- Clive Owen
Which face do you think says boyfriend material and which one shouts one-night stand? 
- Most participants in a new study correctly identified the woman on the right as someone who's looking for a fling. While researchers couldn't identify a particular facial feature that means a woman may be looking for a casual hook-up, they found it was generally those who were more attractive.It’s no use being coy. If you’re looking for a fling, it might just be written all over your face.
A new study by U.K. researchers found that you can tell just by looking at someone’s face whether they’re interested in casual sex or long-term commitment. And, not surprisingly, women tend to be more attracted to the guys who look like true boyfriend material, while men are drawn to faces that seem to say “one-night stand,” found the study, published Tuesday in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.
Researchers created composite images of college students who identified themselves as either looking for a fling or true love and asked 700 participants to separate the hussies from the prudes. And most of the time, their instincts were accurate – 72 percent of the participants were right more than half the time, although they couldn’t exactly explain their guesses.
“They had the gut instinct, but they didn’t understand it,” says Lynda Boothroyd, a psychology professor at Durham University in Durham, England, and lead author of the study.
For guys, a face like Clive Owen’s — a square jaw, prominent eyebrows and nose and smaller eyes — tends to belong to the sluttier of the sex. Men with softer features were more likely to be looking for a long-term relationship. (In other words, Matthew Fox really would make a good boyfriend.)
As for women, it’s the hotties who are more likely to have flings. Both men and women who participated in the study thought that the more attractive women would be interested in something short-term, and they were right — although Boothroyd and her colleagues couldn’t pinpoint a specific facial detail about the images, just that they were slightly more classically attractive.
Boothroyd’s theory sounds a little like common sense: If you’re better-looking, you simply have more opportunities to get some action, especially when you’re 18, she says.
It could also be something of a self-fulfilling prophecy, says Caroline Keating, a psychology professor at Colgate University. Keating wasn’t involved in the Durham University study, but she has done her own research involving the psychology of facial features.
If you’re more attractive, people might expect you to have more partners. And more often than not, we fulfill those expectations people have of us.
“The way we think of ourselves is a reflection in part of how others see us,” Keating says. “So when we go out in the world, we’re looking at ourselves through a reflection of other people’s views.”
Because of the effect those expectations have on our behavior, our first impressions about people turn out to be right, says Keating.
“Physical appearance cues tell us more about people than we’re even consciously aware of,” Keating says. “So in fact, we do judge a book by its cover. And the funny thing is, it often works for us.”
Researchers created composite images of college students who identified themselves as either looking for a fling or true love and asked 700 participants to separate the hussies from the prudes. And most of the time, their instincts were accurate – 72 percent of the participants were right more than half the time, although they couldn’t exactly explain their guesses.
“They had the gut instinct, but they didn’t understand it,” says Lynda Boothroyd, a psychology professor at Durham University in Durham, England, and lead author of the study.
For guys, a face like Clive Owen’s — a square jaw, prominent eyebrows and nose and smaller eyes — tends to belong to the sluttier of the sex. Men with softer features were more likely to be looking for a long-term relationship. (In other words, Matthew Fox really would make a good boyfriend.)
As for women, it’s the hotties who are more likely to have flings. Both men and women who participated in the study thought that the more attractive women would be interested in something short-term, and they were right — although Boothroyd and her colleagues couldn’t pinpoint a specific facial detail about the images, just that they were slightly more classically attractive.
Boothroyd’s theory sounds a little like common sense: If you’re better-looking, you simply have more opportunities to get some action, especially when you’re 18, she says.
It could also be something of a self-fulfilling prophecy, says Caroline Keating, a psychology professor at Colgate University. Keating wasn’t involved in the Durham University study, but she has done her own research involving the psychology of facial features.
If you’re more attractive, people might expect you to have more partners. And more often than not, we fulfill those expectations people have of us.
“The way we think of ourselves is a reflection in part of how others see us,” Keating says. “So when we go out in the world, we’re looking at ourselves through a reflection of other people’s views.”
Because of the effect those expectations have on our behavior, our first impressions about people turn out to be right, says Keating.
“Physical appearance cues tell us more about people than we’re even consciously aware of,” Keating says. “So in fact, we do judge a book by its cover. And the funny thing is, it often works for us.”
GLOSSARY:
- casual hook-up: casual sex
- coy: adjective intentionally secretive: She's very coy about her age.
- cue: signal
- gut instinct: feelings or instincts that tell people whether something is right or wrong
- have a fling: to have a short sexual relationship with someone: She's been having a fling with her boss.
- hussy: a woman or girl who is sexually immoral: "You asked him out? Oh, you brazen/shameless hussy, you!"
- one-night stand: a sexual relationship which lasts for only one night, or a person who you have had this type of relationship with
- prude: a person who is easily shocked by rude things, especially those of a sexual type: Don't be such a prude.
- slut: noun [C] VERY INFORMAL DISAPPROVING a woman who has sexual relationships with a lot of men without any emotional involvement
SOURCE:
SPEAKING - TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION - A MAN THING OR A WOMAN THING? (New English File Intermediate, p. 75)
- Why do usually women go to spas more than men?
- Why do you think is more common for men to watch football?
- Why do you think women tend to read novels more than men?
- Why do you think women watch more soap opera than men?
- What can men and women do in a spa or health farm?
- Smoking everywhere should be banned. Do you agree with this statement? Why?
- All fast food restaurents should be banned. Do you agree with this statement? Why?
- Are you in favour or against capital punishment? Why?
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