fWHoaR! Researcher crack eternal mystery of what women want in a man

Results will leave men with long faces with long faces

Conferring yet another boon on confused men everywhere, psychologists say they have finally cracked the eternal mystery of just what it is that women really find attractive in a man.

Unfortunately for those of our male readers whose skull is taller than it is wide, it turns out that what really stokes the ladies' desires is a chap with a wide face.

“Our study shows that within three minutes of meeting in real life, women find more dominant, wider-faced men attractive for short-term relationships, and want to go on another date with them,” says Katherine Valentine, of Singapore Management University*.

In fact it's just all around a better idea to have a wide head if you're a bloke, seemingly. There's been loads of research into facial width-to-height ratio (which psychologists like to call "fWHR", presumably as in "fWHR! Have you seen the wide face on THAT!")

We are told:

“High male fWHR has previously been associated with surviving in hand-to-hand combat, aggressiveness, self-perceived power, and CEO’s financial success,” says Valentine. “Our study shows it’s also a reasonably good indicator of perceived dominance – not only that, it piques women’s interest in a face-to-face speed-dating setting.”

Which is great news for the squash-headed male, of course, though much less so for the coffin-bonced community.

As to how Valentine and her crew found this out:

The researchers studied over 150 men and women, ages 18 to 32, who participated in one of several speed-dating events. The participants were all single and they received no compensation other than the prospect of making a potential romantic match. Each speed-dating interaction lasted 3 minutes.

Male speed-daters with higher fWHR, as measured by computer software, were independently rated as more dominant. Women not only expressed more interest in short-term relationships with these men, but were also more likely to choose them for a second date. These associations held even after the researchers accounted for the men’s age and independently-rated attractiveness.

So there you have it: if you have a wide face you can expect to triumph over your tall-headed inferiors in every arena from boudoir to brawl to boardroom.

Ms Valentine for her part intends to carry out extensive further research into "how these individual differences in men affect their overall attractiveness, and in what contexts".

She and her colleagues' paper can be read by subscribers here, courtesy of the journal Psychological Science. ®

*Not affiliated with Hollywood Upstairs Medical College