Features
Feature: Love At Face Value??
By bbcnews.com
Apr 9, 2008, 7:33

People's attitudes to relationships could be given away by just the look of their face; it has been claimed - with men and women often after the opposite.

Researchers said men generally preferred women they perceive are open to short-term sexual relationships, with women after longer-term matches.

Men with big jaws and small eyes were perceived as less committed by women.

The Universities of Aberdeen and St Andrews worked with Durham University studying 700 people in their 20s.

The scientists said their research showed people could use their perceptions to make more informed partner selection depending on the type of relationship they were after.

Heterosexual participants were shown pairs of photographs of men and women in their early 20s. Participants were asked to choose the face that they felt would be more open to short-term sexual relationships, one-night stands and the idea of sex without love.

They were also asked which face they thought was the most attractive for a long or short-term relationship, who was more masculine or feminine, and who they thought was generally attractive.

These judgments were compared with the actual attitudes to relationships of the subjects in the photographs determined through a questionnaire.

Researchers said that the results determined many could accurately judge from photographs who would be more interested in a short-term sexual relationship or a long-term relationship.

Women who were open to short-term sexual relationships were usually seen by others as more attractive.

The men who were more open to casual sex were generally perceived as more masculine-looking, with squarer jaws, larger noses and smaller eyes.

The study, published in the Journal of Evolution and Human Behaviour on Wednesday, was funded by the Medical Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council.