Facial width-to-height ratio: Difference between revisions

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[[File:FWHR-Carré-2008.gif|thumb|right]]
[[File:FWHR-Carré-2008.gif|thumb|right]]
'''Facial width-to-height ratio''' (or short '''FWHR'''), is a facial ratio that measures how broad the face is (from cheek to cheek) in relation to the height of the midface (which varies by the method used to measure this, see below for details). FWHR was only discovered in the last few years but in that short amount of time it has been found in some studies that fWHR is correlated with such things as dominance, aggression, psychopathy, dark triad traits in general, short term attraction, fighting ability, physical robustness, financial success, academic success, risk-taking behavior, trustworthiness, sex drive, status, and prenatal testosterone exposure and/or adult testosterone levels.
'''Facial width-to-height ratio''' (or short '''FWHR'''), is a facial ratio that is derived from measuring the width of the face and dividing this measurement by the length of the midface (which can vary by method of measurement, see below for further detail). FWHR was only discovered in the last few years but in that short amount of time it has been found in some studies that fWHR is correlated with such things as dominance, aggression, psychopathy, dark triad traits in general, short term attraction, fighting ability, physical robustness, financial success, academic success, risk-taking behavior, trustworthiness, sex drive, status, and prenatal testosterone exposure and/or adult testosterone levels.


While some of these findings have been replicated, others have been criticized on methodological grounds, or have flatly failed to replicate, such as the purported link between fWHR and adolescent or adult serum testosterone levels.<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310461784_Commentary_Facial_Width-to-Height_Ratio_fWHR_Is_Not_Associated_with_Adolescent_Testosterone_Levels</ref><ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329686209_Further_Evidence_that_Facial_Width-to-Height_Ratio_and_Global_Facial_Masculinity_Are_Not_Positively_Associated_with_Testosterone_Levels</ref>
While some of these findings have been replicated, others have been criticized on methodological grounds, or have flatly failed to replicate, such as the purported link between fWHR and adolescent or adult serum testosterone levels.<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310461784_Commentary_Facial_Width-to-Height_Ratio_fWHR_Is_Not_Associated_with_Adolescent_Testosterone_Levels</ref><ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329686209_Further_Evidence_that_Facial_Width-to-Height_Ratio_and_Global_Facial_Masculinity_Are_Not_Positively_Associated_with_Testosterone_Levels</ref>
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The purported link between greater fWHR and aggressive behavior may be hard to discern accurately in large, varied samples, as there is preliminary evidence that a man's social status may play a role in moderating the apparent positive relationship between fWHR and aggressive, anti-social behavior and traits. One group of researchers in 2018 only found evidence for a positive association between fWHR and [[dark triad]] traits and physical aggression among lower-income men.<ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30412629</ref>  
The purported link between greater fWHR and aggressive behavior may be hard to discern accurately in large, varied samples, as there is preliminary evidence that a man's social status may play a role in moderating the apparent positive relationship between fWHR and aggressive, anti-social behavior and traits. One group of researchers in 2018 only found evidence for a positive association between fWHR and [[dark triad]] traits and physical aggression among lower-income men.<ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30412629</ref>  


FWHR does not seem to be sexually dimorphic,<ref>Lefevre, C. E., Lewis, G. J., Bates, T. C., Dzhelyova, M., Coetzee, V., Deary, I. J., & Perrett, D. I. (2012). No evidence for [[sexual dimorphism]] of facial width-to-height ratio in four large adult samples. Evolution and Human Behavior, 33(6), 623-627</ref> although the negative association between fWHR and risk of dying from contact-violence is<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233757330_Male_facial_width_is_associated_with_death_by_contact_violence_Narrow-faced_males_are_more_likely_to_die_from_contact_violence</ref> and perceptions of the social dominance of individuals with a greater fWHR are also,<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886914003031</ref> suggesting that fWHR does play a role in intrasexual competition among men(in contemporary contexts), and as such a higher fWHR may be associated with traits that have been under sexual or natural selective pressures in human evolutionary history.<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barnaby_Dixson/publication/313797888_Facial_Width_to_Height_Ratio_and_Dominance/links/5a395640aca272eb167466a9/Facial-Width-to-Height-Ratio-and-Dominance.pdf</ref>
FWHR does not seem to be sexually dimorphic,<ref>Lefevre, C. E., Lewis, G. J., Bates, T. C., Dzhelyova, M., Coetzee, V., Deary, I. J., & Perrett, D. I. (2012). No evidence for [[sexual dimorphism]] of facial width-to-height ratio in four large adult samples. Evolution and Human Behavior, 33(6), 623-627</ref> although the negative association between fWHR and risk of dying from contact-violence is<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233757330_Male_facial_width_is_associated_with_death_by_contact_violence_Narrow-faced_males_are_more_likely_to_die_from_contact_violence</ref> and perceptions of the social dominance of individuals with a greater fWHR are also,<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886914003031</ref> suggesting that fWHR does play a role in intrasexual competition among men(in contemporary contexts) and as such a higher fWHR may be associated with traits that have been under sexual or natural selective pressures in human evolutionary history.<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Barnaby_Dixson/publication/313797888_Facial_Width_to_Height_Ratio_and_Dominance/links/5a395640aca272eb167466a9/Facial-Width-to-Height-Ratio-and-Dominance.pdf</ref>


