14 DAY TRIAL // When a woman tells you that you're nice, that may not be good at all.
Because a new research shows that women judge potential mates by how masculine their physical features are. They regard harsh masculine traits, like square jaws and well-defined brow ridges, as indicating good short-term partners, while effeminate traits such as a rounder face and fuller lips are seen as indicators for long-term mates.
The researchers presented to 854 male and female subjects male head pictures that were digitally altered to exaggerate or decrease masculine traits. The participants were asked to estimate the behavior of the men from photos. Almost all the subjects regarded those with more masculine features as risky and competitive and also more aggressive, challenge bosses, cheat on partners and put less effort into parenting. Those with effeminate faces were perceived as careful, good parents and husbands, hard workers.
Even so, for brief romances, women preferred males with a more masculine look. A previous British study reached the same conclusions. The findings make sense from an evolutionary view: masculine-looking men may be preferred for an affair, but less masculine-looking "softer" men make the ideal husbands. "The key is testosterone, the hormone responsible for development of masculine facial features and other secondary sexual characteristics." said study's author, Daniel Kruger at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health.
Testosterone boosts the body's immune system, so men with high levels of the hormone are typically strong and healthy, desired traits that women want to pass on to their children. "Increased testosterone has also been linked to male cheating and violence in relationships, so while these men might produce high quality offspring, they don't always make great parents or faithful mates," Kruger says.
Animals display many traits that indicate testosterone levels. "Male peacocks' huge, outrageous Tails can make foraging for food and evading predators difficult, but the plumage, which many researchers say indicates male fitness, is so effective at luring females that the trait has been preserved in the population," Kruger points out.
Links between physiognomy and certain human behaviors have always been regarded with skepticism, but the new research counts for understanding mating strategies.