May 10, 2006
BY JIM RITTER Health Reporter
Face it, guys. Women have a remarkable ability to read your face.
When women in a new study were shown pictures of men, they could tell which guys had high testosterone levels and which ones liked babies.
Women said they were more attracted to the masculine guys for short-term flings. But for long-term relationships, they preferred the guys who liked babies.
The study included 39 University of Chicago male students age 18 to 33. Researchers measured the men's testosterone levels and asked them to look at baby pictures.
Photos of the U. of C. men were shown to 29 undergraduate women, aged 18 to 20, at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
The women were asked to rate each man, on a 1-to-7 scale, on "likes children," "masculine" and other attributes. Women also rated each man's attractiveness as a short-term or long-term romantic partner.
"They were surprisingly accurate in judging men's interest in infants, as well as their masculinity," said University of Chicago behavioral biologist Dario Maestripieri, a co-author of the study.
The masculine guys with high testosterone levels tended to have prominent face bones, like actor Mickey Rourke, while those who liked baby pictures tended to have rounder faces, like actor Tom Hanks, Maestripieri said.
Doesn't mean they're good dads
The men who liked babies also seemed to look happier, even though they were photographed with neutral expressions.
Testosterone is a male hormone. Studies have suggested that testosterone might contribute to facial features such as wide jaws or jutting brows, said University of California, Santa Barbara psychologist James Roney, lead author of the study.
Testosterone also might make men more aggressive. For example, one study found that hockey players with high testosterone levels spent more time in the penalty box. But other studies have found no such link, Roney said.
To gauge men's interest in babies, researchers showed the men 10 pairs of pictures. Each pair consisted of a good-looking adult and a cute baby. The men were asked whether they preferred the adult picture or the baby picture.
Women in the study generally were able to spot the guys who liked the baby pictures.
"Women seem to read something in their face that they're interested in babies," Maestripieri said.
Researchers cautioned, however, that there's no proof that a man who prefers baby pictures will want to have children or make a good father.
This is an "important limitation" of the study, Roney said.
The study's findings came as no surprise to Kristin Kelly, a spokeswoman for the online dating service Match.com.
"They call it 'love at first sight' for a reason," Kelly said. "They don't say 'love at first sentence,' 'love at first word.'"
Contributing: AP
jritter@suntimes.com
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