Ep 336 - The Science Of Being Cool & Attractive
Iron Culture
The MASS Crew
4.8 • 827 Ratings
🗓️ 16 July 2025
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of Iron Culture, Dr. Eric Trexler and Dr. Lauren Colenso-Semple discuss science related to attractiveness, coolness, and personality type. They explore scientific studies on the factors associated with perceived attractiveness and "coolness," discussing body fat percentages and societal perceptions. The conversation shifts to how personality traits appear to predict workout preferences and engagement in fitness, then they debate the importance of matching exercise to individual characteristics.
Time stamps:
00:00 Introduction to Iron Culture and Guests
5:57 The Science of (Male) Attractiveness
10:39 Evolutionary Underpinnings of Male Attractiveness
13:53 Distorted Perceptions of Attractiveness (In the Fitness World)
20:10 The Irony of Pursuing Attractiveness
22:22 Body-Fat and Optimized Health
24:18 Surprising Article Feedback
28:50 Unrealistic Body Standards and Gender Perceptions
32:49 Achieving the Outcome Versus Doing Hard Things
35:07 Attractiveness is More Than Body Shape/Size
37:48 The Science of Being Cool
47:19 Matching Exercise To Personality Types
References:
Xia F, Sauciuvenaite J, Bissland R, Hambly C, Starr-Vaanholt L, Faries MD, et al. The relationship between body fatness and physical attractiveness in males. Personality and Individual Differences. 2025 Sep 1;243:113240.
de Jager S, Coetzee N, Coetzee V. Facial Adiposity, Attractiveness, and Health: A Review. Front Psychol. 2018 Dec 21;9:2562.
Brierley ME, Brooks KR, Mond J, Stevenson RJ, Stephen ID. The Body and the Beautiful: Health, Attractiveness and Body Composition in Men’s and Women’s Bodies. PLoS One. 2016;11(6):e0156722.
Sorokowski P, Kościński K, Sorokowska A, Huanca T. Preference for Women’s Body Mass and Waist-to-Hip Ratio in Tsimane’ Men of the Bolivian Amazon: Biological and Cultural Determinants. PLoS One. 2014 Aug 22;9(8):e105468.
Tovée MJ, Cornelissen PL. Female and male perceptions of female physical attractiveness in front-view and profile. Br J Psychol. 2001 May;92(Pt 2):391–402.
Jayedi A, Khan TA, Aune D, Emadi A, Shab-Bidar S. Body fat and risk of all-cause mortality: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Int J Obes (Lond). 2022 Sep;46(9):1573–81.
Hu J, Chen X, Yang J, Giovannucci E, Lee DH, Luo W, et al. Association between fat mass and mortality: analysis of Mendelian randomization and lifestyle modification. Metabolism. 2022 Nov;136:155307.
Ramlau-Hansen CH, Thulstrup AM, Nohr EA, Bonde JP, Sørensen TIA, Olsen J. Subfecundity in overweight and obese couples. Hum Reprod. 2007 Jun;22(6):1634–7.
Wei S, Schmidt MD, Dwyer T, Norman RJ, Venn AJ. Obesity and menstrual irregularity: associations with SHBG, testosterone, and insulin. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2009 May;17(5):1070–6.
Liu Y, Hu X, Xiong M, Li J, Jiang X, Wan Y, et al. Association of BMI with erectile dysfunction: A cross-sectional study of men from an andrology clinic. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2023;14:1135024.
https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fxge0001799
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1587472/full
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Iron Culture. It is me, the one true host to the good Dr. Eric Trexler. |
| 0:11.4 | No Eric Helms today, honestly not a big deal. A lot of the fan mail I get suggests that it's usually our better episodes when he's not around. |
| 0:18.8 | So I expect this one to be an absolute monster |
| 0:22.7 | of an episode and essentially a highlight reel for the Iron Culture database and archive. So thank you |
| 0:29.2 | for joining us. Rather than being joined by Eric Helms, I am joined by the Dr. Lauren Colenzo Semple. |
| 0:35.5 | She's been on Iron Culture many times before she is an esteemed co-author of the Mass Research Review. |
| 0:41.9 | Lauren, how are we doing tonight? |
| 0:43.4 | Thank you for having me. Excited to be back. |
| 0:46.4 | All right. You didn't answer the question. How are you? |
| 0:49.0 | I'm great. I'm excited that I just realized while looking at myself that my shirt matches my plant holder behind me |
| 0:57.0 | and I'm into that aesthetic. |
| 0:59.5 | Yeah. |
| 0:59.7 | We're both going with a kind of like Easter colored sweatshirt vibe. |
| 1:05.5 | So we've got a bit of a matching motif here. |
| 1:08.4 | I don't know if this is. |
| 1:09.9 | It's like a gender reveal party. |
| 1:14.6 | I was going to say it probably doesn't necessarily fit as pastels. But no, you're right. |
| 1:20.1 | This is very much a, you know, how will people ever know which of us is the boy or the girl? |
| 1:26.1 | All wear a blue unlabeled sweatshirt |
| 1:29.1 | with no hood and you can do the same with pink. Uh, and yes, then everything will be clear. I think |
| 1:33.2 | it'll be better for the audience that way, right? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm glad we could do that |
| 1:37.8 | for them. Um, now Lauren, we are both involved in fitness, um, and we're both involved in the |
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