A popular facial metric for predicting male aggression fails a major test
For years, researchers believed a specific facial ratio signaled male aggression and dominance. A new evaluation overturns this idea, showing that facial proportions do not differ between sexes, but absolute facial width tells a different story.
For decades, scientists believed that a particular facial proportion predicted aggression and dominance in males, but new research has debunked this notion. By examining nearly 2,000 facial photographs, a team of researchers discovered that this widely-used metric does not significantly differ between men and women. Instead, absolute facial width appears to be a more reliable indicator of biological differences.
This study, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, sheds light on the complexities of interpreting facial features as social signals of traits such as threat or trustworthiness.
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