Physiognomy

Physiognomy is the ancient art of deducing someone's personality and character from their countenance and overall appearance, particularly focusing on facial features. A research approach with similarities to physiognomy has gained attention in contemporary social science, though it's controversial as people generally don't like to admit or think about the genetic baseline people are born with hugely influences one's life.

The concept has returned in modern internet culture in recent years, especially among the alt-right: This usage is often accompanied by the term "physiognomy check" and intends to mock the personal appearance of political opponents or personal rivals; it further implies that the target of the 'checks' character matches their facial appearance.

Don't confuse it with related concepts such as phrenology, which is the belief that one can determine a person's personality, intelligence, and propensity to engage in criminal activity by evaluating the shape of their skull, mainly the bump on the crown, said to correlate with the development of specific brain regions. Phrenology was popular in the Victorian era and shortly after but has since fallen out of favor in the scientific community.

In Ancient Greece

"Of the Judgment of Physiognomy" - By Aristotle

Hair

Jestermaxxer with a starfish-pattern baldness.

Hair that hangs down without curling, if it be of a fair complexion, thin, and soft withal, signifies a man to be naturally fainthearted, and of a weak body but of a quiet and harmless disposition. Hair that is big, and thick, and short withal, denotes a man to be of a strong constitution, secure, and deceitful, and for the most pert unquiet, and vain, lusting after beauty, and more foolish than wise, though fortune may favour him. He whose hair is partly curled and partly hanging down, is commonly a wise or a very great fool, or else as very a knave as he is a fool. He whose hair groweth thick on his temples and his brow, one may at the first sight certainly conclude that such a man is by nature simple, vain, luxurious, lustful, credulous, clownish in his speech and conversation, and dull in his apprehension. He whose hair not only curls very much, but busheth out, and stands on end; if the hair be white, or of yellowish colour, he is by nature proud and bold, dull of apprehension, soon angry, a lover of venery, and given to lying, malicious and ready to do any mischief. He whose hair rises in the corners of his temples, and is gross and rough withal, is a man highly conceited of himself, inclined to malice, but cunningly conceals it, is very courtly, and a lover of new fashions. He who hath much hair, that is to say whose hair is thick all over his head, is naturally vain and very luxurious, of a good digestion, easy of belief, and slow of performance, of a weak memory, and for the most part unfortunate. He whose hair is of reddish complexion, is for the most part, if not always, proud, deceitful, detracting, venerous, and full of envy. He whose hair is extraordinarily fair, is for the most part a man fit for all praiseworthy enterprizes, a lover of honours, and much more inclined to do good than evil; laborious and careful to perform whatsoever is committed to his care, secret in carrying on any business, and fortunate. Hair of a yellowish colour shows a man to be good conditioned, and willing to do any thing, fearful, shamefaced, and weak of body, but strong in the abilities of the mind, and more apt to remember than revenge an injury. He whose hair is of a brownish colour, and curleth not too much nor too little, is a well disposed man, inclined to that which is good, a lover of peace, cleanliness, and good manners. He whose hair turns grey or hoary in the time of his youth, is generally given to women, vain, false, unstable, and talkative. Not, that whatsoever signification the hair has in men it has the same in women also.

Forehead

Oldcel testicalmaxxing.

The forehead that riseth in a round, signifies a man liberally merry, of a good understanding, and generally inclined to virtue. He whose forehead is fleshy, and the bone of the brow jutting out, and without wrinkles, is a man much inclined to suits of law, contentious, vain, deceitful, and addicted to follow ill courses. He whose forehead is very low and little is of a good understanding, magnanimous, but extremely bold and confident, and a great pretender to love and honour. He whose forehead seems sharp, and pointing up in the corners of his temple, that the bone seem m put forth a little, is a man naturally weak and fickle, and weak in his intellectuals. He whose brow upon the temples is full of flesh is a man of a great spirit, proud, watchful, and of a gross understanding. He whose brow is full of wrinkles, and hath as it were a seam coming down the middle of his forehead, so that a man may think he hath two foreheads, is one that is of a great spirit, a great wit, void of deceit, and yet of a hard fortune. He who has a full large forehead, and a little round withal, destitute of hair, or at least that has little on it, is bold, malicious, high spirited, full of choler, and apt to transgress beyond bounds, and yet of a good wit, and very apprehensive. He whose forehead is long and high, and jutting forth, and whose face is figured, almost sharp and picked towards the chin, is one reasonably honest, but weak and simple, and of a hard fortune.

Eye-brows

Those eye-brows that are much arched, whether in man or woman, and which by frequent motion elevate themselves, show the person to be proud, high-spirited, vain-glorious, bold and threatening; a lover of beauty, and indifferently inclined to either good or evil. He whose eye-lids bend downwards when he speaks to another man, or when he looks upon him, and who has a kind of skulking look, is by nature a penurious wretch, close in all his actions, of a very few words, but full of malice in his heart. He whose eye-brows are thick, and have but little hair upon them, is but weak in his intellectuals, and too credulous, very sincere, sociable, and desirous of good company. He whose eye-brows are folded, and the hair thick, and bending downwards, is one that is clownish and unlearned, heavy, suspicious, miserable, envious, and one that will cheat and cozen you if he can, and is only to be kept honest by good looking to. He whose eye-brow hath but short hair and of a whitish colour, is fearful, and very easy of belief, and apt to undertake any thing. Those on the other side whose eye-brows are black, and the hair of them but thin, will do nothing without great consideration, and are bold and confident of the performance of what they undertake; neither are they apt to believe anything without reason for so doing. If the space between the eye-brows be of more than ordinary distance, it shows the person to be hard-hearted, envious, close and cunning, apprehensive, greedy of novelties, of a vain fortune, addicted to cruelty more than love. But those men whose eyebrows are at a lesser distance from each other, are for the most part of a dull understanding; yet subtile enough in their dealings, and of an uncommon boldness, which is often attended with a great felicity; but that which is most commendable in them is, that they are most sure and constant in their friendship.

