This may be owing to the tendency for relatively small samples of faces used in individual studies (e.g. In summary, current evidence is equivocal as to whether there is sexual dimorphism of the FWHR across different ages, and not enough is known about how these changes in the FWHR might influence perceptions of aggression. The authors also found that a stimulus set of real male faces showed a decline in the FWHR across the lifespan, but another study found a small positive correlation between the FWHR and age in men and women.
The FWHR was positively correlated with perceived aggression in all age groups. Participants rated each face on aggression, wisdom and warmth. Another study manipulated the FWHR with computer-generated White male faces intended to be young adults, middle-aged or elderly. Other research found no evidence for sexual dimorphism among a cohort of elderly White individuals. A study by the same group found no sexual dimorphism across the four decades in FWHR in a sample of White faces. Men and women in their 20's and 30's had equivalent FWHRs however, women in their 40's and 50's had larger FWHRs than men. For instance, Robertson & Kingsley used a sample of Black faces across four age groups (i.e. The FWHR may change across time and the nature of change may differ for males and females, potentially accounting for the observed inconsistency in sexual dimorphism.įew studies examined sexual dimorphism of the FWHR in age groups other than young people. One possible reason for this inconsistency in the literature is that most research on the FWHR has examined a circumscribed range of ages, typically focussing on young adults, where effects of mate selection would presumably be strongest. A recent meta-analysis found that men had significantly larger FWHRs than women but the effect size was very small ( d = 0.11) and there are a number of reports of no dimorphism (e.g. However, evidence for sexual dimorphism of FWHR is mixed. A key criterion of secondary sexual characteristics is that they are sexually dimorphic during periods of life that are associated with mate selection. The association between FWHR, masculinity and perceptions of aggressiveness has led to the speculation that FWHR is a secondary sexual characteristic-a trait that has been shaped by sexual selection and/or intrasexual competition. There is some truth to these perceptions with studies showing that men with relatively larger FWHRs have larger biceps, are better physical fighters, and report greater dominance and aggressive behaviour including domestic violence. , who found that prenatal testosterone concentrations positively correlated with men's facial masculinity, but not the FWHR.
where researchers found no effects of male FWHR on judgements of masculinity and dominance, and Whitehouse et al. FWHR in men positively correlates with a broad range of social perceptions indicative of formidability such as dominance, aggression, threat and masculinity although see Dixson et al. Facial width-to-height ratio (FWHR) is a cue that has been linked to a variety of social inferences and can be calculated as the width of a face divided by the vertical distance between the highest point of the upper lip and the highest point of the eyelids. Humans extract a great deal of socially relevant information from people's faces and make social inferences about unfamiliar people after a single glance. Tracking sexual dimorphism of facial width-to-height ratio across the lifespan: implications for perceived aggressiveness This may reflect a common mechanism for evaluating male aggressiveness from variability in structural (FWHR) and malleable (emotional expression) aspects of the face.ġ. Raters were most sensitive to differences in FWHR for young adult male faces, pointing to enhanced sensitivity to FWHR as a cue to aggressiveness. The relationship between FWHR and perceived aggressiveness was strongest for males at 27–33 and females at 34–61. We then examined how natural variation in FWHR affected perceived aggressiveness. However, the direction of dimorphism was reversed after 48 years of age, with females recording larger FWHRs than males.
We found larger FWHR in males only in young adulthood, aligning with the stage most commonly associated with mate selection and intrasexual competition. We addressed these gaps by measuring FWHR of 17 607 passport images of male and female faces across the lifespan. However, evidence for sexual dimorphism is mixed, little is known about how it varies with age, and the relationship between sexual dimorphism and perceived aggressiveness is unclear. This may be because FWHR is a sexually dimorphic feature, with males having higher FWHR than females. The facial width-to-height ratio (FWHR) influences social judgements like perceived aggression.
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