Facial Features and Aggression

8 Commentsby   |  03.21.11  |  Beginning of Scientific Psychology (Part III)

When we watched that video in class I thought to myself I do not think I agree so much with how we tend to search out for our mate. I thought when they said that women tend to prefer men with softer features were more suitable for long term relationships I thought that was ridiculous because if you look at pictures Ted Bundy and Jeffery Dahmer they had softer features than the average “masculine” man. I see that they were both married and all that, but the point I am touching upon is the aggression being linked to the facial features.  I know these are exceptions and so I should not linger on these but it does just stand out. Most notorious serial killers tend to blend into surrounding looking “normal” so they tend to not have overly masculine features. These men obviously had much more testosterone than their counterparts. So you cannot judge how much testosterone a man has just but the features of his face. You cannot just tell how aggressive someone will be by looking at their faces; there is probably a lengthy back story of abuse and other issues that have not been brought to light.

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8 Comments

  1. LeeAnn Green
    1:29 pm, 03.21.11

    I agree with what you are saying about aggression being linked to masculine features. I do believe that more testosterone can cause more aggressive behavior but just because you have more testosterone does not mean that you are destined to be incredibly aggressive. Also, just because you don’t have a lot of testosterone and not as masculine features this does not mean that you can’t be overly aggressive.

  2. Lawton Pybus
    2:59 pm, 03.21.11

    Right, there are many, many factors involved in the decision process of a serial killer aside from testosterone level. These men may well have had appropriate testosterone levels for their facial features, but other factors contributed to their killings. Yet as far as I’m aware, a pretty positive correlation can be shown between higher levels of aggressive behavior and higher levels of testosterone.

  3. Garrett Beach
    4:01 pm, 03.21.11

    I tend to think that agression is linked to higher testosterone levels which are related to more masculine features, but I’m not so sure that you can then make the jump and say that agression is linked to more masculine features. Just something to think about I guess.

  4. Emily Pennington
    6:06 pm, 03.21.11

    I agree with what you said about us selecting guys based on how soft their facial features are. I think it’s accurate in certain circumstances, but it’s definitely not a universal truth so I think it was a little ridiculous that they were saying it as if it was scientific fact.

  5. Brady Campbell
    8:56 pm, 03.21.11

    I thought the video was very interesting as well.
    Here are some interesting relations.
    http://47xxy.com/Hermes/Testosterone%20levels%20in%20healthy%20men%20and%20the%20relation%20to.pdf
    http://www.springerlink.com/content/h09nq1nt74361885/
    http://www.flyfishingdevon.co.uk/salmon/year2/aggression/aggression.html
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone
    It would be pretty interesting to do a study in this area!
    I hypothesize that mental disturbance is not causally related to aggression. Though, perhaps a significant correlation could exist?

    Aside, maybe I’m partly curious because this is how I’m being judged.

  6. Bradye McQueen
    10:26 pm, 03.21.11

    I agree! I think they had a good idea.. but it really didn’t work out for them. I guess that is what hypotheses and theories are for. I think that a combination of testosterone and bad experiences lead to aggression and the probability of being psychopathic, but I agree that it really shouldn’t have anything to do with facial features. There may be a correlation in some cases, but that would only be because the extra testosterone affected them in two areas: physically and mentally. This does not always happen.

  7. Terry Osborne
    10:30 pm, 03.21.11

    Yeah, not so sure I buy into that one either! It was interesting though!

  8. Anna Brinkman
    10:46 pm, 03.21.11

    I’m glad you brought this up, because I was a bit skeptical about this whole idea as well. It is weird being told over and over our whole lives not to judge by looks, but then this study completely contradicts that…I don’t like it!

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