Psychological Science ›› 2017, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (5): 1235-1241.

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Can We Judge a Person by His Appearance?——A Literature Review of Facial width-to-height Ratio

  

  • Received:2017-01-12 Revised:2017-06-06 Online:2017-09-20 Published:2017-09-20

能以貌取人吗?面孔宽高比研究述评

郑治国1,俞宗火1,廖华1,刘建平2   

  1. 1. 江西师范大学
    2. 江西师范大学心理学院
  • 通讯作者: 刘建平

Abstract: It is of great significance to study the relationship between facial cues and psychological traits in order to adapt to the environment more easily and actively. Recently alien studies have found that visual cues, such as male’s facial width-to-height, are associated with behavior tendency, motivation and so on, while domestic scholars are not familiar with this field. Therefore, this paper is to sort out the research and discuss the future research direction. Firstly, this paper introduces the concepts of the facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) that is the ratio of the distance between the left and right zygion to the distance between the brow and upper lip. Then, we provide an overview of the research in this field and account for its theoretical basis. The fWHR is assumed as a sexually dimorphic trait. Male's fWHR is an explicit reliably index of testosterone and has significant correlation not only with unethical behavior such as aggression, exploitation, cheating, and deception, but also with the positive social behavior such as the upward mobility, the spirit of self-sacrifice and so on. For example, studies found that men with greater fWHR are less cooperative negotiators compared to men with smaller facial ratios. The lack of cooperation allows men with greater fWHR to claim more value when negotiating with other men, but inhibits their ability to create agreements that benefit all negotiating parties. Also, researchers found that men who had wider faces showed more self-sacrificing cooperation to help their group members under circumstances of competition with another group. Moreover, research showed that the fWHR of CEOs is related to the performance of their companies. Thirdly, we provide theoretical explanation that testosterone is assumed as the covariate behind both the facial width-to-height ratio and social behavior. Testosterone affects the development of the skull, which is positively correlated with the fWHR. On the other hand, testosterone is associated with aggression and dominance. Also, some studies points out that the effective prediction of fWHR is only limited to the male with low social status, and there is no significant correlation between the fWHR and the aggressive behavior in the male group with higher social status. And other research shows that the direct evidence of the relationship between male’s facial width-to-height ratios and levels of testosterone is still weak. Finally, this paper concludes that whether the relationship between the fWHR and testosterone is steady and cross-cultural valid is to be tested. In addition, the testosterone concentration was decreased with the increase of age, while the early influence of testosterone on the skull is irreversible and permanent, so, it is necessary to consider whether the age will become the moderator between fWHR and social behavior. The future study should investigate the relationship between the fWHR of different ages and social behavior. And even if the male's fWHR is related with testosterone levels, the relationship between the fWHR and explicit behavior is still affected by social economic cultural factors and so on. Therefore, whether foreign research results are applicable to China situation is necessary to be studied systematically and cross cultural comparison on fWHR should be an important direction for future research.

Key words: Facial width-to-height ratio, a sexually dimorphic trait, testosterone, social behavior

摘要: 面孔宽高比是左右颧骨点之间的距离除以上面高所得到的比值,被认为是人类面孔性别二态特征之一。男性面孔宽高比被认为是男性睾酮水平的可信外显指标,与攻击行为、欺诈等不道德行为存在显著关联,并受到社会经济地位的调节;面孔宽高比与上进心、对内群体成员的牺牲精神等男性化积极社会行为亦存在显著关联。睾酮水平被认为是面孔宽高比和社会行为两者背后的共变因素,并引起激烈争论:面孔宽高比的性别差异在多个研究中未获支持,男性面孔宽高比与睾酮水平存在关联的直接证据亦有待进一步夯实。

关键词: 面孔宽高比, 性别二态特征, 睾酮, 社会行为