Women's "Beautified" Profile Pictures May Make Them More Attractive But Less Trustworthy

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An interesting study has found that women who enhanced their photos are found more attractive by men but were perceived to be less trustworthy. Meanwhile, men who do enhance their photos are perceived to be more attractive and trustworthy by women.

Researchers from the University of Connecticut conducted their study on more than 300 people aged 17 to 36 who identified themselves as heterosexual, according to Tech Times. They were shown various images of the opposite sex, with some photos of individuals that were enhanced and unaltered. The participants were then interviewed about the attractiveness, trustworthiness, similarities, and the desirability of the subjects as potential dates.

"Our research also found that males found the beautified profile as more attractive and had a higher desire to date the person in the picture despite the lower degree of trustworthiness they reported. This finding suggests that even when men suspect that a woman may not look exactly like she does in her profile picture, they are willing to take the risk and pursue a date with her," Rory McGloin, one of the researchers from the University of Connecticut said via Eureka Alert.

On the contrary, women who viewed the series of images of the opposite sex prepared by the researchers found that they viewed men with enhanced photos to be more attractive and more trustworthy by women.

According to the news release, a previous research has illustrated that users of various dating sites understand how their profile picture can affect their appeal as a potential date. The study explains why   "the perceived attractiveness of a profile picture is so important," according to the team.

"Trust is an important part of any relationship and it certainly plays an important role in the forging of new social bonds in the dating context.

"This finding provides an empirical highlight to the concept of cat- fishing and the larger phenomena surrounding online dating, in which it is both normal and acceptable for individuals' to mislead or deceive their potential suitors," McGloin added.

"Catfishing" refers to the act of creating fake online identities to seek love and relationships online, according to an old article by the UK Daily Mail.

According to the Daily Times Gazette, the study concluded that the more attractive men find a women's profile picture, the more he distrusts her.

The research called "Too Hot to Trust: Examining the Relationship Between Attractiveness, Trustworthiness, and Desire to Date in Online Dating" will be presented by Rory McGloin, Amanda Denes, and Olivia Kamisher at the conference of the International Communication Association, during May 21-25, 2015.