Women prefer wide-faced men when it comes to choosing mates for short tern relationships, a new study finds.
The study was conducted by researcher Katherine Valentine of Singapore Management University. The findings confirm previous studies that suggest physical appearance plays a major role in dating behaviors. Physical dominance has always been a favored characteristic when it comes to choosing dating mates.
Wide-faced men are considered to be more dominant and hence, are perceived as more attractive for short-term relationships by women, according to a press statement. For the study, participants were take part in speed-dating events. All participants were single, aged between 18 and 32 and included both men and women. Each speed-dating event lasted for 3 minutes and participants were given the prospect of making a potential romantic match.
"High male fWHR (width-to-height ratio) has previously been associated with surviving in hand-to-hand combat, aggressiveness, self-perceived power, and CEO's financial success," said Valentine in the statement. "Our study shows it's also a reasonably good indicator of perceived dominance - not only that, it piques women's interest in a face-to-face speed-dating setting."
Valentine pointed out that within three minutes of meeting a wide-faced man, a woman finds him very attractive and wants to go out on a date with him. This of course, holds true only for women looking for short-term relationships.
The researchers of the study also highlighted that though wide-faced men are the preferred romantic interest in short-term relationships, they are not the number one choice in long-term relationships. This has to do with the fact that larger facial width is also linked with undesirable traits like aggression.
"The fact that women wanted to see these men again suggests that our findings are robust - women aren't just saying they are interested, they're actually willing to be contacted by these men," says Valentine. "Previous studies have found that women prefer more dominant men for short-term relationships, but almost all of these studies were based in the lab and did not involve an interaction that could actually lead to mating and dating."
Other reasons for why wide-faced men are preferred only for short term relationships may be because a previous study found that such men are less trustworthy and prone to lying. Some people wonder how the width of a man's face should have anything to do with his behavior.
"There seems to be an evolutionary basis for it," researcher Michael Haselhuhn said in a telephonic interview with ABC News. "Men tend to have a wider facial ratio than do women, which suggests it must be a good thing for guys to have. Wide-faced guys must be doing something right."
Findings of the study were published in Psychological Science.
