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Finding a potential partner: how much can you tell from his face?

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Ladies, forget about a man with a wider and shorter face, shorter nose, and round jaw. Chances are, he is only attracted to another man. Besides, a wide-faced man tend to be hostile! Oh, and you may want to think twice before you date a guy who looks like Colin Farrell. Apparently, his angular jaw, square chin, and prominent brow point towards infidelity. Sounds like a useful piece of advice to help you filter thousands of profile pictures on e-harmony? Maybe. But how reliable is the face in revealing one’s personality?

The idea that people can discern information about other’s personalities based on physical appearance, especially the face, even without prior acquaintance, is called physiognomy. Psychologists usually study physiognomy by taking pictures of men and women with neutral facial expressions in addition to obtaining information about their behaviors or characteristics. Then, psychologists link a specific facial structures of these photographed men and women with their personal information and see if any patterns emerge. For example, whether short-faced people always report higher levels of tension compared to long-faced people. After all, people who experience a lot of stress and tension may clench their jaws and grind their teeth more frequently, creating intensive muscle activities that may gradually change the morphology of their face. But are all short-faced people rigid?


In one study that looked at the association between the facial width-to-height ratio and one’s propensity to be aggressive, the researchers also asked participants their perception of their social status. That is, how well off they thought they were in terms of education, money, and jobs, compared to most people in the United States. Men with wider faces scored higher on aggressive behavior, but only if they also reported having low status. Among those who thought they had high social status, wide-faced men were neither less nor more aggressive than long-faced men.


The researchers extended their study by examining the photographs of National Hockey League players. Researchers used the number of penalty minutes obtained per game as a measure of aggression, and the players’ salary as a measure of social status. Again, wide face predicted aggressive behavior only among players with lower salaries. Players with higher salaries were less aggressive in general, regardless of their facial structure.  



In the end, judging a person based on just the face can be misleading. At least for aggression, we know that the thickness of one’s wallet also matters. Thus, ladies, always keep in mind that looks can be deceiving. Instead of scrutinizing every inch of his face on e-harmony, ask him out for a date so you can have the opportunity to interact with him and uncover his personality.   


Sources:
Carré, J. M., McCormick, C. M., & Mondloch, C. J. (2009). Facial structure is a reliable cue of aggressive behavior. Psychological Science, 20, 1194–1198.

Goetz, S. M. M., Shattuck, K. S., Miller, R.M., Campbel, J. A., Lozoya, E., Weisfeld, G. E., & Carré, J. M. (2013). Social status moderates the relationship between facial structure and aggression. Psychological Science, 24, 2329-2334. 
Squier, R.W., & Mew, J. R. C. (1981). The relationship between facial structure and personality characteristics. British Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 151-160.
Image credit:
Face Image by Petras Gagilas at Flickr; available via Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License

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