Eyes

Donald Trump's Eyes. They're clearly uneven in size (one eyelid is visible, the other is more "hunter-eyed"), as - although he consistently claimed he doesn't consume alcohol, tobacco, illegal recreational drugs etc... - he's obviously meant to live in a retirement home already like Joe Biden, subsequently uses a lot of medication and also underwent numerous cosmetical surgeries: Some plastic surgeons speculate he has undergone blepharoplasty (an eye-lift) to reduce excess skin and bags around his eyes, while also suggesting he may utilize non-surgical injectables like Botox, Dysport, or Restylane to smooth wrinkles. Medical and forensic analyses of his hairline strongly suggest interventions like Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT), Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE), or rotational flap procedures. Additionally, in a 1990 deposition, his then-wife Ivana Trump stated under oath that he underwent a scalp reduction procedure to correct balding and also claimed he underwent liposuction on his chin and waistHe takes statins (such as Crestor) for his heart & high cholesterol, daily aspirin for cardiovascular health, finasteride for his hair loss. Also, his extraordinarily aged skin (although it's not that bad considering he's 8/10 of a century old...) may be caused by antibiotics (like those used for rosacea). The White House Medical Unit also regularly dispensed controlled substances, including sedatives like Ambien as sleep aids. To the normies here: Do you genuinely think that guy would've won twice if he wasn't so ridiculously funny (one must admit that's probably one of his best qualities...) and if he looked like a 5'2 balding indian janitor instead of being 6'3 (190cm)? Maybe this will make you think a bit more...

Great and full eyes in either man or woman, shew the person to be for the most part slothful, bold, envious, a bad concealer of secrets, miserable, vain, given to lying, and yet of a bad memory, slow in invention, weak in his intellectuals, and yet very much conceited of the little knack of wisdom he thinks himself master of. He wise eyes are hollow in his head, and therefore discerns excellently well at a great distance, is one that is suspicious, malicious, furious, perverse in his conversation, of an extraordinary memory, bold, cruel, and false, both in words and deeds, threatening, vicious, luxurious proud, envious, and treacherous: But he whose eyes are as it were starting out of his head, is a simple, foolish person, shameless, very senile, and easy to be persuaded either to vice or virtue. He who looks studiously and acutely with his eyes and eye-lids downwards, denotes thereby to be of a malicious nature, very treacherous, false, unfaithful, envious, miserable, impious toward God, and dishonest towards men. He whose eyes are small and conveniently round, is bashful and weak, very credulous, liberal to others and even in his conversation. He whose eyes look asquint, is thereby denoted to be a deceitful person, unjust, envious, furious, a great liar, and as the effect of all this, miserable. He who hath a wandering eye, and which is rolling up and dawn, is for the most part a vain, simple, deceitful man, lustful, treacherous, or high minded, an admirer of the fair sex, and one easy to be persuaded to virtue or vice. He or she whose eyes are twinkling, and which move forward or backward, show the person to be luxurious, unfaithful and treacherous, presumptuous, and hard to believe any thing that is spoken. If a person has any greenness mingled in the white of his eyes, such is commonly silly, and often very false, vain and deceitful, unkind to his friends, a great concealer of his own secrets, and very choleric. Those whose eyes are every way rolling up and down, or they who seldom move their eyes, and when they do, do as it were draw their eyes inwardly, and accurately fasten them upon some object, such are by their inclinations very malicious, vain glorious, slothful, unfaithful, envious, false and contentious. They whose eyes are addicted to blood-shot, are naturally choleric, proud, disdainful, cruel without shame, perfidious, and much inclined to superstition. They that have eyes like those of oxen, are persons of good nutriment, but a weak memory, are dull of understanding, and silly in their conversation. But they whose eyes are neither too little nor big, and inclined to a black, do signify a man mild, peaceable, honest, witty, and of a good understanding: and one that when need requires, will be serviceable to his friends.

Nose

Normies always knew, at least subconsciously...

A long and thin nose denotes a man bold, furious, angry, vain, easy to be persuaded either to good or evil, weak and credulous. A long nose and extended, the tip of it bending downwards shows the person to be wise, discreet, secret and officious, honest and faithful, and one who will not be over-reached in bargaining. A bottle nose is what denote a man to be impetuous in the obtaining of has desires; also vain, false, luxurious, weak, and an uncertain man, apt to believe, and easy to be persuaded. A nose broad in the middle, and less towards the end, denotes a vain talkative person, a liar, and one of hard fortune. He who hath a long and great nose is an admirer of the fair sex, and well accomplished for the wars of Venus, but ignorant of the knowledge of any thing that's good; extremely addicted to vice; assiduous in the obtaining what he desires, and very secret in the prosecution of it; and though very ignorant, would fain be thought very knowing.

