A person's face can send a lot of signals. It can be used to estimate age or to gauge a person's mood. It can also convey emotions and be used as a communication tool. But a recent study claims that the insights we can gather from simply looking at a person's face goes beyond that.
According to the study, which was published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, men with wide faces--or those with a large facial width-to-height ratio (FWHR)--tend to have higher sex drives and thus, are most likely to cheat and stray from monogamous relationships.
Surveying a total of 459 students from two different Canadian universities, researchers found that majority of those who had wider faces, based on photographs they took prior to the study, had reported a higher sex drive. In addition, they found that those with wider faces were more open to casual sex and showed less interest in monogamy or having sex with one partner alone.
photo: shutterstock
So what makes the researchers think these findings weren't merely coincidental?
The study's authors link a person's facial dimensions with hormone exposure during early fetal development. Those exposed to more sex hormones, or androgens and testosterone not only tend to grow up to be more dominant, their faces also tend to be more "masculine," with wider jaws or more pronounced cheekbones.
"Together, these findings suggest that facial characteristics might convey important information about human sexual motivations," lead author Steven Arnocky told Newsweek.
Though these findings are interesting, it's important to note that further studies---not to mention, a wider pool of subjects---are needed in order to fully strengthen these claims.
It's also worth taking into account, that behavior cannot be predicted through physical assessment alone. And the survey method can be subjective, as not all respondents are fully honest, especially when it comes to questions about sex and infidelity.
What do you think of this study? Do you believe science plays a role in predicting if a man will cheat?
sources: Forbes.com, Newsweek, AOL.com, Archives of Sexual Behavior
Republished with permission from The Asianparent Philippines
