title: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Samuele
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zilioli
authors.affiliation: School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Aaron N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Sell
authors.affiliation: Psychology, School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stirrat
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jagore
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Vickerman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Neil V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Watson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D000066499:Facial Recognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016139:Martial Arts / Q000502:physiology*; D057228:Masculinity; D008875:Middle Aged; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: evolutionary psychology; facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR); formidability; physical strength; resource-holding potential (RHP)