A nose very sharp on the top of it, and neither too long nor too short, too thick nor too thin, denotes the person, if a man, to be of a fretful disposition, always pining and peevish; and if a woman, a scold, or contentious, wedded to her own humours; of a morose and dogged carriage, and if married, a plague to her husband. A nose very round at the end of it, and having but little nostrils, shows the person to be munificent and liberal, true to his trust, but withal very proud, credulous and vain. A nose very long and thin at the end of it and something round withal, signifies one bold in his discourse, honest in his dealings, patient in receiving, and slow in offering injuries, but yet privately malicious. He whose nose is naturally more red than any other part of his face, is thereby denoted to be covetous, impious, luxurious, and an enemy to goodness. A nose that turns up again, and is long and full on the tip of it, shows the person that has it to be bold, proud, covetous, envious, luxurious, a liar and deceiver, vainglorious, unfortunate and contentious. He whose nose riseth high in the middle is prudent and politic, and of great courage, honourable in his actions, and true to his word. A nose big at the end shows a person to be of peaceable disposition, industrious and faithful, and of a good understanding. A very wide nose, with wide nostrils, denotes a man dull of apprehension, and inclined more to simplicity than wisdom, and withal contentious, vain glorious, and a liar.

When the nostrils are close and thin, they denote a man to have but little testicles, and to be very desirous of the enjoyment of women, but modest in his conversation. But he whose nostrils are great and wide, is usually well hung and lustful; but withal of an envious, bold and treacherous disposition; and though dull of understanding, yet confident enough.

Mouth & Lips

Anatomical structure of human skull & other animals. Yes, we as humans are mammals, hence we are clearly fucking animals. Stop acting like we're not.

A great and wide mouth shows a man to be bold, warlike, shameless, and stout, a great liar, and as great a talker, and also a great eater; but as to his intellectuals he is very dull, being for the most part very simple. A little mouth shows the person to he of a quick and pacific temper, somewhat fearful, but faithful, secret, modest, bountiful, and but a little eater. He whose mouth smells of a bad breath is one of a corrupted liver or lungs, is oftentimes vain, wanton, deceitful, or indifferent intellects, covetous and a promise breaker. He that has a sweet breath is the contrary.

The lips, when they are very big and blubbering, show a person to be credulous, foolish, dull, and stupid, and apt to be enticed to anything. Lips of a different size denote a person to be discreet, secret In all things, judicious and of a good wit, but somewhat hasty. To have lips well coloured and more thin than thick, shows a person to be good humoured in all things, and more easily to be persuaded to good than evil. To have one lip bigger than the other shows variety of fortunes, and denotes the party to be of a dull sluggish temper, and but of a very different understanding, as being much addicted to folly.

When the teeth are small, and but weak in performing the office, and especially if they are short and few, though they show the person to be of a weak constitution, yet they denote him to be of a meek disposition, honest, faithful, and secret in whatsoever he is entrusted with. To have some teeth longer and shorter than others, denotes a person to be of a good apprehension but bold, disdainful, envious, and proud. To have teeth very long, and showing, and thin, denotes the person to be envious, gluttonous, bold, shameless unfaithful, and suspicious. When the teeth look very brown or yellowish, whether they be long or short, is shows the person to be of a suspicious temper, envious, deceitful, and turbulent. To have teeth strong, and close together, shows the person to be of a long life, a desirer of novelties, and things that are fair and beautiful, but of a high spirit, and one that will have his humour in all things; he loves to hear news, and afterwards to repeat it, and is apt to entertain any thing to his behalf. To have teeth thin and weak shows a weak, feeble man, and one of short life, and of a weak apprehension, but chaste, shamefaced, tractable, and honest,

A tongue too swift in speech shows a man to be downright foolish, or at best but a very vain wit. A stammering tongue, or one that stumbles in the mouth, signifies a man of a weak understanding, and of a wavering mind, quickly in rage, and soon pacified.

A very thick and rough tongue denotes a man to be apprehensive, subtile, and full of compliments, yet vain and deceitful, treacherous, and prone to impiety. A thin tongue shows a man of wisdom and sound judgment, very ingenious and of an affable disposition, yet sometimes timorous and too credulous.

Voice

A great and full voice in either sex shows them to be of a great spirit, confident, proud and wilful. A faint and weak voice, attended with but little breath, shows a person to be of a good understanding, a nimble fancy, a little eater but weak of body, and of a timorous disposition. A loud and shrill voice which sounds clearly, denotes a person provident, sagacious, true, and ingenious, but withal capricious, vain-glorious and too credulous. A strong voice when a man sings, denotes him to be of a strong constitution, and a good understanding, neither too penurious, nor too prodigal, also ingenious, and an admirer of the fair sex. A weak and trembling voice shows the owner of it to be envious, suspicious, slow in business, feeble and fearful. A loud, shrill, and unpleasant voice signifies one bold and valiant, but quarrelsome and injurious, and altogether wedded to his own humours, and governed by, his own counsels. A rough and hoarse voice, whether in speaking or singing, declares one to be a dull and heavy persona of much guts and brains. A full and yet mild voice and pleasing to the hearer, shows the person to be of a quiet and peaceable disposition (which is a great virtue, and rare to be found in woman) and also very thrifty and secret, not prone to anger, but of a yielding temper. A voice beginning low, or in the bass, and ending in the treble, denotes a person to be violent, angry, bold, secure.

Chin

Foid's assessment of your confidence (3D Animation).

