4. A nice body might get you places in the big city, but it's a lot less useful in a small town, suggests research from psychologists at the University of Georgia and University of Kansas. Victoria Plaut, PhD, and colleagues polled 550 women on whether their attractiveness (measured in this study as the waist-to-hips ratio) corresponded with their reported well-being and social connectedness. It did for women in urban settings, but not for those in rural ones, according to the research. The researchers suggest this might be because urban areas offer much more "social choice" in terms of who one spends time with, while rural areas with lower populations offer fewer social choices, shrinking the demand for attractive acquaintances. Perspective: