By Avril Ormsby
LONDON, April 9 (Reuters Life!) - Members of the opposite sex can spot whether someone is after a one-night stand or something more permanent just by looking at their face, scientists said on Wednesday.
On men, a square jaw, large nose and small eyes are more likely to betray the look of lust than of love.
Women found men with softer features more likely to opt for commitment.
But the Durham University-led research found that while men can judge whether a woman is footloose-and-fancy-free or not, there is no common facial detail to explain it.
About 700 heterosexual people took part in the survey carried out by Durham, St. Andrews and Aberdeen universities.
In one study, 72 percent of the 153 participants correctly identified the sexual attitudes of a group of men and women in their 20s after being shown photographs or facial images.
Published in the journal "Evolution and Human Behaviour," the research also showed that women who were open to short-term sexual relationships were usually seen as more attractive.
They tended to have wide eyes and large lips, such as the actress Angelina Jolie.
Women were usually interested in men who appeared to be more likely to want a long-term relationship.
The research tended to confirm earlier findings which found that women see masculine men as more likely to be unfaithful and worse at parenting.
The men and women also tended to opt for complete opposites.
Dr Lynda Boothroyd, from Durham University's Psychology Department, said: "This shows that these initial impressions may be part of how we assess potential mates -- or potential rivals -- when we first meet them.
"These will then give way over time to more in-depth knowledge of that person as you get to know them better, and may change with age."
Dr Ben Jones, from the University of Aberdeen's Face Research Lab, said: "Lots of previous studies have shown that people can judge a lot about a person from their face, including things like health and even some personality traits like introversion, but this really is the first study to show that people are also sensitive to subtle facial signals about the type of romantic relationships that others might enjoy."
Alright now, so some of this could make sense. If a guy looks tough and prison buff women are less likely to look at him like husband material. And if the woman looks like a live version of Jessica Rabbit I guess I could understand a guy thinking she’s no modest mary. But still, talk about judging a book by its cover! So if you’re lucky enough to look like Angelina Jolie watch out for guys thinking you’re going to be up for a one night stand. Dispelling any thoughts that pretty girls don’t have it tough in the dating scene.
And in the alternative the study suggest guys with “softer features” are more the commitment type. Soo, what are male soft features? So if you look like say, Orlando Bloom, you are marriage material? Pretty boys come to mind but then they get the rap of being players.
And if you look like the Rock or Vin Disel are you S.O.L. with many women wanting you as more than a sexual partner? Seems doubtful.
This study is disturbing to me and can open up so many stereotypical doors. The crazy part is that many of the viewers guessed right about the sexual willingness of the people. But it seems wrong to suggest that the way one looks predetermines such matters. What’s next? Race?
5 comments:
I love how they base studies on stereotypes and then have the audacity to call it scientific research. Tyra did a show in December about 'gaydar'. I blogged about it here.
These "scientists" need to spend their research dollars on some more important issues. This is pure B.S. Just another reason for people to justify their prejudices.
Yea, it's a pretty silly study. I love when they try to generalize something that really is culture and individual specific.
I don't think I've met too many people that had a constant idea of what they want with what kind of person. Most people are in a perpetual flux; the flavors come and go with the seasons.
I am so with Erika on this.
I love loosely-based statistics -- much like when they'd come up with the most random facts. They say something like: "Brett Favre is undefeated on Monday nights when the Packers play at home to a sold out crowd and the temperature is below 10 degrees and only 3 or less players are injured."
I guess you can make just about anything work if you try hard enough.
My guess is that the study works like this:
Men who have the features they listed as "one night stand features" tend to be higher in testosterone. That's why their features developed in the way that they did.
Women who have the features they list as "one night stand features" tend to be higher in estrogen. That's why their features developed in the way that they did.
Men who are higher in testosterone tend to be rated as more physically attractive, as are women who are higher in estrogen.
More physically attractive people tend to have more sexual partners, both because they're more attractive to others and because the higher hormonal levels seem to have some influence on their own behavior.
Therefore, what the study shows is that men could detect beauty in women (i.e. higher estrogen) and correctly assume that those women have more partners, while women could detect attractiveness in men (i.e. higher testosterone) and correctly assume that those men had more partners.
Whew! I'm out of breath now. :)
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