Throughout the course of human evolution, men have developed various personalities to adapt to changing circumstances.
These traits range from the bold, assertive, and dominant characteristics of the Alpha male to the more reserved and cooperative nature of the Beta male.
In addition to these, other variants such as Gamma and Omega also exist in the society.
Each personality type has its unique outlook on life, shaped by individual experiences, social and cultural factors, and innate personality traits.
Since a Beta male is often the most observed personality in the world, we’ll talk about it in detail.
In the social hierarchy of men, he sits in the second position, and it goes like this:
- Alpha male
- Beta male
- Delta male
- Gamma male
- Omega male
- Zeta male
While Sigma Males also exist, they tend to stand outside of the hierarchy.
In this article, we’ll dive deep into understanding the 16 traits of a Beta male, the benefits and drawbacks of such a personality, and where a beta stand in the social dominance hierarchy.
What is a Beta Male?
“Beta” is slang for people who are successful and dominant compared to others in the dominance hierarchy but are lower than the Alpha male.
It is a fact that a society cannot contain all “Alphas” because they are the leaders of the pack.
The leaders will also need loyal followers, that are Beta males.
A Beta male has nearly all dominant traits but is not an Alpha solely because of his mindset.
His mindset is that of a follower, not a leader.
To put it more precisely, if an Alpha is the king, a Beta is the minister of the kingdom.
He is wise and decent in his approach to life, but he’s not a king.
He can be intellectual with thought-provoking ideas, but he simply doesn’t have the courage and ability which an Alpha brings to the table.
This is the primary reason Beta males are generally unhappy in life and don’t achieve much because dominance is something that every man wants.
When you walk into a room, you want people to respect you; that’s dominance.
Imagine being invisible in the crowd; that’s Beta.
A Beta male usually tries to impress people, please them, and agree with them to be accepted into a social group, which keeps him lower in the hierarchy.
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Why Most Men Take Up a Beta Personality
The simple answer to this is being a Beta male is easy.
For a man, providing security and comfort to his family is the primary duty, but in doing so, he has to assume the role of an Alpha.
While the Alpha commands respect and is competent, the Beta male begs for respect, and he gets that by playing safely to become a part of the larger social group.
A beta male doesn’t want to have higher ambitions, dangerous contacts, or anything close to risk.
His mode of operation is fear. Since he is unable to overcome his fear and wants to be the “nice guy” to everyone, he fails to become an Alpha.
Thus, being a Beta male is easy because you don’t have to fight your demons to win in life.
You just hang out with them.
While this personality is prevalent in society, it started way back in history.
In ancient times, fighting and gathering resources was the only way to survive.
Since beta males were incompetent and fearful to fight, they followed Alpha males, who led the armies of Beta and conquered nations.
Beta males often always remained in the armies because becoming an Alpha meant they had to stand in the front and lead the pack, which they feared.
We see such males in combat sports, even today.
You often see boxers or martial artists who are so afraid of getting punched in the face that they don’t even approach the opponent.
What happens next? The opponent delivers a fine K.O.
Men who are scared of confrontation, pain, and suffering and want social respect by being nice guys generally fit in the Beta category.
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16 Traits of A Beta Male
I believe you now understand pretty well where Beta fits in the social hierarchy and why he is what he is.
In this section of the article, we’ll try to identify if you are a Beta male. You can read each trait and relate to your life.
If you’re not one, congratulations in advance.
Once you do identify that, read our blog on the Alpha Male, and try to become an Alpha.
Decent Social Skills
A Beta successfully mingles with people and fits into their circles because he becomes like everybody else to be accepted into the social group.
A Beta male may be an introvert but will anyway find a trick to enter a social group.
He thinks he’ll look smarter if he can enter a new group and share his knowledge.
Emotionally Intelligent
A Beta male is fantastic to hang out with because he helps people cope with their emotional trauma.
He’s an extremely supportive person and so much so that sometimes he might overstep a boundary to help you.
He thinks solving people’s problems will make him more likable.
Many people tend to hate this behavior because a) they didn’t ask for help, and b) he’s not a psychotherapist.
Highly Loyal
He is highly loyal to his commander, the Alpha, in the social hierarchy.
He never goes against the word of the Alpha and always does what he’s asked to do.
Doing this keeps him in the circle of the Alpha and gets him the good life, alcohol, and women.
This loyalty is also displayed in relationships where he might end up getting hurt too for being “too nice.”
Empathy for the Show
The beta male is extremely empathetic and sensitive towards everything.
He wants to earn the recognition of being a “good guy,” which often gets him in trouble.
He might save a cat from a tree, and if no one’s around to see that, he’ll get upset.
