And now, from the "Just One Look..." files and Yahoo! News...

Sudiegirl sez: Oh boy…this is certainly interesting. Prepare to be blitzed with cynicism, peoples!

Women Get Paternal Clues in Men's Faces
(I usually just get hostile stares…maybe it’s my cologne?)

By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Writer
Tue May 9, 7:53 PM ET

Women looking for a long-term relationship like men who like children — and they can tell which guys might be interested in becoming fathers just by looking at their faces. Those are among the findings of a study of college students published Wednesday in a British scientific journal. (OK…isn’t this the same country that gave us the man who crawled on his hands and knees for love? See my December 2005 archives, specifically “And Now, from the Typical male behavior files and Yahoo! News dated 12/26/05 for details. They’ve also brought us research on cow flatulence, but I won’t get into that…)

"This study suggests that women are picking up on facial cues that are perhaps related to paternal qualities," said James Roney, a University of California at Santa Barbara psychologist and lead author of the study. "The more they perceived the men as liking kids, the more likely they could see having a longer-term relationship." (Facial cues, huh? My God. I love the definite language they use – “perhaps”. Don’t they realize that “perhaps” has an opposite, as in “perhaps not”? For example…would I like a bran muffin right now? Perhaps…or perhaps not. I love it when money goes into something really solid like this…BTW, that’s sarcasm.)

Experts said evolution has apparently programmed women to recognize men who might be interested in propagating the species by raising a family. (MIGHT. That’s some scary s**t there. No wonder the divorce rate is so high.)

The study wasn't all bad news for men not interested in settling down. It found that women can look at men's faces and figure out which of them have the highest testosterone levels. Those men — rated the most masculine by the women — turn out to be just the kind of guys they would want for a fling. (It’s nice to know that stereotypes and mindless animalistic flings live on amongst this madness…)

"Women make very good use of any information they get from a man's face," said co-author Dario Maestripieri, an associate professor of comparative human development at the University of Chicago. "Depending on what they want and where they are in their lives, they use this information differently." (I think I’ll comment on this in greater detail after the article is through…)

In the study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, researchers looked at a group of 39 men, ages 18 to 33, at the University of Chicago. Each man was shown 10 pairs of photographs and silhouettes, one of an adult and the other of an infant, and asked to rate their preferences. Meanwhile, their saliva was tested to determine testosterone levels. (OK…I’m confused. Researchers are looking at other people, and the other people are looking at pictures of people. Too many people and too much looking? Perhaps…or perhaps not!)

Photographs of the men's faces were then shown to 29 women, ages 18 to 20, at the University of California at Santa Barbara. (So more photos of people looking at photos of people, who are then looked at by a second group of people and researched by a third group of people…this is getting WAY confusing, folks!)

The women were asked to rate the men on four qualities: "likes children," "masculine," "physically attractive" and "kind." Then they were asked to rate how attractive they found each man for short-term and long-term romance. (Now how the HELL are they going to know all that from a picture? Ted Bundy looked like daddy material to some people! What about that guy from the Utah polygamy sect? I’m sure those women thought he was daddy material…as well as their daddy…)

The study found women did well at rating men on their interest in babies, and those they rated masculine generally had higher testosterone levels than the others. (So high testosterone levels in spit confirm studliness. Ah…science…you haven’t failed me yet!)

For example, the men who indicated they liked children the most were rated as above average in liking children by 20 of the 29 women. The men who showed no interest in children were correctly rated as below average in that category by 19 of the women. (Well, that’s interesting…however, all that means is they look like it. It doesn’t mean that they are, by any means!)

The higher the women rated the men for masculinity, the higher they were rated as potential short-term romantic partners. The higher they rated men for their interest in children, the higher they were rated for long-term romance. (Well, gee…were they expecting the opposite to be true? “I want to have your baby, but I don’t want you!” Hey, that’d be a good country song!)

