Can music make someone look more attractive? How a song changes attraction judgments
Music will not sharpen a nose, improve skin, or make a face suddenly look more polished in a few minutes. But research suggests that after listening to music, people may look at another person’s face differently.
An experiment on music and attraction
In 2017, a research team at the University of Vienna studied whether music could influence how people judged the attractiveness of opposite-sex faces.
Participants listened to different musical excerpts and then viewed unfamiliar faces. They rated how attractive each face was and whether they would be interested in dating that person.
The study recruited 157 people and ultimately analyzed 96 participants, including men and women in different phases of the menstrual cycle. Most participants were university students and non-musicians.
After music, women rated male faces more highly
Women rated male faces as more attractive after listening to music and were also more likely to say they would want to date the person.
The strongest effects appeared after music with higher arousal and more complex structures.
The same pattern did not appear in every condition. Men rating female faces did not show the same change. The study therefore does not mean that music makes everyone look better; it suggests that, under specific experimental conditions, music can influence some judgments of opposite-sex facial attraction.
The face did not change; your feeling did
Music may first change a listener’s mood and physiological arousal, then shape how they evaluate a face. Psychology describes this possibility as misattributed arousal, or arousal transfer.
You feel excited, happy, or emotionally moved by the music. Then you see a face. The brain may not clearly separate “Was that spark caused by the song?” from “Did this person make me feel it?”
Some of the feeling created by the music may therefore be attributed to the person in front of you.
That may be why the same person can look like a completely different level of attractive in different lighting, music, and social settings.
A song can add an invisible filter
Imagine hearing a bright, energetic song in a café just as someone walks in, or listening to music that lifts your mood while you notice someone on a night street.
You are responding to more than a face. You are also feeling the song, the lighting, the atmosphere, and your own state of mind.
Music may act like an invisible filter. It does not change the other person’s appearance, but it may change the way you see them.
What are the limits of the study?
The findings are interesting, but they cannot be applied directly to every date or relationship. The final sample included only 96 people, mostly university students and non-musicians.
The setting was also very specific: listen to music, look at an unfamiliar face, and rate its attractiveness. That is far removed from conversation, dating, or a long-term relationship.
The effect was found in a particular direction of gender and face evaluation, so it should not be treated as a universal response to music. The researchers also called for more work in real-life social settings.
So the next time someone asks, “Do I look better today?” do not answer too quickly. Maybe they changed their hair. Maybe the right song just happened to be playing.