Face of a fighter: Bizygomatic width as a cue of formidability

Abstract

Humans can accurately extract information about men's formidability from their faces; however, the actual facial cues that inform these judgments have not been established. Here, through three studies, we test the hypothesis that bizygomatic width (i.e. facial width-to-height ratio, fWHR) covaries with actual physical formidability (hypothesis #1) and that humans use this cue when making assessments of formidability (hypothesis #2). Our data confirm that fWHR is predictive of actual fighting ability among professional combatants (study 1). We further show that subjects' assessments of formidability covary with the target's fWHR on natural faces (study 2), computer-generated images of strong and weak faces (study 2), and experimentally manipulated computer-generated faces (study 3). These results support the hypothesis that bizygomatic width is a cue of formidability that is assessed during agonistic encounters.

Is sociopolitical egalitarianism related to bodily and facial formidability in men?

“…However, the study that has tested this latter hypothesis most comprehensively (Davis, Karvinen, & McCreary, 2005) found no relationship between narcissism and drive for muscularity in men. Finally, our results suggest that although facial characteristics may provide cues to bodily formidability (Sell et al, 2009a;Windhager et al, 2011;Zilioli et al, 2015), indicators of facial formidability are less useful than those of bodily formidability as predictors of egalitarian attitudes. In other words, the aspects of phenotypic formidability that are the best predictors of sociopolitical egalitarianism appear to be those most directly related to likelihood of prevailing in physical conflict: upper body muscularity and strength.…”

“…Moreover, we included facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR), a variable which has recently been shown to be associated with a range of related behavioural traits in males (for a review see Hodges-Simeon, Hanson Sobraske, Samore, Gurven, & Gaulin, 2016). Of particular note, fWHR has been shown to correlate positively with male strength (Windhager, Schaefer, & Fink, 2011), fighting ability (Zilioli et al, 2015), aggression (Haselhuhn, Ormiston, & Wong, 2015), and perceived dominance (Mileva, Cowan, Cobey, Knowles, & Little, 2014). However, unlike the measure of facial masculinity used by Penton-Voak et al (2001) and Pound et al (2009), fWHR is not reliably sexually dimorphic (Kramer, Jones, & Ward, 2012;Lefevre et al, 2012;Özener, 2012).…”

Body Mass Index Predicts Fighting Ability in Female UFC Fighters, but Facial Width-to-Height Ratio May Not

“…Using an approach similar to recent studies involving male UFC fighters (Zilioli et al 2014;Baker and Schorer 2013), we analyzed four measures of formidability: number of active years professional fighting, number of fights, number of wins, and proportion of wins (number of wins/number of fights). Such an approach takes into consideration bias inherent in this data set whereupon matches are determined in a non-random fashion (e.g., best fighters fight each other) and new fighters having a disproportionate number of wins (i.e., newly joined UFC fighters have won many fights in their previous, less challenging organizations).…”

“…For example, in men, but not women, greater fWHR has been positively associated with deceptive behavior and cheating (Haselhuhn and Wong 2011), exploitation of others' trust (Stirrat and Perrett 2010), and overt aggression towards others (Carré and McCormick 2008;but see Deaner et al 2012;Özener 2012). Men with greater fWHR may also be more successful in physically aggressive challenges (i.e., fights in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) competitions) (Trebicky et al 2015;Zilioli et al 2014). In addition, men, but not women, with greater fWHR may be less likely to die in a physically violent encounter (Stirrat et al 2012), suggesting that they may be more successful when faced with physical danger.…”

“…A growing body of literature suggests that the human face is a reliable indicator of various physiological, psychological, and behavioral characteristics in men and women, and recently, researchers have identified facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR), or the ratio of the bizygomatic width to height of the upper face (Weston et al 2007), as a possible signal of formidability (e.g., Zilioli et al 2014). Independent of body size, fWHR may provide an indication of an individual's fighting ability, thus providing others with a means to assess their own probability of success in a competitive encounter with them.…”