Believing that creativity, kindness and intelligence can be improved upon and enhanced is empowering and can propel us on to succeed in our goals, ultimately resulting in happiness.

However, new research has found that the opposite it true when it comes to our looks.

Researchers at Oklahoma State University found that women with malleable beliefs about beauty who believed that with effort they could become more beautiful were more likely to base their self-worth on their looks and were therefore at a higher risk of appearance-related anxiety (although interestingly, the results were not found in men).

The researchers suggest this could be due to the pressure from images of women presented in the media. 

Photograph: iStock