An often unspoken fact among dating-aged men and women is the notion that men are naturally more inclined towards one-night-stands and short-term sexual relationships while women prefer a long-term relationship.
Results from a psychology study led by Lynda Boothroyd of University of St. Andrews in Scotland presents new evidence for this social stereotype.
Believe it or not, a person's face tells much about his or her sociosexual orientation, or which type of relationships (long or short) they prefer.
This tendency of a person to engage in a short-term sexual relationship can be assessed by the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory.
A high SOI score indicates that the person is more unrestricted, or open to short-term relationships, while a low score represents a restricted sociosexuality, or a tendency for long-term relationships only.
Based on SOI, researchers have found that female observers are able to categorize sociosexual orientation of a member of the opposite sex based on cues from his appearance and body language.
Boothroyd's study focuses more on visual assessment of physical appearance alone in relation to a person's sociosexual orientation.
Previous studies have indicated that greater masculinity in physical appearance often translates into a greater proclivity toward short-term relationships, while females who were less restricted rated themselves as being more physically attractive.
People with higher SOI scores also demonstrate more symmetrical facial features as compared to those with lower scores.
Based on these results, Boothroyd's team hypothesized that those who are more open to short-term relationships should be more physically attractive.
To test their hypothesis, the team used two types of tests: observer judgment and preference based on composite facial images, which are digitally constructed mixes of several photographs, and the second based on photographs of real faces.
For the first test, facial composite images were used to detect subtle structural differences between those who are more unrestricted, or in other words are physically more masculine or feminine.
They were compared with those who are restricted, and whether or not observers can detect these differences and pass judgment.
The underlying hypothesis for this test is that if an observer is able to identify an individual's sociosexual orientation, it would affect the probability of the observer to pursue a long-term relationship with the individual.
Overall, the results indicated that female observers were able tell the difference between a restricted male composite versus an unrestricted one, while male observers were not able to distinguish between female composites.
Unrestricted female composites were found to be viewed as significantly more attractive and feminine than restricted composites by observers of both genders, while male composites were seen as significantly more masculine.
Observers were asked to assess paired images for attractiveness as a long- or short-term partner and to distinguish between faces that looked more open to short-term relationships.
It was found that judgments of attractiveness and relative masculinity or femininity did not correlate with judgments of sociosexuality.
For the second test, photographs of real faces were assessed based on questions such as: how likely is this person to have a one night stand, and how likely is this person to think sex without love is okay?
Responses were scaled on a level from one to seven, with seven being most likely. Results showed that a physically restricted looking face in fact does indicate that the individual is less willing to engage in a short-term relationship.
The study found that males do prefer females with unrestricted profiles, who are more visually attractive and who are more open to short-term relationships, while females have a higher preference for males whose profile indicates that they are more open to long-term relationships.
