The age-old saying, “never judge a book by its cover,” has been challenged recently by research in the journal Personal Relationships.
Results from a study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health suggest that women may judge potential mates by their facial features, even before getting to know them.
The researchers tested roughly 850 male and female undergraduates, using digitally altered pictures of male faces.
The pictures were adjusted to look more “masculine” or more “feminine,” and then the students were asked to fill out online questionnaires predicting behavioral patterns based on what they saw.
According to the study, women view men with “masculine features” including prominent brow ridges and large jaws, as good short-term partners.
Men with more “feminine features” including rounder faces and fuller lips were viewed as better long-term partners by female participants.
“Women’s preferences depend on what type of partner she is looking for,” says the study’s author Daniel Kruger, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health.