their most characteristic trait. But Tracy warns: "When people want a long-term relationship they look for other things than just physical attractiveness, for example, if he's a good person or responsible. So this research doesn't say you're a bad man."

Another study confirms that grumpy men are smarter

And the results of this research are surprising. But moody men, in addition to being more attractive to women, are also more intelligent.. This is the conclusion of a study led by Joseph Forgas and published in Australasian Science. This expert in emotions devised different experiments in which the mood of the subjects was manipulated by means of movies and positive or negative memories.

The scientist found that being in a bad mood helps us to think more clearly. Contrary to what happens to people with excessive optimism, people who are characterized by their habitual bad moods make better decisions. In addition, they are more incredulous people: they are not easy to fool**.**.

In addition, according to Forgas, people with a more depressed mood have a greater ability to argue their opinions in writing. People process reasoning and common sense better and have a better communication style. Finally, this study seems to indicate that bad weather also affects us, as wet and sad days improve memory, while sunny days favor forgetfulness.

• You can read more about this research in our article: "People with a difficult character tend to be more intelligent, according to a study".