A thick and full chin abounding with too much flesh shows a man inclined to peace, honest and true to his trust, but slow in invention, and easy to be drawn either to good or evil. A peeked chin, and reasonably full of flesh, shows a person to be of a good understanding, a high spirit, and laudable conversation. A double chin shows a peaceable disposition, but dull of apprehension, vain, credulous, a great supplanter, and secret in all his actions. A crooked chin bending upwards and peeked for want of flesh, is by the rule of physiognomy according to nature a wry bad man, being proud, impudent, envious, threatening, deceitful, prone to anger and treachery, and a great thief. The hair of young men usually begins to grow down upon their chin at 15 years of age, and sometimes sooner. These hairs proceed from the superfluity of heat; the fumes whereof ascend to their chins, like smoke to the funnel of a chimney; and because it can not find any open passage by which it may ascend higher, it vents itself forth in the hairs, which are called the beard. There are very few or almost no women at all that have hair on their cheeks: and the reason is, those humours which cause hair to grow on the cheeks of a man are by a woman evacuated in their monthly courses which they have, more or less, according to the heat or coldness of their constitutions, and the age and motion of the moon, of which we have spoken at large in the first part of this book. Yet some times women of a hot constitution have hair to be seen on their cheeks, but more commonly on their lips, or near unto their mouths where the heat most aboundeth. And where this happens such women are much addicted to the company of men, and of a strong and manly constitution. A woman who hath little hair on her cheeks, or about her mouth and lips, is of a good complexion, weak constitution, shamefaced, mild, and obedient; whereas a woman of a more hot complexion is quite otherwise. But in a man a beard well composed and thick of hair, signifies a man of a good nature, honest, loving, sociable, and full of humanity: on the contrary, he that hath but little beard, is for the most part proud, pining, peevish, and unsociable. They who have no beards have always shrill and strange kind of squeaking voices, and are of a weak constitution, which is apparent in the case of eunuchs, who, after they are deprived of their virility, are transformed from the nature of men into the condition of women.

Ears

Great and thick ears are certain signs of a foolish person, or a bad memory and worse understanding. But small and thin ears show a person to be of good wit, grave, secret, thrifty, modest, resolute, of a good memory, and one willing to serve his friend. He whose ears are longer than ordinary, is thereby signified to be a bold man, uncivil vain, foolish, serviceable to another more than himself, and a man of small industry, but of a great stomach.

Overall Face & Head

Clavicular's mugshot (March 2026).

A face apt to sweat on every motion, shows the person to be of a hot constitution, vain and luxurious, of a good stomach, but of a bad understanding, and a worse conversation. A very fleshy face shows the person to be of a fearful disposition, but a merry heart, and withal bountiful and discreet, easy to be entreated, and apt to believe every thing. A lean face, by the rules of physiognomy, denotes the person to be of a good understanding, but somewhat capricious and disdainful in his conversation. A little and round face full of carbuncles shows a man to be a great drinker of wine, vain, daring, and soon intoxicated. A face red or high coloured, shows a man to be much inclined to choler, and one that will be soon angry, and not easily pacified. A long and lean face shows a man to be both bold in speech and action, but withal foolish, quarrelsome, proud, injurious, and deceitful. A face every way of a due proportion denotes an ingenious person, one fit for any thing, and very much inclined to what is good. One of a broad full fat face is, by the rules of physiognomy, of a dull lumpish heavy constitution, and that for one virtue hath three vices. A plain flat face without any rising shows a person to be very wise, loving, and courtly in his carriage, faithful to his friend, and patient in adversity. A face sinking down a little, with crosses in it, inclining to leanness, denotes a person to be very laborious, but envious, deceitful, false, quarrelsome, vain, and silly, of a dull and clownish behaviour. A face of a handsome proportion, and more inclining to fat than lean, shows a person just in his actions, true to his word, civil and respectful in his behaviour, of an indifferent understanding, and of extraordinary memory. A crooked face, long and lean, denotes a man endued with as bad qualities as the face is with ill features. A face broad about the brows, and sharper and less as it grows towards the chin, shows a man simple and foolish in managing his affairs, vain in his discourse, envious in his nature, deceitful, quarrelsome, and rude in his conversation. A face well coloured, full of good features, and of an exact symmetry, and a just proportion in all its parts, and which is delightful to look upon, is commonly the index of a fairer mind, and shows a person to be well disposed: but withal declares that virtue is not so impregnably seated there, but that by strong temptations (especially of the fair sex) it may be supplanted and overcome by vice. A pale complexion shows the person not only to be fickle, but very malicious, treacherous, false, proud, presumptuous, and extremely unfaithful. A face well coloured shows the person to be of a praiseworthy disposition, and a sound complexion, easy of belief, and respectful to his friend, ready to do a courtesy, and very easy to be drawn to any thing. A great head and round withal denote the person to be secret, and of great application in carrying on business, and also ingenious, and of a large imaginative faculty and invention; and likewise laborious, constant, and honest. The head whose gullet stands forth, and inclines towards the earth signifies a person thrifty, wise, peaceable, secret, of a retired temper, and constant in the management of his affairs. A long head and face, and great withal, denotes a vain foolish and idle person, a weak person, credulous, and very envious. To have one's head always shaking, and moving from side to side, denote a shallow, weak person, unstable in all his actions, given to lying, a great deceiver, a great talker, prodigal in all his fortunes. A big head and broad face show a man to be very courageous, a great hunter after women very suspicious, bold and shameless. He who hath a very big head, but not so proportionate as it ought to the body, if he hath a short neck and crooked gullet, is generally a man of apprehension, wise, secret, ingenious, of sound judgment, faithful, true, and courteous to all. He who hath a little head, and long slender throat, is for the most part a man very weak, yet apt to learn, but unfortunate in his actions. And so much shall suffice in respect to judgment from the head and face.

Criticism

Due to its vast and varied pre-scientific history, physiognomy has gone out of fashion in mainstream scientific research. It is commonly conflated with pseudo-scientific practices such as astrology and palmistry, particularly in East Asian cultures.

