Women don’t find happy smiling men attractive and prefer moody types, a new study has revealed. It found that men with expressions of pride and shame are more likely to win a girl’s heart. But the case was different with fairer sex, as men are said to be more attracted to happy women.

Researchers say this may be because a smiling woman is seen as submissive and vulnerable.

In one of the first studies of its kind, psychologists from the University of British Columbia in Canada set out to find out if the long-standing advice to smile when meeting someone new is backed up by science.

More than a thousand men and women were shown pictures of faces making various expressions and asked to rate them for attractiveness. Some pictures of a neutral face were also included.

The women were least attracted to the smiling happy men and most interested in those whose head was held high with pride.

They also found the men who looked ashamed rather attractive, according the journal Emotion.

 “Pride may signal a man’s competence and ability to provide for a partner and offspring,” the Daily Mail quoted researcher Jessica Tracy as saying.