The smouldering, half-closed “bedroom eyes” may have promoted George Clooney and Antonio Banderas’ movie careers, but if you try it, you would appear sleazy and shifty-eyed to women. Men who gaze at women open-eyed are thought to be more sincere and better partners. Larger eyes make men look more naive and vulnerable, say researchers.
Narrowing the eyes in a bid to look alluring only makes males seem untrustworthy and up for a fling, the researchers discovered, the journal Livescience reports.
A team from the University of Michigan, US, used identical photos of white men in their early 20s with their eyes half-open and fully open and showed them to two groups of test subjects totalling 400 men and women, according to the Daily Mail.
Daniel Kruger, a psychology professor at Michigan University, who led the study, said that the sexual maturity bedroom eyes suggest “can come back to bite you” later on. “A lot is conveyed in a glance. You don’t gain so much of an advantage by doing this expression unless you’re already engaged with someone who is interested in you, or who you have a chance with, so don’t overuse it,” added Kruger.
Female participants were asked to rate each of the men on how attractive they were for a long-term relationship, a short-term relationship and a fling.
They were also asked which of the two men they’d prefer to father their baby, and if they’d trust him going with her sister on a long journey. Men were asked whether they’d like to go into business with each man and if they’d be fine leaving them with their sister on a long journey. The results showed that among women, the open-eyed man was seen as far more desirable with 71 percent saying they’d rather marry him.