title: How components of facial width to height ratio differently contribute to the perception of social traits.
abstract: Facial width to height ratio (fWHR) is a morphological cue that correlates with sexual dimorphism and social traits. Currently, it is unclear how vertical and horizontal components of fWHR, distinctly capture faces' social information. Using a new methodology, we orthogonally manipulated the upper facial height and the bizygomatic width to test their selective effect in the formation of impressions. Subjects (n = 90) saw pair of faces and had to select the face expressing better different social traits (trustworthiness, aggressiveness and femininity). We further investigated how sex and fWHR components interact in the formation of these judgements. Across experiments, changes along the vertical component better predicted participants' ratings rather than the horizontal component. Faces with smaller height were perceived as less trustworthy, less feminine and more aggressive. By dissociating fWHR and testing the contribution of its components independently, we obtained a powerful and discriminative measure of how facial morphology guides social judgements.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cognitive Science Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229, CNRS, UCBL, Lyon 1, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6251-7900
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cognitive Science Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229, CNRS, UCBL, Lyon 1, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lio
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cognitive Science Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229, CNRS, UCBL, Lyon 1, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cognitive Science Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229, CNRS, UCBL, Lyon 1, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sirigu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D057227:Femininity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057228:Masculinity; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012938:Social Perception; D066252:Sociological Factors