`Show feelings to attract partner`

If you fancy someone - let them know, scientists have advised.

Telling a prospective partner "I really like you" could make your chosen target immediately find you more attractive.

Research revealed that if you show someone your feelings, through eye contact, smiling - or simply telling them - they are more likely to become attracted to you.

Previous research has emphasised natural beauty and physical features such as facial symmetry or voice pitch. But the University of Aberdeen study shows the science of attraction to be more complex.

It found "social cues" - someone's efforts to show how much they like a person - are of great importance in the blossoming of mutual attraction.

Psychologist Dr Ben Jones, one of the authors of the study, said: "Our latest research highlights how social cues, which signal the extent to which others are attracted to you, also play a crucial role in attraction."

The study, Integrating Facial Attractiveness And Cues Of Social Attractiveness, was published in the journal Psychological Science.

Scientists showed volunteers four flash cards, picturing a face with different expressions. The face is shown making eye contact and not smiling; not making eye contact and not smiling; making eye contact and not smiling; and making eye contact and smiling.

A total of 230 men and women took part in the study at the university's Face Research Laboratory.

Dr Jones said: "What we found was that the preference for the attractive face was much stronger when people were judging those faces that were looking at them and smiling."

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