The features that research has suggested denote high testosterone levels include a prominent jaw and a heavy beard. (Gee, they left out the loincloth and the club!)

The findings came as no surprise to those in the business of studying human behavior — and love. (That’s good to know…I think?)

"What this study illustrates is that there are genetic programs that increase survival of the species because there are hormones in women that are cuing their reactions to the hormones of the men," said Dr. Daniel Alkon, scientific director of the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute in Morgantown, W.Va., and Washington. (Yeah, but the divorce rate is still 50%! Explain, please!)

Or as Kristin Kelly, a spokeswoman for the online dating service Match.com, put it: "They call it `love at first sight' for a reason. They don't say `love at first sentence,' `love at first word.'" (They do for the visually impaired!)

It is unclear just what about the men's faces tipped the women off about their interest in children. While Maestripieri guessed it might have something to do with "a more rounded face, a gentler face," Roney said the answer might be found in the expressions on the men's faces. (Oh yeah…that’s going to be at the bottom of the post too!)

He explained that after the study was completed, five graduate students were asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 7 whether the men looked angry or happy. Though the men were instructed to have a neutral look on their faces when photographed, some apparently looked happier than others. (Maybe their faces are just built differently?)

"It seemed that the men who picked more infants in that test had a happier or more content look on their face," he said. (Ah, easier to brainwash? OOPS…my plan has been foiled once again…aargh!)

Well, ladies and germs, what does this tell us?

For one, it tells us that chicks dig guys with kind faces if they want a family, and angrier looking faces if they want to screw like minks. Fair enough.

But that’s reversing some time-worn stereotypical behavior, though, isn’t it? I mean, it’s definitely “judging the book by its cover”, as well as reversing the “nice girls want a long-term relationship, settle down and have babies” mindset. Ya think?

So to that end, I’m going to show some examples of “kind faces” and “testosterone-laden faces” to see how they match up.

1. This gent certainly LOOKS like he could be daddy material – if you look close enough, you see deep, dark, possibly gentle eyes, plus the military bearing that can sweep a woman off her feet plus instill confidence that the child will understand ORDER and DISCIPLINE. However, you’d be wrong. This man is one Mitchell Dewayne Fogle, a deadbeat dad who as of the year 2003, owed over $21,000 in child support.
Nice, huh? 2. This second gentleman also has the rounder face, kind looking eyes and a charming half-smile. He’s the kind of guy who would open a door for you, ask if you needed help with anything, if you were OK, right? Plus, he’s wearing a snappy tux, and everyone knows that tuxedo = DASHING man.This guy is Paul Joseph Hallinan, also a deadbeat dad who as of 2005, owed over $10k in child support.

3. Now here’s a man that looks angry. He’s played angry men in many movies – you could say it’s his stock and trade. However, while he was married a total of three times, only one marriage ended in divorce. He had two children with his first wife, one with his second, adopted a child (that passed in 1989) and he took care of his wife during her long bout with cancer. After his second wife’s death, he remarried 8 years later, and remained with his final wife until his death in 2003. He was a loving husband to his 2nd wife, Jill Ireland, and nasty words were never uttered about his first wife that I’m aware of. He looks weather beaten, but he seemed to be a loving man if his 2nd wife’s books could be believed. Ladies and Gentlemen, Charles Bronson.



4. Although he looks like a bulldog, he has been married to the same woman for over 60 years, with two children, one of whom was a co-author of his memoir. He’s an Oscar winner for “Streetcar Named Desire”, and is known by many as the face of the American Express card. He’s no stranger to the stage, television or the big screen. He’s another person that you never heard bad things about regarding his children or his spouse.
Karl Malden, folks…

So it just goes to show you that appearances can be deceiving, right? I think studies like this can be quite misleading. Your own heart and mind tells you who’s right for you, and it’s all a learning process. Sometimes you’re fooled and sometimes you’re not.

Amen to that.

Sudiegirl