Review nº 9

Name: Cristina Soledad Guzmán
Source: www.economist.com
Date of publication: August 21st 2008


Review nº 9: Article ‘Facing the truth’

Some people believe that your eyes are the mirror of your soul, and what about your face? In the article ‘Facing the truth’ from The Guardian, a research made by American scientist about this topic is explained. It concluded that the shape of your face betrays how aggressive you are, especially if you are a man.
Physiognomy has predicted that person’s character could be seen in his face. Dominance and trustworthiness also show up. This also suggests that in men it is also possible to look at someone’s face and read his predisposition to aggression. The theory claims that aggressiveness is predictable from the ratio between the width of a person’s face and its height. During puberty, when sex hormones are reshaping people’s bodies, man are exposed to testosterone, which is also known ot make people aggressive. The thesis was tested looking at the ice hockey, which is famous for the aggressiveness of their players, measuring the amount of time a player spends off the ice in the penalty box. The researchers measured the facial ratios of the players and investigated their penalty records. In contrast, aggression was not predictable in women students from the shapes of their faces. The biological signal of aggressiveness is a benefit to the aggressive individuals because he will not have to get into fights in order to prove it, the fear induced by his face should be enough by itself.
In this article an interesting feature of facial appearance is depicted. The study proves that men can be identified as aggressives by the shape of their faces, but in the case of women nothing was proved. I agree with this investigation because, as well as in animals, nature gives men the possibility of protecting themselves by providing them with particular physical features. As men are physically stronger than women, they have usually been involved in physical violent situations. So it is also natural that women do not need these particular facial features because they are supposed not to be involved in such situations.
In conclusion, to face the truth means to accept that many features of our character are predictable form the shape of our faces, especially men’s aggressiveness. So women can take this information to chose better the face of the man they want as a partner.