This behavior of “empathy for the show” allows other people to take advantage of him, and he doesn’t even realize that.
Highly Agreeable
A Beta male accepts every situation, good or bad, without even giving it a thought.
He doesn’t ask why it happened or how it could’ve been prevented. He just goes with the flow.
Also, this agreeableness is very visible in group conversations or debates.
If somebody else puts forward an opinion, he easily agrees to it because he doesn’t have a set of his own opinions.
Why? Because forming opinions requires thought, and he doesn’t think much.
Moreover, he’s afraid of confrontation or verbal debate because he operates out of fear. He just can’t say No.
Moving Curiosity
A Beta male has a high degree of thirst for knowledge and wants answers to his questions.
This is one of the biggest reasons he seeks the company of the Alpha because he wants to figure out life under somebody who’s already winning.
This curiosity also makes him a good listener, which most women like, but since he is not assertive because of agreeableness, women also tend to move away from him.
Non-judgmental Mind
He’s extremely open-minded about everything.
Be it his thoughts, the society, or the people in it; he doesn’t judge them by any set of filters. To him, anybody who comes his way is a friend.
This open-mindedness usually clutters his life because he gets too many friends but very few true friends.
However, this quality also makes him experience life in a deeper manner.
Scared of Decision-making
He thinks a lot before making every decision because he fears the consequences of that decision.
This leads to extreme overthinking, which eventually cripples him, and he has to run to an Alpha to get an opinion.
Some men even run to their girlfriends to get their problems solved, which makes women run away because this is the opposite of what they want.
Not a Very Eye-to-Eye Man
He wants to make friends with everybody but lacks confidence which lets his eyes down.
It’s near impossible for a Beta to hold eye contact for more than 10 seconds in any conversation.
He might have the best topics to talk about or the best jokes for laughter, but his eyes always convey that he just isn’t confident enough to say anything.
No Hard Priorities
A Beta male doesn’t have any set of hard priorities that he can work around.
By hard priorities, I mean those priorities that will never change, irrespective of the situation.
For example, he might be a workaholic before getting into a relationship, but once he’s in it, he stops going to work because he wants to focus on the girl.
In other words, he loves sacrificing his dreams for others and then reminding them that he did this for them.
He Can’t Pick Fights.
A Beta male is generally incapable of fighting on his own.
He always needs an Alpha to protect him. He also doesn’t know when to pick a fight and when to avoid one.
This is the reason he gets beat up more often than others.
If you were ever confronted by a group of five men willing to fight you, the four standing behind that one big dude are the Betas.
Unless the Alpha throws a punch at you, they won’t move a finger.
Physically Unattractive
He doesn’t take good care of his health and physical appearance.
He doesn’t wanna hit the gym because he thinks his “curves” are perfect for women.
He won’t use moisturizers or face washes to get a good look.
He simply doesn’t care. This carelessness makes women leave him for more attractive men.
Remember that every man can be his absolute best, but he just doesn’t want to do it.
He’s fine being an Average dude.
Less Dominant
This is the major difference between an Alpha male and a Beta male.
He simply lacks dominance because dominance comes from competence, and he isn’t a competent man.
Another reason for this is he doesn’t want the responsibilities that come with dominance, so he stays under the umbrella of the Alpha.
This lack of dominance makes women think of him as a “weak and vulnerable little shy guy.”
Sadness Envelops Him
He gets everything he wants in life and hangs out with the likes of the Alpha, but he is never happy about anything.
He doesn’t feel like going out and experiencing life as it is.
This behavior is largely driven by fear because experiencing reality in its true form is not something everybody can do.
He wants to be in his own little space and be fulfilled without growth or ambition.
No Risk-taking
Beta avoids taking any risks because, as I mentioned above, he operates out of fear.
It doesn’t mean he doesn’t want the excitement of taking risks; he’s just afraid of the consequences of it.
He’s happy with a fairly stable life and doesn’t want to create trouble for himself.
However, this only makes him less exciting for other people because people consider risk-averse behavior to be a weakness.
No Special Hobbies
He has nothing under his hood with which he can present himself.
He can’t sing or dance or sketch or climb. He leads a basic life.
This is also part of the reason why women don’t hang out with him much because women like variety.
Since most men fall into the Beta gang, women run to Alphas, who can play a guitar, climb a mountain, or engage in some other Male hobby.
A lack of hobbies also shows that he’s just not that involved in the phenomenon of life. He isn’t living; he’s just existing.
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Benefits of a Beta Male Personality
Despite the fairly shocking personality traits you read above, Beta males are generally fun to be with.
They are friendly, cooperative, and understanding, which is good for a healthy society.
Here are a few benefits of being a Beta:
No pressure from society
He doesn’t need to face the reality of society because he always goes along with its norms.
