Good looks cause us to make poor assumptions – study

A new poll has revealed that humans are wired to use “faulty evidence and wishful thinking” when it comes to whom we choose to date and sleep with.

Researchers polled 1,000 American men and women and found they routinely assumed the people they were most attracted to had fewer sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and were more sexually skilled. Additionally, both men and women surveyed – all heterosexual – said they believed the length of their penis or their partner’s penis was larger than the size of the average penis.

The study also showed that when given a series of faces to choose from, both men and women selected the most attractive face to be the most skilful in bed and the least attractive was the least skilful. This is known as the halo effect, in which we assume one positive attribute correlates with many others.

The opposite is the horn effect, and this too was correlated by the study which showed that people tend to believe the least attractive people had the most STDs.

Lead researcher and sex expert Sean Jameson told DailyMail: “The fact that our research showed that people assume good looks equal lower STD rates is alarming because there’s no evidence to shower better-looking people are less likely to have STDs.

“But previous research has shown that men are less likely to choose to use a condom when having sex with women they find more attractive. This means our assumptions about others could be tempting us into risky sexual situations.”

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