In Western countries, there is also a common cultural ideal to not 'rush to judgment' or 'judge a book by its cover,' which makes such research inherently controversial. The fear here is that the social implications of such research will reinforce harmful biases. Physiognomy also implies that some character traits are literally hardwired, 'down to the bone,' which is opposed by the popular view of human nature as being a blank slate. However, in the past, it was commonly asserted that behavior could physically reshape one's face to more accurately reflect one's inner character, indicating this research will not necessarily be universally interpreted in a hereditarian manner.

Many scientific studies have also linked physical appearance with certain personality/character traits above chance, though most researchers shy away from using the term 'physiognomy' explicitly. Often, this research has low effect sizes, small sample sizes, and is potentially unreliable. Part of this may be because this field is controversial and unprestigious and not likely to win individual differences researchers any grant money. Therefore, the field may tend to attract eccentrics and the untalented, or those with a flair for controversy, resulting in some low quality research. However, the effect sizes are not out of the range commonly seen in psychological science, and may have practical applications especially when the measurement error inherent to this field of research is considered.

Furthermore, proponents of modern physiognomy argue that making decisions based on even a tiny correlation is superior to doing so based on no information. The chances of making a correct prediction increase as certain traits stack on each other. Effectively, if you are trying to predict a particular latent characteristic, the predictive validity increases if the individual possesses several physiognomic markers correlating with that latent trait. This prediction would be more accurate if it were plausible that the latent trait causes the physiognomic characteristics. For example, if an individual had a low digit ratio, lots of body hair (controlling for ethnicity), a broad face, a muscular body, a large penis, and other traits plausibly caused by testosterone, you could argue that it would be likely that such a person would be higher in testosterone than average, and therefore after more likely to exhibit other traits correlated with high testosterone.

Although you could argue that such predictive validity would still be unreliable on the individual level, it seems clear that people make judgments of this kind regularly in daily life. This natural tendency may imply some adaptive value to this behavior, as some have argued in the case of stereotypes. Therefore, the natural human tendency to 'judge a book by its cover' may be evolutionarily hardwired. This tendency possibly helped ancestral man avoid potentially dangerous situations (or choose particularly suitable sexual partners or allies) in his evolutionary past. These cognitive heuristics based on superficial appearance could have promoted higher reproductive success for those who acted on them long enough that this judgmental tendency was bred into the human gene pool over time.

With the machine learning hype, physiognomic predictions have been increasingly discussed in the mainstream. The tech field has embraced physiognomy much more enthusiastically than social science researchers, with some even claiming they have developed algorithms that can detect terrorists and pedophiles above chance. However, it remains unclear whether this kind of software can truly produce above-chance results based on facial cues alone.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

It is argued that since people are generally treated based on how they look, people learn to behave as they look through social reinforcement, thus creating a feedback loop. This is especially true for people with exotic looks. For example, Anton LaVey, founder of the Satanic Church, always had an extremely evil, unconventionally attractive-looking face. Anton (real name Howard) was always treated as being a literal handsome devil. Anton enjoyed this treatment and decided to mold his personality to his looks.

Still, others may not be so accepting of how people treat them based on facial features. A good example is baby-faced men. While they are commonly perceived as more trustworthy and warm, they are also perceived as less competent and dominant. However, there is evidence that baby-faced men are more likely to excel in school and commit crimes as adolescents, in stark contrast to how people generally expect them to behave. This suggests that baby-faced men may be attempting to over-compensate for the infantilizing treatment they often receive from others by attempting to prove their dominance or competence.

Another example would be a pretty boy who may not enjoy being treated as such; thus, he may attempt to become more muscular in an attempt to be treated as, or seen to be, a gigachad, examples abound, for one, see Chihiro Fujisaki from Danganronpa.

Modern physiognomy research

In recent years, many studies have concluded that facial features are correlated with perceived and actual personality and character traits. The following is a quick summary of some of these findings:

"Identification of Criminals"

Physiognomy of Russian Female Offenders (1)

Physiognomy of Russian Female Offenders (2)

