The Facial Features People Subconsciously Find Most Attractive, According To Psychology
Even if you don't think you're assessing someone's attractiveness, your subconscious probably is.
Emilia Rahmatullina | Unsplash When we look at others, we’re not necessarily doing so to identify their most attractive feature. But, often, our subconscious has other plans. When you look at a person, you’re actually assessing their attractiveness, whether you realize it or not.
A study took a look at just what people find most attractive about others’ faces. While researchers explained this information could help identify how to make cosmetic procedures most effective, it’s also just incredibly interesting, especially considering it happens without any conscious effort.
The study revealed what men and women find most attractive in other people’s faces.
Researchers from the Mayo Clinic and the Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine helmed a study that was published in the journal The Laryngoscope. They sought to discover what people find most attractive when they look at others’ faces by using eye-tracking technology.
According to Eric W. Dolan, who reported on the study for PsyPost, the study had 154 participants who were divided into three groups that each viewed the same 40 pictures of men and women of different races and ethnicities between the ages of 20 and 60. The first group was simply asked to rate each face’s attractiveness on a scale of zero to 100. For the second group, researchers asked them to look for and identify possible indicators of plastic surgery.
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The third group, on the other hand, was used as the study’s “baseline.” They were considered “free-gazers,” who looked at the pictures with no instructions given. “Eye-tracking software recorded the duration of each participant’s gaze on predefined areas of interest, such as the eyes, nose, mouth, hair and jawline,” Dolan said.
He noted that participants mainly focused on the face’s central triangle, which is made up of the eyes, nose, and mouth. Researchers noticed that their group of participants who were tasked with rating levels of attractiveness were particularly tuned into the central triangle. When study participants focused their attention on the central triangle, along with hair, they usually found subjects to be more attractive.
Men and women found different parts of faces to be more attractive.
“Interestingly, the specific regions linked to higher attractiveness ratings varied depending on the gender of both the observer and the person in the image,” Dolan said. For men looking at women’s faces, higher attractiveness was specifically associated with spending a longer time looking at the woman’s mouth. Conversely, for women looking at men’s faces, it was the eyes and hair that indicated higher attractiveness.
According to Dolan, “This gender difference in gaze behavior is consistent with prior research suggesting that men often focus more on features linked to fertility or youth, such as lips and skin smoothness, while women may emphasize indicators of trustworthiness or status, such as eye contact and grooming.”
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It’s not necessarily surprising that men and women focus on different features when assessing attractiveness. Research shows that men and women think very differently. The former president of the American Psychological Association, Diane Halpern, Ph.D., found that there are differences in men's and women’s thought processes and strengths when performing research for her book "Sex Differences in Cognitive Abilities."
Halpern observed that women are much stronger when it comes to “verbal ability.” On the other hand, men’s strengths lie in “working memory” and “visuospatial skills.” These small differences can help explain why men and women look at faces and see different features as being more attractive.
This information on attractiveness may seem superfluous, but it’s actually quite useful.
It may seem unnecessary to know just what men and women find more attractive in facial features, unless you’re actively trying to appeal to a certain gender’s predispositions. However, this information has real-world implications beyond just searching for a partner.
Dolan pointed out that a person’s attractiveness can affect how and where they are hired, their friendships, and “assumptions about personality.” Understanding the ways in which people may find you attractive can actually benefit you. It can also help you understand why you find certain traits more appealing than others.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
