According to a new study carried out at the Universities of Chicago and California, women can tell, just by looking at a man’s face, whether he is good with children – and therefore a good long-term catch, or just very masculine, and better for a short-term relationship.

It seems that a man’s face can reveal to women how high his testosterone levels are. His value as a mating partner can be quickly assessed by looking at his face, say the researchers.

You can read about this study in Proceedings of the Royal Society, Biological Sciences.

Dr Dario Maestripieri, one of the research team, said “Our results show that women are surprisingly accurate in judging a man’s masculinity and his interest in infants by looking at his face. Our results also show that women value masculinity as a desirable trait for short-term relationships and interest in infants as a desirable trait for more stable long-term relationships. I don’t think that evolution has given women a second sense in this area but has made them very good at using every piece of information at their disposal when making decisions about mating and relationships.”

The researchers recruited male university students. In order to determine what their testosterone levels were, they all had a saliva test. They were then assessed according to their liking of children and adults – the men were shown photos of children and adults.

29 female university students were shown photographs of the male volunteers. The women had to decide whether they thought each man:

— Seemed kind
— Seemed to like children
— Looked masculine
— Looked physically attractive

They also had to rate each man according to whether he was seen as ideal for a short-term or long-term relationship, i.e. marriage.

The women were very accurate in their guessing which men liked children. Their assessment matched exactly the preferences given by the men at the start of the study.

The ones women thought of as the most masculine were also the ones with the highest testosterone levels. They found these men the most attractive. The women said these men were the ones they would prefer to have a short-term relationship with.

The men who liked children were the same ones the women said they would prefer for a long-term relationship.

Bear in mind that the women and men did not meet for this study. The women just looked at photos of each man. The human is an extremely sophisticated animal. In order to extrapolate from this study whether women usually end up marrying men who look like child-loving men would be risky. A human is also attracted by pheromones, the other person’s conversation, sense of humour, certain talents, compatibility, money, etc. What makes one human fall in love another, and then go on to have a long-term relationship with that person, is the culmination of many variables. A man who is not interested in children, may change completely when he holds his first newborn in his arms.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today