He easily becomes one of them and fits in pretty well with any social group.
Nobody tells him he’s fat or unattractive; he gets sympathy for being weak.
Interestingly, this sympathy makes him like his average reality, and he doesn’t feel the need to climb up.
No fear of getting canceled
He plays safe and agrees to people’s opinions which gets him loved and adored by others.
He will never get canceled because he simply won’t speak up against anything.
A Beta male is free from the burden of people’s opinions of him because he knows they like him.
Take the example of “male radical feminists” who simply agreed to the radical shift in society and were forced to adopt feminine traits like sensitivity, empathy, and vulnerability.
They wear make-up now by the way.
No Hard Work
Part of the reason why Beta males hang out with Alphas is that they want to enjoy a similar lifestyle and company without doing the work.
Call a Beta, and he’s always there to help, any time of the day.
Since he also lacks ambition, he doesn’t want to push harder and is fine with living his own reality.
He’ll simply blame it on somebody or something if things go wrong.
No standards.
He maintains normal standards and fairly invisible boundaries to allow people to come in.
He doesn’t take any pressure to maintain a certain higher-level standard that’ll make him different from others.
He thinks being different will not get him the attention and validation of others in the social group.
To avoid this, he remains a relatively average dude.
Sticking With the Alpha
A Beta male gets a multitude of benefits if he hangs out with the Alpha male.
Money, respect, women, social status, and whatnot. The dude gets everything.
He enjoys this life by staying around as a loyal follower of the Alpha.
To a Beta, an Alpha is just a tool to look like a winner, when in reality, a Beta stands nowhere in life.
Drawbacks of a Beta Male Personality
While the benefits of being a Beta male seem pleasing, the disadvantages are actually horrible.
Most men can be Beta many times in their lifetime, but regularly being this personality will kill their chances of love, career, and mental health.
Let’s look at a few drawbacks of being a Beta male.
Less Aggressive
A man needs to have a capacity for violence so he can protect the ones he loves when chaos knocks on the door.
A Beta male is not very aggressive and often takes more punches than he delivers.
He thinks he forgives people, but in reality, he’s afraid of the conflict. He needs the help of others to stand up for a fight.
No Physical Care
Because a Beta thinks he is fit and doesn’t need physical care, he repels women.
He tries hard to be the best “husband-material,” but women just don’t find him attractive enough.
He won’t go to the gym or enhance his face; he’ll just sit on his couch and watch Netflix while eating fries.
This is also one of the reasons most Beta males are overweight.
Welcome Powerlessness
A Beta thinks that society and the government will take care of him in times of trouble, but when things get real, he has to seek an Alpha for help.
Since a Beta didn’t even attempt to gain power, he didn’t have one when trouble came his way.
He feels absolutely powerless in such situations.
Uninteresting Introversion
A common trait in all Beta males is being an introvert.
People don’t like introverts as much because they bring nothing interesting to the table. No conversations, jokes, or stories.
This is one of the reasons Beta males end up alone, which eventually leads to depression.
Doormat Life
A Beta male is literally a doormat for people because they walk all over him.
While he’s a loyal companion to everybody in life, people take this for granted and do whatever they please.
He gets cheated on by friends, girlfriends, and even siblings. His overreaching loyalty doesn’t serve him well.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Are Beta males less attractive to women?
A Beta male is able to charm women with his quick wit and friendly gestures, but his shyness and introverted nature lowers his attractiveness quotient. Also, if he’s competing with an Alpha, he will inevitably lose.
Are Beta males successful in business and leadership roles?
If a Beta male consistently works on his skills and acquires knowledge rapidly, he will succeed in any business he picks. However, this success comes a little late because he spends the majority of his time helping others instead of himself.
Do Beta males have trouble dating?
Yes. They can only attract a woman by quick wit and charming gestures, but they fail to keep those women because they’re not as dominant and strong as they should be. This makes women think that a Beta male cannot protect or provide for them.
How do Beta males handle rejection?
Beta males are extremely sensitive to rejection, and most often turn to friends or alcohol to cope with rejection. This makes them feel natural and happy again, and they often forget a rejection in less than six months.
The Bottomline
While Beta males are prevalent in our society, their hyper-friendly and cooperative lifestyle may not be very beneficial in the long run.
They must choose between settling for mediocrity or striving for greatness.
If you think you’re a Beta male after going through the traits, I’d only recommend you start climbing the hierarchy now.
Become a High-value man, and with the right mindset, you will mind the world in no time.
Remember that every Alpha was once a Beta too, but once they realized they were lower in the hierarchy, they exploded quickly to climb to the top. If they can do it, then so can you.
All the Best, King.
