Looking for short-term relationships? Choose men with wider faces as they more dominant and attractive for speed-dating.
Previous studies have found that women prefer more dominant men for short-term relationships but these were based in the lab and did not involve an interaction that could actually lead to mating and dating.
"New findings show that within three minutes of meeting in real life, women find more dominant, wider-faced men attractive for short-term relationships, and want to go on another date with them," claimed Katherine Valentine, a psychological scientist and lead researcher with Singapore Management University.
Researchers have been exploring facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) as a possible physical indicator of male dominance.
High male fWHR has previously been associated with surviving in hand-to-hand combat, aggressiveness, self-perceived power and financial success.
"Our study shows it's also a reasonably good indicator of perceived dominance - it enhances women's interest in a speed-dating setting," added Valentine.
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The researchers studied over 150 men and women, ages 18 to 32, who participated in one of several speed-dating events.
The participants were all single and they received no compensation other than the prospect of making a potential romantic match.
Each speed-dating interaction lasted three minutes.
Male speed-daters with higher fWHR were independently rated as more dominant.
Women not only expressed more interest in short-term relationships with these men but were also more likely to choose them for a second date, said the study published in the journal Psychological Science.
"The fact that women wanted to see these men again suggests that our findings are robust. Women aren't just saying they are interested, they're actually willing to be contacted by these men," explained Valentine.