7 Ways Science Will Help You Get Laid

6. Attractive People Are Jerks

"Nice guys finish last" is such a cliche these days, but there could really be a kernel of truth in there.

First of all, a study in the Journal of Research in Personality found a positive correlation between socially averse behaviour and symmetry of the body. Put simply, if you're symmetrical (i.e. attractive) you're more likely to be a bit of a jerk. Both women and men are also more likely to be able to overlook personality flaws if somebody has more genetically appealing traits, as they would be able to produce good, strong offspring, regardless of their habit of checking their phone the whole way through dinner.

Secondly, the effect is probably more likely to come from a bias of perspective than objective reality. As explained fully in the video above, if we split people into four groups of Ugly Jerks, Attractive Jerks, Ugly Nice and Attractive Nice, we can get a sense of how our perspective can be skewed.

Now, you probably don't want to date Ugly Jerks, so that group can be eliminated. The Attractive Nice group are, presumably, the most in-demand and will therefore be much rarer. If someone is a jerk, they will have to be much more attractive to make up for it and, in the absence of the rare Attractive Nice group so it can seem as though all of the attractive people left are jerks.

So, really, it's your fault.