Summer is the season of loves that are born or adventures that run out in a short time, at least so wants a commonplace.
That the search for a new partner is aimed at a long -lasting relationship or a simple adventure, we always start from initially perceiving the other as more or less available from a sexual point of view.
What this perception determines is a question that Australian researchers from Macquarie University have been asked led by Professor Jan Stephen and Joe Antar. They published a study about it in the magazine Evolution and Human Behavior.
They studied the relationship between the most relevant indices of the sociosexuality and the facial morphological characteristics. In other words, they evaluated if the intentions on the type of relationship sought could be detected by looking at the features of the face.
This ability is of a certain importance in making decisions, more or less aware, on which people are most suitable based on the objectives we have on the type of relationship.
The study started with a self -assessment of heterosexual men and women on theirs levels of “sociosexuality” understood as the tendency to engage in sexual activities outside of a relationship, also defined occasional sex.
The participants portrayed in one of their photos and showed it to the participants of the opposite sex in such a way that they could judge, based only on the characteristics of the face, if the person portrayed was more interested in a structured relationship over time or an erotic adventure.
The photographs of over 100 Caucasian people were collected, with an average age of 20 years, to which the SociSeSexuality Orientation Inventory-Revvised (Soi-R) was completed which evaluates the disposition to have occasional sexual relations and not to engage in a structured relationship.
A first figure observed was that among the men most arranged in occasional sex, somatic traits characterized by longer faces, the upper front, more pronounced noses and larger eyes prevailed.
Very interesting is that the sample of women subjected to the study has precisely identified these characteristics of the male faces as indicators of the interest of men for occasional sex. In other words, women, observing faces, had a good ability to understand if men were interested only in short -lived relationships.
For men they were the smaller female faces, more frail, with smaller eyes and lips to be erroneously perceived as indicators of a certain availability of women to occasional relationships. In fact, in most cases, their perception did not correspond to the real intentions of the observed woman.
According to these data men do not seem to be as skilled as women.
The fact that Do women have shown men’s best skills in recognizing socio -sex partners is due to a process that is activated in the brain of people who observe or is this phenomenon detect for something actually present in the faces of the observed people?
The researchers tried to answer this interesting question through the use of theartificial nitelligence.
The principle is that if the difference is due to elements present in the faces, this would mean that in the faces of men there is information on the intentions of relationship while this does not happen for women.
In this case, an IT algorithm could be built capable of formulating correct judgments on the relational intentions of men but not of women.
If the IT system should instead show a equal ability to detect sociosexuality both in men and women Then the data collected in the study would derive from a difference in the eye that observes. In other words, women would have somatic facial traits indicative of sociosexuality but men are unable to detect it.
Taking this hypothesis, Australian researchers observed that artificial intelligence was able, through the analysis of faces, to make accurate predictions on the relational intentions of men, while this did not happen when women’s faces were analyzed.
The answer that was given by the researchers on this data hypothesizes that responsible for this gap would be the role played by testosterone And to its ability to “sculpt” the faces, leaving traces of its function.
High testosterone levels define not only some facial characteristics with a male appearance but also more typically male behaviors such as interest in short -term and non -demanding relationships.
In the woman, testosterone plays a lesser role in the development of femininity and this is what would explain why information on the intention of relationships does not seem detectable in their faces of women or men or computer tools.
As always, the data must be confirmed in several locations and with more numerous samples. Certainly what emerged is very interesting from a scientific point of view and raises many questions.
However, I would not escape an observation: the average age of the participants in the study was 20 years. With the advance of the age, other elements influenced by one’s own history, by the experiences of life lived, by social expectations, from emotional needs, from protection towards bonds in progress, take over. Probably in the mature age the data of the study would lead to other conclusions. We look forward to seeing them.
Bibliography
Evolution and Human Behavior. Facial Shape Provides a Valid Cue To SociSeosexuality in Men But Not Women. Antar, Ian Stephen. Volume 42, July 2021, page 361-370
