Men, Keep Your Shirts On!

And there’s no way to fool her–you’ll reveal everything about yourself as soon as you start to dance. But first, your shirt: A new psychological study reveals that men who show skin are viewed as more sensitive, but less competent than those who are fully clothed. There’s a similar response to scantily clad women.

In LiveScience.com, Stephanie Pappas quotes researcher Kurt Gray as saying, "An important thing about our study is that, unlike much previous research, ours applies to both sexes." People wearing few clothes were seen as having less moral responsibility, but at the same time they were seen as more deserving of protection.

And in case you want to woo her by doing your own version of "Dancing With the Stars," another study finds that women judge men with conscientious and agreeable personalities as better dancers (so if you’re a nice guy, it’s OK to step all over her feet).

In LiveScience.com, Stephanie Pappas quotes researcher Bernhard Fink as saying, "We argue that personality is–to some extent–signaled via body movement (dance in particular, as it is the most complex body movement). If that were true, it would explain why dance is such a prominent topic in almost all human societies."

Women seem able to pick up on factors like strength and risk-taking from watching just a few seconds of dance moves. The traits women look for include openness (a willingness to explore new things), conscientiousness (a tendency toward self-discipline), extroversion (social exuberance), agreeableness (compassion and care for others) and neuroticism (a tendency to experience negative emotions). An earlier study on risk-taking suggests that women are impressed by the dancing of men who are bold sensation-seekers–maybe not the guy you can trust to stick around and help you raise a baby, but one who would likely contribute a healthy set of genes to his offspring.

Melody loved music, as well as dance–that’s what made her a beautiful young rock star. But she was lonely, living with her pushy "stage mother" in a high rise building in a strange new city–that is, until she fell in love with a strange young man who seemed to live INSIDE the walls. Anne Strieber thought of the idea and Whitley wrote the book, and YOU can pre-order it NOW!