You
can judge a book by its cover…Study says a passing
glance is all it takes to select a mate for women
Newswise — The
age-old saying, “never judge a book by its cover,”
has been challenged recently by research in the
journal Personal Relationships. Results from
a study conducted by researchers at the University
of Michigan’s School of Public Health suggest that
women may judge potential mates by their facial
features, even before getting to know them.
The researchers
tested roughly 850 male and female undergraduates,
using digitally altered pictures of male faces. The
pictures were adjusted to look more “masculine” or
more “feminine,” and then the students were asked to
fill out online questionnaires predicting behavioral
patterns based on what they saw.
According to the
study, women view men with “masculine features”
including prominent brow ridges and large jaws, as
good short-term partners. Men with more “feminine
features” including rounder faces and fuller lips
were viewed as better long-term partners by female
participants.
“Women’s
preferences depend on what type of partner she is
looking for,” says the study’s author Daniel Kruger,
Ph.D., of the University of Michigan’s School of
Public Health. “She will prefer a highly masculine
face for a short-term relationship where the
potential genetic investment would be most
important, and a more feminine face for a long-term
relationship, where a stable, supportive
relationship and ability and willingness to care for
children would be more important.”
In other words,
women in the study felt that men with more feminine
facial features would probably make better parents
and husbands, whereas men with more masculine facial
features would be more likely to cheat on a spouse
and get into fights.
Interestingly, male participants in the study drew
similar conclusions based on facial characteristics.
When asked to hypothetically choose a person to
accompany their girlfriend on a weekend trip, men
participating in the study preferred the feminized
version. They also chose the less masculine face as
a potential son-in-law for their daughter of the
future, feeling he would be less likely to “desert
their daughter.”
According to this
and other studies, the hormone testosterone may play
a role in explaining facial preferences. Traits
influenced by testosterone, the hormone that
promotes the development and maintenance of male
facial and sexual features, including prominent brow
lines and larger jaws may be characteristics women
want to pass on to offspring. At the same time, an
abundance of testosterone has been implicated in
violent behavior and spousal cheating. As a result,
women may want longer-term relationships with
less-masculine looking men.
There are many
other examples of similar features among animal
models. According to Kruger, other studies have
shown that certain “female animals were more likely
to cheat on their partners with a male that had the
physiological cues of higher genetic quality,
including flashy feathers, coloring, etc.” While
more studies are needed to make definitive
conclusions, Kruger’s research seems to suggest that
some people definitely judge a book by its cover!