Mumbai, June 09: Modest? Shy? Reluctant to tell everyone how brilliant you are? If you’re male, you can probably add ‘ single’ to that list.
‘ New men’ beware: Research has revealed women don’t like modesty in a man. Instead, cocky types are more likely to win their hearts. With Simon Cowell’s arrogant attitude more appealing than Hugh Grant’s bumbling onscreen behaviour. Or closer home, why Salman Khan has much more appeal than cute, nice boy Imran Khan.
Other men also find male modesty an unattractive trait — perhaps because they believe that bashful boys are letting the side down.
The three female researchers showed more than 200 people videotapes of a man and a woman applying for a job as a computer lab manager.
The male and female actors both followed the same script in the mocked- up interview and were equally humble about their achievements.
The volunteers were asked to rate them for modesty, likeability and a range of other factors. Despite the actors being equally qualified for the job, the man was liked less than the woman.
Meekness makes men seem less confident and ambitious and more weak, uncertain and insecure, the journal Psychology of Men & Masculinity reports.
“ Modest men were not liked as much as modest women because they were viewed as ‘ too weak’ for a man and because they were viewed as insufficiently confident and ambitious,” the US researchers wrote.
They said the results showed that while women had been able to change their roles to become more assertive, men still faced prejudice when they tried to change.
Professor Laurie Rudman, of Rutgers University in New Jersey, said: “ Our findings demonstrate that men encounter prejudice when they behave modestly.
Changes in gender roles that have afforded women more financial independence have not yielded relaxed demands for men.
“ Men are still required to uphold masculine ideals that require chronic exhibitions of strength while avoiding signs of weakness,” he says.
–Agencies