Sexual Dimorphism and Personality Attributions of Male Faces

Abstract

Individuals tend to judge personality traits on the basis of physical characteristics, particularly facial traits, although this phenomenon has been mostly studied in relation to the halo effect of attractiveness. However, there are other facial traits which may also have an impact on personality attributions; here, we focused on masculinity. We carried out principal component analysis (PCA) of 15 anthropometric measurements from 71 male faces, resulting in three components: Face Height (C1), Inner Face Breadth (C2), and Cheekbones-Jaw Prominence (C3). The targets' photographs were rated by 210 women and 177 men on scales for masculinity, attractiveness, and nine psychological characteristics (selected Cattell's factors): Warmth, Reasoning, Emotional Stability, Dominance, Liveliness, Rule-Consciousness, Social Boldness, Abstractedness, and Privateness. We found that masculinity correlated positively with ratings of Dominance and Social Boldness and that masculinity rated by men correlated positively with ratings of Emotional Stability and Privateness. We found no relationship between masculinity rated by women and the PCA components, while masculinity rated by men correlated negatively with C2 (possibly related to babyface features) and positively with C3 (which included features developed under the control of testosterone, such as jaw prominence). Our results imply sex differences in masculinity ratings. In particular, men used Cheekbones-Jaw Prominence and Inner Face Breadth as cues for masculinity judgments; on the other hand, women apparently perceive masculinity in a more holistic way.

Interpretation of Appearance: The Effect of Facial Features on First Impressions and Personality

“…The attractiveness cluster seemingly represents the halo effect (the hypothesis stating that attractive people are evaluated more positively regarding positively loaded personality traits [28], [29]): High scores for Attractive clustered with high scores for Extraverted, Emotionally Stable, Physically Healthy, and Adventurous. We further discovered a clear link between scores for Dominating and Masculine for men (r(114) = .73, p<.001), which was in agreement with previous results [14], [30]. We compared the Ratings between genders with a Welsh's t-test and found that women generally are perceived as more trustworthy (p = 3.19×10 −5 ), responsible (p = 4.40×10 −10 ) and attractive (p = 6.35×10 −9 ), whereas men are seen as more emotionally stable (p = 4.04×10 −6 ).…”

“…On one hand, there is some truth behind first impressions - it has been shown that valid inferences are made for at least four personality traits (Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Dominance) from facial features [10]–[13] - on the other hand, first impressions are not always accurate, e.g. people with infant-like facial traits (small chin, high eyebrows, and large eyes) are perceived as more emotionally warm, submissive, and naive [14], but often the direct opposite is true, as seen in many adolescent boys [15]. One cause of these inaccuracies is that people generate trait evaluations based on neutral facial expressions resembling actual emotional expressions – an effect named the overgeneralisation hypothesis [16].…”

How Do You Say ‘Hello’? Personality Impressions from Brief Novel Voices

“…These results were largely consistent when exploring the relationship by gender of rater. Previous research has suggested similar results in face [72] and voice perception [68], [73], with findings pointing to increased attractiveness as masculinity/strength increases in males and as friendliness/warmth increases in females.…”

Preferences for Facial and Vocal Masculinity in Homosexual Men: The Role of Relationship Status, Sexual Restrictiveness, and Self-Perceived Masculinity

“…The portraits were taken with a Canon 350D camera with the focus Canon EF 50/1.8 II from a distance of 1.5 m. A light blue background was used to optimise white balance, following digital adjustments. In order to eliminate possible influences of hairstyle, only faces with scalps covered were used for the ratings (procedure used in previous studies, eg Pivonkova et al 2011). The scalps were covered using Photoshop 7.0 software, and faces were placed on a black background.…”