Do Women Prefer 'Manly' Faces?

The quality of our immune systems is linked to our genes. So an attractive masculine face should reflect the attractiveness of underlying good immunity genes.

Macho-face and baby-face

Faces with masculine features - such as a large jaw and prominent cheekbones - appear dominant, and dominance is associated with male reproductive success in many species, including humans.

For example, surveys show that male teenagers with dominant facial features report sexual intercourse at an earlier age than less dominant looking adolescents. In some situations facial dominance can predict career success. Researchers have found, for instance, that the facial dominance of graduates from a military academy predicts their final rank at the end of their careers. Increasing testosterone also has negative effects. Married men with high testosterone are more likely to suffer troubled relationships and to have extramarital affairs.

At the other extreme are feminine or 'baby-like' faces, characterised by smaller chins, high eyebrows and larger eyes. Both men and women with baby-like faces are seen as being warmer, more honest, and more sincere - but also more naïve and less physically strong. In simulated court trials, baby-faced individuals are less likely to be found guilty of charges involving intentional criminal behaviour. They are also given lighter sentences. Both results reflect the effects of attributed naïvety and honesty.

These stereotypes appear to reflect reality. Researchers have found that the more baby-faced a man looks, the more he perceives himself as approachable and warm, and the lower he ranks in terms of aggression. In other tests, people whose faces were rated as being 'less honest' were more likely to volunteer for experiments that involved them in deception than people who were judged to look more honest.

Reading a face

Our research here at the University of St Andrews has demonstrated that people both in the UK and Japan prefer a feminised male face-shape to a masculinised one. This finding probably reflects the fact that people read different personalities into subjects' face shapes.

They tend to associate feminised male faces with positive traits such as honesty, warmth, co-operation and skill as a parent. Conversely, traits such as dominance are associated with masculinised face shapes.