==fWHR and aesthetics==
==fWHR and aesthetics==
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This may be due to people being more comfortable with aggression toward the out-group as opposed to within the in-group (as fWHR is moderately positively correlated with perceptions of aggressiveness), <ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513814001640</ref> or it may simply be down to the fact that men with higher fWHRs are more likely to triumph in intergroup conflicts. A study conducted in 2018 provides support for this hypothesis, as it was found that groups of Chinese business executives with a higher mean fWHR outcompeted other groups in business negotiations.<ref>https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-08880-001</ref>
This may be due to people being more comfortable with aggression toward the out-group as opposed to within the in-group (as fWHR is moderately positively correlated with perceptions of aggressiveness), <ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513814001640</ref> or it may simply be down to the fact that men with higher fWHRs are more likely to triumph in intergroup conflicts. A study conducted in 2018 provides support for this hypothesis, as it was found that groups of Chinese business executives with a higher mean fWHR outcompeted other groups in business negotiations.<ref>https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-08880-001</ref>


These negative perceptions can have serious consequences in affecting the decisions people make based on their instinctive appraisals of these men, as people appear to generally treat men with higher fWHR in accord with their superficial negative perceptions of them. This has been found in experimental economic games that involve co-operation and bargaining, such as the one-shot ultimate game, and economic games that involve the choice to either co-operate with, or attempt to exploit one's opponent.<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513816300411</ref><ref>https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797610362647</ref>
These negative perceptions can have serious consequences in affecting the decisions people make based on their instinctive appraisals of these men, as people appear to generally treat men with higher fWHR in accord with their superficial negative perceptions of them. This has been found in experimental economic games that involve co-operation and bargaining, such as the one-shot ultimate game, and economic games that involve the choice to either co-operate with or attempt to exploit one's opponent.<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513816300411</ref><ref>https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797610362647</ref>


Some have argued that this is due to a feedback loop forming where men with traits that appear to others to denote anti-social and aggressive tendencies (such as a higher fWHR) are more likely to be excluded by peers from co-operative, mutually beneficial exchanges. It is argued that this exclusion may consequently lead these men to be conditioned into behaving in a more exploitative and aggressive manner towards others, in a self-fulfilling prophesy.<ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3756066/</ref>
Some have argued that this is due to a feedback loop forming where men with traits that appear to others to denote anti-social and aggressive tendencies (such as a higher fWHR) are more likely to be excluded by peers from co-operative, mutually beneficial exchanges. It is argued that this exclusion may consequently lead these men to be conditioned into behaving in a more exploitative and aggressive manner towards others, in a self-fulfilling prophecy.<ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3756066/</ref>


The disparate social outcomes of men with greater fWHR indicated by this research may also be simply down to a greater fWHR being associated with traits that may be generally beneficial in attaining social status, but that may also pose a greater trade-off in terms of the potential interpersonal costs of pursuing such behaviors: such as psychopathic fearless dominance,<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886913012798</ref> greater levels of psychopathy in general,<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886915005759</ref> actual aggressive behavior (as opposed to just perceptions of aggressive potential),<ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4388848/</ref> and a greater achievement drive and ruthless ambition (fWHR was moderately positively associated with achievement drive but weakly negatively associated with 'praise and polish' in a sample of historical US presidents).<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886912000049</ref>
The disparate social outcomes of men with greater fWHR indicated by this research may also be simply down to a greater fWHR being associated with traits that may be generally beneficial in attaining social status, but that may also pose a greater trade-off in terms of the potential interpersonal costs of pursuing such behaviors: such as psychopathic fearless dominance,<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886913012798</ref> greater levels of psychopathy in general,<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886915005759</ref> actual aggressive behavior (as opposed to just perceptions of aggressive potential),<ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4388848/</ref> and a greater achievement drive and ruthless ambition (fWHR was moderately positively associated with achievement drive but weakly negatively associated with 'praise and polish' in a sample of historical US presidents).<ref>https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886912000049</ref>
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