Psychopathic Tendencies Linked To Men With Wide Faces
Judging a book by its cover isn’t exactly something that’s smiled upon. The idea is that appearances aren’t the sole judges of a person’s character; their personalities and actions can define them much more. In spite of that conventional wisdom, science would lead people to believe that it’s more than possible to judge by looks — because it could help sniff out a psychopath.
Researchers from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University gathered data from ninety-six men in a university, and forty-one male prisoners in a young offenders’ institution; questionnaires were passed out to measure psychopathic traits, and then each participant had his picture taken. The end result led to a proposed correlation, wherein those with wider faces — as measured by cheekbone distance and the height from lip to eyelids — had a higher tendency for self-centered impulsiveness dominance, and blame-shifting. Those traits and more are signals of psychopathy.
The explanation behind it ties to testosterone levels during puberty. It helps determine the width of the face, which means that those with wider faces had plenty of it — and since there’s a link between testosterone levels and development of the brain, it’s no small wonder that there are aftereffects and personality quirks. It doesn’t necessarily mean that those with wide faces are out for blood, but it doesn’t hurt to have one airtight explanation.
