Men, women judge their sex odds via faces
DURHAM , England, April 9 (UPI) — British researchers say men and women can generally judge from photographs who would be more interested in a short-term sexual relationship.
Researchers led by Durham University asked 700 study participants to judge the attractiveness and attitudes about sex of the opposite sex — all in their early 20s — from their facial photographs. These perceptual judgments were then compared with the actual attitudes and behaviors of the individuals in the photographs, which had been determined through a detailed questionnaire.
In the first study sample of 153 participants, 72 percent of people correctly identified the attitudes from photographs more than half of the time.
The study, published in Evolution and Human Behavior, found that women who were open to short-term sexual relationships were usually seen by others as more attractive — although researchers can not determine precisely why without further investigation. The men who were most open to casual sex were generally perceived as being more masculine-looking, with facial features including squarer jaws, larger nose and smaller eyes.
Men generally prefer women they perceive are open to short-term sexual relationships, while women are usually interested in men who appear to have potential for a long-term relationship, the researchers said.