Dominance perceptions play an important role in social interactions. Although many researchers have proposed that masculine face-shape is an important cue for dominance perceptions, evidence for this claim has come almost exclusively from studies that assessed perceptions of experimentally manipulated face images using two-alternative forced-choice paradigms. Consequently, we investigated the role of masculine shape characteristics in perceptions of men’s facial dominance (1) using the two-alternative forced-choice method and (2) when unmanipulated face images were rated for dominance and shape masculinity was measured from face images. Although we observed large positive effects of masculinity on dominance perceptions when we used the two-alternative forced-choice method (Cohen’s d = 2.51), the effect of masculinity on dominance perceptions was not significant and considerably smaller when unmanipulated face images were rated and shape masculinity was measured from face images (Cohen’s d = 0.44). This same pattern was observed when faces were rated separately for physical and social dominance. Collectively, these results suggest that previous research using the two-alternative forced-choice method and experimentally manipulated images may have overstated the importance of face-shape masculinity for perceptions of men’s dominance and that shape masculinity may be less important for dominance assessments of natural (i.e., unmanipulated) face images. This research was supported by ESRC grant ES/X000249/1 awarded to BCJ and by ZintegrUJ travel grant POWR.03.05.00-00-Z309/17-00 awarded to UMM. For the purpose of Open Access, the authors have applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) to any Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) version arising from this submission.

Dominance perceptions play an important role in social interactions. Although many researchers have proposed that shape masculinity is an important facial cue for dominance perceptions, evidence for this claim has come almost exclusively from studies that assessed perceptions of experimentally manipulated faces using forced-choice paradigms. Consequently, we investigated the role of masculine shape characteristics in perceptions of men’s facial dominance (1) when shape-manipulated stimuli were presented in a forced-choice paradigm and (2) when unmanipulated face images were rated for dominance and shape masculinity was measured from face images. Although we observed large effects of masculinity on dominance perceptions when we used the forced-choice method (Cohen’s ds = 2.51 and 3.28), the effect of masculinity on dominance perceptions was considerably smaller when unmanipulated face images were rated and shape masculinity measured from face images (Cohen’s ds = 0.44 and 0.62). This pattern was observed when faces were rated separately for physical dominance, social dominance, and masculinity, and was seen for two different sets of stimuli. Collectively, these results suggest that shape masculinity may not be a particularly important cue for dominance perceptions when faces vary simultaneously on multiple dimensions, as is the case during everyday social interactions.

Health perceptions are thought to play an important role in human mate preferences. Although many studies have investigated potential relationships between health ratings of faces and facial symmetry, prototypicality, and sexual dimorphism, findings have been mixed across studies. Consequently, we tested for potential relationships between health ratings of faces and objective measures of the symmetry, prototypicality, and sexual dimorphism of those faces’ shapes. When these shape characteristics were entered individually in separate regression models, we observed significant positive relationships between health ratings and both shape symmetry and prototypicality, but sexual dimorphism and health ratings were not significantly correlated. In regression models in which symmetry, prototypicality, and sexual dimorphism were entered simultaneously as predictors, prototypicality, but not symmetry, was significantly correlated with health ratings and sexual dimorphism predicted health ratings of female, but not male, faces. Collectively, these results suggest that the relationship between prototypicality and health ratings is likely to be particularly robust and highlight the importance of considering multiple aspects of face shape when investigating potential associations between face shape and health perceptions. This research was supported by ESRC grant ES/X000249/1 awarded to BCJ and a University of Strathclyde Global Research Award to KL. For the purpose of Open Access, the authors have applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) to any Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) version arising from this submission.

Many studies have reported that women show stronger preferences for male faces with masculine shapes when assessing men’s attractiveness for short-term than long-term relationships. However, these studies used face stimuli in which shape characteristics were experimentally manipulated and presented in forced-choice testing paradigms. Because of recent work suggesting results obtained using this approach do not necessarily occur when more ecologically valid methods are employed, we tested for this putative effect of relationship context on masculinity preferences when natural (i.e., unmanipulated) male face images were rated for attractiveness and face-shape masculinity was objectively assessed from the images. In two studies, one in which relationship context was a between-subjects factor and one in which relationship context was a within-subjects factor, we saw no compelling evidence that relationship context moderated women’s preferences for masculine face shapes. These null results suggest that the hypothesised effect of relationship context is, at best, very small when a study design with greater ecological validity than those employed in previous work is used. Furthermore, they add to a growing body of work raising concerns about the appropriateness of experimentally manipulated face stimuli and forced-choice paradigms for investigating the role of facial characteristics in mate preferences. This research was supported by ESRC grant ES/X000249/1 awarded to BCJ and a University of Strathclyde Global Research Award to JD. For the purpose of Open Access, the authors have applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) to any Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) version arising from this submission.

Perceptions of the trustworthiness of faces predict important social outcomes, including economic exchange and criminal sentencing decisions. However, the specific facial characteristics that drive trustworthiness perceptions remain poorly understood. Here we investigated this issue by exploring possible relationships between ratings of the trustworthiness of face images and objective assessments of two aspects of face shape that researchers have previously suggested are important for perceptions of trustworthiness: distinctiveness and sexual dimorphism. We found that faces with more distinctive shapes were rated as less trustworthy. By contrast, sexual dimorphism of face shape was not significantly correlated with trustworthiness ratings. These results suggest that distinctiveness of face shape plays a more important role in trustworthiness perceptions than does sexual dimorphism and suggest that perceptions of trustworthiness may stem, at least in part, from the ‘anomalous-is-bad’ stereotype.This research was supported by ESRC grant ES/X000249/1 awarded to BCJ. For the purpose of Open Access, the authors have applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) to any Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) version arising from this submission.