Criminal/violent physiognomy

• A meta-analysis of 19 studies found a weak but statistically significant correlation between fWHR (a measure of the broadness of the face) and aggression, ranging from r = .09 for field and archival studies to r = .21 for studies conducted in research labs. Another study in 2016 found weak but significant correlations between various psychopathic traits and fWHR (r = .12 for the whole sample and r = .27 for a sample of prison inmates). This greater aggression is possibly mediated by an association between fWHR and higher levels of prenatal and pubertal testosterone exposure. However, these findings may be confounded by the fact that fWHR is positively associated with greater body size, which is moderately positively associated itself with the propensity to engage in physically violent behavior. Thus, any future studies that propose a link between fWHR and physical aggression would do well to control for BMI and muscularity.
• Studies conducted in 2013 found that people were able to accurately predict the outcomes of fights based on facial features above chance. The fighters with faces rated as more aggressive were more likely to win their bouts, but they were also confounded by weight; thus, it only held for heavyweight fighters. The facial features associated with aggressiveness were an overall broader face, broader chin, darker eyebrows, and horizontally narrowed eyes.
• Holtzman (2011) created a series of prototypical faces corresponding to each of the traits of the dark triad, using the photos of 81 study participants who completed self-report inventories designed to measure the levels of the dark triad traits. The participants were also evaluated in regard to their level of dark triad traits by their peers. It was found that observers could (above chance) correctly distinguish between high and low morphs of the various "dark traits," thus lending some evidence to the idea that these traits are correlated with a certain facial structure. This correlation was explained by several hypotheses: the facial traits and the dark triad being co-evolved, the facial traits influencing people's self-perception and thus behavior, or that individuals are possibly conditioned to behave in a way 'congruent' with their facial structure by peers, through constant social reinforcement.
• A Chinese study examined the association between fWHR and domestic violence in 144 individuals of both sexes (Wen & Zheng, 2020) found a medium effect size (d = .67) for greater fWHR (as measured to the midbrow) and the men's likelihood of being involved in a domestic violence incident in the past. No such association was found for the female subjects, though greater fWHR was associated with certain aspects of interpersonal dominance. The effect size was much more substantial for fWHR as measured to the midbrow compared to measuring it to the eyelid. However, both were statistically significant and fairly large compared to the usual effects one finds in the social sciences. This discrepancy in effect sizes for the two alternative forms of measuring fWHR may suggest the midbrow measurement is more accurate in terms of discerning the effects this particular facial metric has on behavior. This discrepancy in the predictive validity for various measures of fWHR is something to keep in mind when interpreting the results of such research.
• A Chinese study claimed to be able to tell whether someone is a criminal based on machine learning, but the technique turned out to detect smiling instead.
• Stillman et al. (2010) had people rate the estimated propensity of violent behavior of a group of convicted violent and non-violent sexual offenders (N = 87) after a brief (2s) exposure to a static photograph of the offenders. It was found that participants were able to determine whether the offenders were violent or not above chance (d =.44), with no sex differences in these judgments' accuracy. However, women perceived a significantly higher level of threat from the men's photos than men (d =.38, though the significance was borderline marginal). An analysis of the individual target-related factors that determined people's judgments of the men's violence proneness found that there was a mix of valid (predictive above chance) and invalid (not predictive or even deceptive cues) cues involved in the rater's perceptions. The valid cues were generally markers of overall masculinity and robustness, such as facial masculinity and perceived strength, with age being negatively correlated with violent offending. Physical attractiveness, sadness, and smiles were poor cues of violent behavior, with the associations between these cues and actual offending being weak or non-existent. Interestingly, the deceptive cues included better grooming and general displays of positive affect (happiness), which were believed to be negatively associated with violent behavior. In reality, the actual link between these things and the presence of violent offending was non-existent. The strongest deceptive cues were certain displays of negative affect, such as anger and disgust, which contributed substantially to participants' negative evaluations of the men in question despite the link between these traits (as expressed in the static photos used in the study) and violent offending being non-significant.
• Hoskin & Ellis found evidence for significant associations between several indices of both prenatal and post-natal androgen exposure and criminal behavior. They examined the correlations between several proposed markers of prenatal testosterone exposure, such as 2D:4D ratio (the ratio of the index finger to the ring finger, which is sexually dimorphic, the ratio being typically lower in men, meaning their ring fingers tend to be longer than their index fingers) and anogenital distance (the length of one's perineum, which is strongly sexually dimorphic; it has been proposed to be a possible marker to use in order to predict the risk of an infant boys future potential likelihood of experiencing reproductive disorders.)
  The association between other sexually dimorphic male traits and offending behavior was examined, such as bodily masculinity, masculine behavior, physical strength, and height.
  Such associations were generally in the expected direction, though of the prenatal markers, only AGD was significantly associated with violent tendencies in men (the association was stronger when not controlling for sex). Interestingly, a higher 2D:4D ratio (more feminine) was weakly but significantly associated with non-violent delinquency among women.
  The authors had no explanation for this finding, though it is in line with the insights from certain philosophers of a misogynist tendency that assert that feminity is associated with provocative and disruptive behavior.
  It could also be due to the fact that certain forms of delinquent behavior, such as shop-lifting, are sexually dimorphic in a direction that favors females. The effects discovered for specific masculine traits and criminality were most potent for muscularity, strength, and masculine behavior in men. This could be due to the obvious explanation that such men are more formidable and capable of violence. It could be that men with a general disposition towards criminality deliberately enhance their physical capabilities to carry out violent assaults (reverse causation) more successfully, though the link between masculine behavior and criminality suggests some innate link here as personality is generally both highly heritable and quite stable over time, though more behaviorally masculine men may also have a higher drive to attain muscularity. Of course, the tendency to behave violently is itself a behaviorally masculine trait to some extent, so these are likely overlapping constructs to a degree. It also could be that these traits are associated with higher levels of systemic androgens in the long term, with such long-term exposure potentially being necessary for androgens to alter brain function in a manner that is associated with a greater propensity for aggression and delinquency.

Homosexual physiognomy

• Skorska et al. (2015) used a computer modeling program that examined the facial metrics of N = 390 male and female subjects of varying sexual orientations. It was found that lesbians had 'marginally more masculine facial shapes,' upturned noses, puckered mouths, and smaller foreheads than heterosexual women. Homosexual men tended to have more sloped foreheads, convex cheeks, and smaller noses (with nose size being typically considered a masculine feature, perhaps due to larger noses generally indicating greater prenatal androgen exposure (when controlling for ethnicity) compared to heterosexual men. Therefore, the researchers concluded that facial structure was associated with sexuality in both men and women. This is likely due to prenatal hormonal exposure playing an important role in determining later sexual preferences, while also partially determining facial bone development.
• Wang & Kosinski (2017) used a deep neural network that, analyzing 35,326 'selfie' images, correctly determined homosexuality in 81% of cases for men and in 74% of cases for women. The decisions made by the neural network were compared to human judges, who could distinguish a man's homosexuality in 61% of cases and women in 54% of cases (slightly above chance). However, this study has been heavily criticized for being confounded by differences in facial expression, grooming, clothing, camera angle, and other contextual factors unrelated to facial structure.

