Male facial width is associated with death by contact violence: narrow-faced males are more likely to die from contact violence

Stirrat, Michael; Stulp, Gert; Pollet, Thomas V.

doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.02.002

Cited by 80 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Our results are also in keeping with previous research that has not shown effects of fWHR on female aggressive and fighting behavior (Carré and McCormick 2008;Haselhuhn and Wong 2011;Stirrat and Perrett 2010;Stirrat et al 2012; but see Geniole et al 2012), thus providing additional evidence that fWHR might not be an effective indicator of their formidability. However, in addition to the possibility that we were simply unable to detect effects of fWHR due to sample size, the results of a recent meta-analysis showed that BMI and fWHR are positively significantly correlated (Geniole et al 2015), suggesting that fWHR may still have an important association with formidability in women.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Men with greater fWHR may also be more successful in physically aggressive challenges (i.e., fights in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) competitions) (Trebicky et al 2015;Zilioli et al 2014). In addition, men, but not women, with greater fWHR may be less likely to die in a physically violent encounter (Stirrat et al 2012), suggesting that they may be more successful when faced with physical danger. Given that fWHR may be a sexually dimorphic (Weston et al 2007;Carré and McCormick 2008;but see Özener 2012;Lefevre et al 2012;Kramer 2015) and testosterone-linked trait (Lefevre et al 2013), and that men tend to engage in more aggressive behavior than women do (reviewed in Archer 2006), these discrepancies may not be surprising.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Body Mass Index Predicts Fighting Ability in Female UFC Fighters, but Facial Width-to-Height Ratio May Not

Palmer-Hague

Zilioli

Jagore

et al. 2015

Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology

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Several lines of evidence suggest that facial-width-to-height ratio (fWHR) provides an accurate cue to men's formidability, thus providing observers with a reliable estimate of their potential success in an interpersonal physical conflict. The degree to which fWHR provides the same information in women's faces, however, remains unclear. In fact, morphological characteristics, such as body size, may be more effective indicators of formidability in women. In the present study, we analyzed the effects of both fWHR and body mass index (BMI) on total number of fights and total number of wins in female competitive Ultimate Fighting Challenge (UFC) fighters. After controlling for number of active years fighting, we found that BMI significantly predicted number of wins in female fighters. The effects of fWHR were not significant, but warrant replication with a larger sample. These results suggest that in women, body size, rather than fWHR, may be a more accurate indicator of success in aggressive interpersonal conflicts. Our findings contribute to a growing body of literature that shows distinct differences in men and women's interpersonal aggressive and dominance behavior, as well as their morphological indicators.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Body Mass Index Predicts Fighting Ability in Female UFC Fighters, but Facial Width-to-Height Ratio May Not

Palmer-Hague

Zilioli

Jagore

et al. 2015

Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology

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“…I therefore used my own calculated values for these populations, given 170 that it was preferable to work with the raw data when available. Similarly for the databaseused by Stirrat et al (2012), I obtained the original set independently (see Section 2.2.2). 172…”

Section: Databases 166 167mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual dimorphism of facial width-to-height ratio in human skulls and faces: A meta-analytical approach

Kramer

2017

Evolution and Human Behavior

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Facial width-to-height ratio (FWHR), defined as the width of the face divided by the upper facial height, is a cue to behaviour. Explanations for this link often involve the idea that FWHR is sexually dimorphic, resulting from intersexual selection pressures. However, few studies have considered sexual dimorphism in skulls since the original paper on this topic, and it is possible that different explanations may be required if faces show sex differences but skulls do not. Here, meta-analyses of skulls found that men did have larger FWHR than women, although this effect was small. However, after categorising samples by ethnicity and geographical origin, meta-analyses only found evidence of sex differences in East Asians, and again, this effect was small. A re-analysis of previous studies after excluding skull samples found little evidence of sexual dimorphism in faces. Again, considering ethnicities separately, I found no differences for White samples but a medium-sized effect with East Asians, although this was not statistically significant with only three samples. Taken together, I found no reason to consider FWHR as a sexually dimorphic measure in skulls or faces, at least not universally, and so accounts based upon this assumption need rethinking if researchers are to explain the relationship between FWHR and behaviour

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“…In particular, facial width to upper facial height ratio (fWHR) has been proposed as 25 a trait used in competitor assessment. fWHR has been associated with anti-social behaviour [1,2], 26 perceived aggressiveness [3,4] and aggressive behaviour [5,6], sport performance [7], strength [8], 27 and the probability of being killed in violent physical encounters [9] or during wartime [10]. It was 28 initially proposed that fWHR is a sexually dimorphic trait [11], although this has not been confirmed in 29 subsequent studies [12,13].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Further evidence for links between facial width‐to‐height ratio and fighting success: Commentary on Zilioli et al. (2014)

Třebický

Fialová

Kleisner

et al. 2014

Aggressive Behavior

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Recent research has reported an association between facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) and both fighting performance and judgments of formidability in a sample of mixed martial arts (MMA) combatants. The results provide evidence of fWHR being associated with sporting performance and aggression in men. However, it has been argued that the effect of fWHR might be a by-product of associations between body size and behavioral measures. Here we tested whether fWHR is associated with perceived aggressiveness, fighting ability and success in physical confrontation, while controlling for body size, also in a sample of MMA fighters. We found that perceived fighting ability was predicted by weight but not by fWHR. In contrast, both fWHR and body weight independently predicted perceived aggressiveness. Furthermore, we found positive associations between fWHR and fighting performance which appear to be independent of body size. Our findings provide further support for the proposal that fWHR is associated with fighting ability and perceived aggression, and that these effects are independent of body size. Therefore, fWHR might be considered as a viable and reliable marker for inference of success in male intra-sexual competition

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Male facial width is associated with death by contact violence: narrow-faced males are more likely to die from contact violence

Cited by 80 publications

References 15 publications

Body Mass Index Predicts Fighting Ability in Female UFC Fighters, but Facial Width-to-Height Ratio May Not

Body Mass Index Predicts Fighting Ability in Female UFC Fighters, but Facial Width-to-Height Ratio May Not

Sexual dimorphism of facial width-to-height ratio in human skulls and faces: A meta-analytical approach

Further evidence for links between facial width‐to‐height ratio and fighting success: Commentary on Zilioli et al. (2014)

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