Things That Make You Less Attractive To Others According To Science

#1 Forget the Law of Attraction.

What's the Science of Unattraction? Find out what the research has to say about what makes us less-than desirable.

The laws of attraction consistently inspire curiosity in men and women alike, especially given our increasingly unique dating landscape. With right-swipes quickly becoming the yardstick by which we measure attraction—a somewhat vague and subjective gauge—we're that much more intrigued by what people are scientifically attracted to at their core. Business Insider was equally as intrigued, identifying the interesting, science-backed actions and traits that make men and women less attracted to a potential partner. Here's what the BI team uncovered:

#2 Sleep Deprivation

Not only does sleep deprivation flat-out make you look less attractive, but sharing that info with other people will cause them to see you as less healthy, sadder, and less responsible.

You’ll also lack confidence when you’re running on fumes, which will hurt you on all fronts as well, because, as we all know, confidence is sexy.

#3 Being mean

Do nice guys really finish last?

For a 2014 Chinese study, researchers had men and women look at photos of other people, all displaying neutral expressions.

Some of those photos were accompanied by the Chinese words for "decent" and honest." Some were accompanied by the Chinese words for "evil" and "mean." Others weren't accompanied by any information.

Participants rated people as least attractive when they were described as evil and mean.

#4 Stress

Not only stress takes a toll on your mind but it also makes you look less attractive. As per a 2013 study, women with high stress levels were perceived less attractive. This can be attributed to high cortisol levels during stress.

#5 Off-Putting Body Language

When your body language remains closed off, maybe even a bit foreboding, that makes you seem less attractive. Scientists proved it not long ago.

That's right. In 2016, a team of researchers from a handful of universities published a paper called "Dominant, open nonverbal displays are attractive at zero-acquaintance." If you regularly follow the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, you might have read it. If not, allow us to explain.

Researchers took a group of assistants and had them make two dating app profiles (the study doesn't say which app). In the first profile, the assistants were depicted adopting a "contractive" pose—arms crossed, shoulders hunched, et cetera. In the second, they took an "expansive" pose, like raising their arms in victory or reaching toward an object.

Same people. Different pics. The unwitting participants in the study overwhelmingly chose to swipe right (literally or metaphorically) on the pictures that featured expansive poses.

#6 Looking Too Happy or Proud

Happiness is good, but women tend not to respond well to men who seem too happy. And while girls tend to go for a guy with a little pride, guys tend to shy away from women who exhibit pride.

A 2011 study on 1,000 subjects found that men were most attracted to women who looked happy and least attracted to women who looked proud. Whereas women found men to be most attractive when prideful and least attractive when happy.

Confusing stuff, right?

#7 Not having a sense of humor

If you ask a person about the top five qualities they look for in a partner, a sense of humor is most likely included in that list. A 2009 study actually found that having no sense of humor, or even an average sense of humor, was significantly less attractive than having a great sense of humor.

#8 Laziness

Even attractive people can wind up looking less attractive if they act unhelpful and uncooperative.

#9 If you smell too much alike, or not at all, it could drive you two apart.

There are studies that show we're not very attracted to people when they smell too differently from ourselves.

But at the same time, we don't want to smell too much alike. There was a study from 2006 that asked people how much their partner turned them on and how many times they had slept with other people during the relationship. Next, they took DNA from the person and their partner's mouth.

The researchers looked at the histocompatibility complexes, which are the immune system genes. When the genes were quite similar, they often correlated with the couples who lacked attraction to each other and who sought sex outside of the relationship.

#10 Dishonesty

Not only is dishonesty an undesirable personality trait, it also plays a spoilsport on your attractiveness. In a 2006 study, participants were asked to rate some men and women who were described as dependent or independent, intelligent or unintelligent and honest or dishonest. Out of all the samples, dishonesty was the only trait that had a negative impact on attractiveness.