Love at “Face” Sight

Researchers from Aberdeen, St Andrews and Durham universities collated their results from a survey of 700 people all in their 20s and the results suggested that men generally gravitated towards women they perceive would be more open to a short term sexual relationship, whilst members of the female sex inclined towards partnerships with more longevity.

Scientists said their research demonstrated that people could use their perceptions to make more informed partner selections, depending upon the type of relationship they were after.

Heterosexual participants were asked to choose the face that they felt would be more open to a short-term sexual relationship, one night stands and the idea of sex without love.

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

Women who were open to short-term sexual relationships were usually often seen by men as initially more attractive, whilst the men who were perceived as being more open to casual sex were generally more masculine-looking, with squarer jaws, larger noses and smaller eyes.

One of the experts – Lynda Boothroyd of Durham University ’s psychology department - claimed that “people can judge the sexual strategy of others simply from looking at their faces. People are not always sure about their judgements because the cues can be very subtle”.

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