Which characteristic is the most attractive one? Most people would say that it is the special someone's eyes or laugh or sometimes, scent. Let us face it, love is blind, and so, those visual features matter the least. While the other two are visible attractions, we need to ponder on the invisible force that brings to people together -- scent.
No, it is not about the Chanel or Dior's latest collection that influences us. It is literally the significant other's body aroma. Although we cannot point out that the scent is the only factor that pulls both of them together, it does play a big part in our romantic interest!
Love was when I "smelled" you
Touching another person and intimacy does lead to close bonds and the lyric from Celine Dion's famous song stands true, "Love was when I touched you."
However, this brings in intimacy and not exactly a relationship based on romantic love. In contrast to this, the scent adds a touch to every love.
Smell was a concept that was found to influence love in a subconscious way. It is the chemical way. Scientists have claimed that we can sense our S.O.'s pheromones.
The pheromone is fundamentally the scent that tags along with our sweat and other bodily fluids. Being scientists, they could not resist the temptation of not finding out if this were true in humans as it was seen as a compelling evidence in animals' love.
Consequently, an evolutionary psychologist, Claus Wedekind set up a study "Smelly T-shirt study". Women were given different worn-shirts of men and were told to smell these shirts and judge if the man was good-looking or not.
Surprisingly, it was found that the chosen shirts from every women belonged to a man who had complementing and compatible genes (MHC genes) for a genetically applaudable love interest and for healthy children!
What do men see in women for attractiveness?
This might look like an easy question posed to the men. The answers they tend to give were facial beauty, glowing skin, hearty laugh, twinkling eyes, hip-to-waist ratio and so on. What they did not know was that they were invariably assessing the woman's fertility, youth and signs of healthiness!
Men also find women most attractive during the women's most fertile point in the menstrual cycle. A fraction of men also commented that they like their woman's voice!
It is now the woman's turn
Women are just a bit more brutal than men. Flipping your hair might be attractive when the person is a women but not for a man. The whole set of rules change. Of course, fertility and healthiness comes in, but it is masculinity that steals the thunder. The Wall Street Journal claims that masculinity is the clear indicator of good genetics, dominance and fatherhood for healthy children.
Again men, it is not so easy to decipher your women. The pill or the contraception might add up to hormonal changes and unless you can create a different scent for yourself, you might not be appealing to her!
While there are differences in the way both Men And Women see each other, the safest game is to leave it to your body aura. Nobody likes a person with a 'bad' character... If the girl likes your scent but not your personality, you have still lost your game, mate!