Intelligence physiognomy

• A twin study in 2017 found a weak but significant relationship between wider IPD (Interpupillary distance) and actual measured IQ. An earlier study found that people were able to gauge measured IQ accurately from a photograph, but this only held in the case of men's IQ, not women's. Other research has indicated that the ability to discern men's intelligence from their facial appearance increases with age among women. One study found teenage girls did not discern a man's IQ from his physiognomy above chance, while older women could. This may be linked to shifting mate preferences with age. Or it may imply more broadly that physiognomic judgements become more accurate with increased life experience.
• There is evidence that there is some validity to the popular 'four-eyes nerd' stereotype that people who wear glasses are more likely to be highly intelligent. Specifically, myopia (short-sightedness) has been found to be positively linearly linked to intelligence:
  Rosner & Belkin (1987) examined the medical data of 157,748 Israeli military conscripts aged 17-19 and their intelligence test scores. They found a linear association between intelligence and myopia (controlling for education), with the lowest-scoring cohort (IQ ≤ 80) having rates of myopia much lower than the general population (8% vs. 15.8%). Conversely, the highest-scoring cohort (IQ ≥ 128) had significantly higher incidences of myopia (27.3% vs. 15.8%). The authors also found a positive association between myopia and attained education level, with intelligence test performance being controlled for in this analysis.
  It is not entirely clear how this positive relationship between intelligence relates to the different lower-order factors that derive from general intelligence in the standard model of general intelligence (i.e., non-verbal vs. verbal intelligence). Some studies have found no association between myopia and non-verbal intelligence, indicating that the link between intelligence and myopia may be environmental in nature, i.e., myopic people read more or reading puts strain on the eyes that can induce myopia; however, they did not control for reading frequency or preference for near-work. Saw et al. (2004) found a large positive link between myopia and non-verbal intelligence in a large sample of Singapore Chinese children (aged 8-12, N = 1204), controlling for books read a week and preference for near work (multivariate OR for myopia among the highest quartile of intelligence: 2.4, 95% CI 1.7-3.4, as compared to the lowest quartile of intelligence, the reference group).
  In order to determine the root cause(s) of the observed link between myopia and intelligence, Williams et al. (2017) conducted a study on a large number of twin pairs aged 14-18) who were administered a verbal and non-verbal intelligence test at age 16. The genotypic, lifestyle, and medical data of this cohort were pooled and subjected to extensive statistical analysis. The conclusion was that the phenotypic link between myopia and intelligence was largely a result of pleiotropic (several genes influencing the development of the same trait) genetic influences and that this indicates that brain and eye growth may be partially determined by the pleiotropic effects of several genes that may be co-inherited, as both traits are strongly polygenetic (the result of additive effects of several genes).

Mental health physiognomy

"Physiognomy of mental diseases"

Affect

• Certain neurodevelopmental conditions and mental illnesses can be associated with particular fixed facial expressions. For example, very intense people might bite their lips, crunch their teeth, chew their nails, and engage in other nervous tics. Autistics are often described as having a blank, unexpressive face. This is also found in schizophrenia. Some mental conditions result in a tilted mouth. Socially excluded individuals may make odd facial expressions or engage in tics as nobody is there to correct their behavior, or such behavior may be induced by the greater stress such people often face. Alternatively, these expressions are revealing the personality traits and inner affect of such people in a way they cannot disguise without conscious control. People are, in fact, able to infer other's mental conditions above chance level based on photos. Autists are recognized as less approachable and attractive within seconds. More broadly, mental illness may be associated with the use of less positive and more negative facial expressions. When individuals assess others for the personality trait of neuroticism, which is generally associated with mental illness, they often perceive negative emotions in the facial expressions of those being evaluated. Neurotic people are also less emotionally expressive, while extraverts are more expressive. Negative facial emotions, particularly anger, are generally judged as less favorable. This would promote less favorable evaluations of people with negative resting expressions. Thus, mental illness is broadly associated with affective facial traits that prompt perceptions of weirdness and less socially desirable personality traits in those these people interact with, particularly in social interactions with strangers. These negative perceptions would be excepted to further promote more less rewarding social interactions. In some cases, it would be expected that consistent patterns of automatic social aversion directed towards such people would serve to compound their feelings of social rejection, thus worsening their mental health in a vicious cycle.

Infidelity physiognomy

• Foo et al. (2019) found that women relied on men's attractiveness, facial masculinity, and overall perceived trustworthiness to attempt to determine their likelihood of committing infidelity. However, of these traits, only facial masculinity predicted actual infidelity-related behaviors above chance. This effect, however, was weak, with only 14.1–18.0% of raters being able to accurately gauge men's infidelity-related behaviors above chance. There was no such effect found for women, despite men being able to judge infidelity-related behaviors above chance in other men. Earlier research found that men could only make above-accuracy judgments of infidelity when presented with two women, one of whom had committed infidelity several times in the past compared to who had not.

Leadership physiognomy

• A study in 2017 found that fWHR influences social status, with high-status individuals such as popes and CEOs typically having higher than average fWHRs. This association between fWHR and social dominance is due to either broad-faced leaders being more effective and socially dominant or due to them being perceived to be such.

