London: If the man in your life is suddenly on his best behaviour, have a look around.
Men apparently become nicer, kinder and more caring when there is a beautiful woman nearby.
Women, however, feel less of a need to impress and remain true to themselves, even when there is a handsome chap hovering in the wings.
To investigate how having an audience affects our behaviour, British and Dutch researchers asked a group of men and women to play a computer game.
The 130 volunteers were told they could donate money into a communal pot via a computer programme.
They were told that others, whose details were kept secret, were also playing the game and, at the end, the money given away would be doubled and then shared out.
Some sat alone while playing the game. In other cases, an attractive man or woman sat within reach.
When the men were watched by the woman, they donated 28 per cent more cash than when the man watched.
But the female volunteers gave the same amount of money no matter who was watching, according to the British Journal of Psychology.