Personality and physiognomy

• Several studies have found a link between a less acute slant to the forehead and impulsivity. Apolo et al. (2018) measured the angle of the forehead slant of a largely male sample (80.2%) of traffic offenders. They found that a more heavily slanted forehead correlated positively with several psychometric measures of impulsivity. A follow-up study by the same author (Apolo, 2020) examined a pre-screened sample of people who had been subjected to neuropsychiatric testing to exclude those with hyperactivity disorders, attentional deficits or a family history of mental illness (unlike the aforementioned study which was made up of a sample of offenders, who would be expected to be more impulsive compared to a general population sample). Apolo found multiple weak to moderate (.3-.6) significant positive correlations between the degree of forehead slant and several psychometric measures of general impulsivity, sensation-seeking, and positive urgency (the tendency to engage in risky behavior more often when one is experiencing positive affect). The study also found a positive relationship between cortical thickness in certain regions of the frontal and parietal lobes and impulsive behavior. This suggests that differences in the development of different brain regions that affect behavior can be observable by examining the shape of a person's skull, a finding reminiscent of the 'pseudo-science' of phrenology, which also proposed a link between skull shape and behavior. As forehead slant is sexually dimorphic (with men generally having a more slanted forehead than women due to having a more pronounced brow ridge), it could also be that this link is due to a more slanted forehead being reflective of higher levels of androgen exposure during key developmental periods, which has also been found to be linked to a higher risk of engaging in impulsive and violent behavior.

Life history theory and Physiognomy

There is some evidence that several physical traits are related to a person's life history strategy (whether someone is adapted to a life-fast die young ecology or is geared towards higher long-term resource acquisition and investment in offspring). Thus, physical life-history traits may also be somewhat reflective of people's personality.

For instance, tattooing is associated with impulsiveness and promiscuity. Heywood et al. (2012) found that tattooing was associated with drug use, promiscuity, and lower SES despite changes in the societal acceptance of tattooing. Other studies have replicated this finding, and also found that various forms of body modification such as piercings are also associated with greater levels of promiscuity, particularly in women. In terms of (mostly) unalterable traits, there is some (very tentative) evidence that women with larger breasts are generally more promiscuous, impulsive, and extroverted.

These traits are likely reflective of a fast life history strategy, focused on monopolizing as many mating opportunities as possible (for men) and maximally sexually advertising oneself to desirable mates (for women).

Other bodily traits are possibly linked to a slower life history strategy. For instance, the study previously mentioned suggests that women with smaller breasts may generally be more introverted and chaste, and generally exhibit more self-control than larger-breasted women. Wiggins et al. (1969) found that men who preferred smaller breasts were also generally more restrained, introverted, and less sexually successful.

It has been argued that this could be because smaller-breasted women may exhibit a slower life history strategy (being less focused on producing attractive ornaments). Men pursuing a similar life history strategy could be drawn to this through a process of assortative mating (preference for similar traits to oneself in a sexual partner). On the other hand, as men typically find larger breasts more attractive and see larger-breasted women as being higher in sociosexuality, this means that such women may be more aggressively approached by men throughout their lives and, therefore, attain more sexual experience. Lower mate value men could, therefore, see women with a certain undesirable trait as more attainable, making them more drawn towards this type of woman.

Villainous physiognomy

A team of psychologists from the University of Warwick conducted a study that showed downward pointing triangles are perceived as threatening as well as negative faces in a crowd.Dr. Blagrove says:

If we look at cartoon characters, the classic baddie will often be drawn with the evil eyebrows that come to a downward point in the middle. This could go some way to explain why we associate the downward-pointing triangle with negative faces. These shapes correspond with our facial features, and we are unconsciously making that link.

This explains why the evil eyebrows and pointy chin activate our innate threat instincts. A cross-sectional study done in 2017 shows that the top 10 classical movie villains display a significantly higher incidence of dermatologic findings than the top 10 heroes (60% vs. 0%), which include alopecia, periorbital hyperpigmentation, deep wrinkles on the face, scars on the face, warts on the face, and rhinophyma (excessive tissue growth on the nose). Showing that people readily associate signs of unhealthy and or damaged skin and ugliness with an evil, villainous nature.

Some facial blemishes can be beneficial in certain contexts, however. A large cut at just the right angle over the face seems to improve attractiveness. A study done in 2008 by a team of researchers at the University of Liverpool proves that women indeed find battle-scarred men more attractive for short-term relationships. This may be due to women perceiving such men as brave, dominant 'bad boys.' Deliberate scarification as a form of signaling bravery and stoicism is common in many non-industrialized cultures around the world. It was also popular in some Western societies in the past; for instance, it was common among aristocrats in 19th-century Germany, where these scars became associated with the aristocratic military caste due to them often being members of university fencing clubs. In this milieu, using face masks was viewed as a sign of timidity and weakness.

Facial trust physiognomy

Someone's facial appearance plays a significant role in how trustworthy they are perceived to be. For instance, attractive people are seen as warmer and more trustworthy than unattractive people due to the halo effect. However, attractiveness is not the only facial characteristic people use to make a snap judgment of trustworthiness.

For example, it has been found that wider-faced men are seen as less trustworthy, which means people are less willing to cooperate with them. This type of bias can sometimes result in dire outcomes for men judged as less trustworthy based on their facial appearance. For instance, Wilson and O'Rule (2015) found that men with less trustworthy appearing faces were more likely to receive hard prison sentences and even the death penalty.

DeBruine (2002) found that people also tend to trust those who bear a greater facial resemblance to themselves, possibly due to kin selection-based evolutionary mechanisms and perceived relatedness.

Phrenology, Physiognomy & Chiromancy

For context: Chiromancy, widely rather known as palmistry, is the ancient practice of evaluating a person's character but also predicting their future through the study of the lines, shapes, and mounts on their palms.

Weird Pictures

See Also

• fWHR
• Beauty
• Gay Face

External link

Review of some of the research on physiognomy:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43zciPFbTpc