Harnaaz Sandhu

Why a shorter chin is more attractive than a longer one?

A study at School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, UK by Perrett found that “very attractive female faces have more feminine features (a smaller chin and higher cheekbones)”.

The scientific paper by Thayer et al showed that males typically have “larger and more projecting lateral tubercles at the base of the chin” and this longer and broader chin phenotype is used to help us discern males from females.It should come as no surprise then, that females with longer chins are typically rated as less attractive, as this is more fitting with the attractive male face shape.

When men were asked to rate the attractiveness of women in a study (Cunningham et al 1986), an interesting observation developed: they preferred baby - like features.A small chin, a small nose and big eyes were not only preferred, but dictated the men’s likelihood to date, help and be sexually attracted to these women.The study quotes “Smaller chins were found to be desirable for women”.

Valenzano et al(2006) show that, Sexual differences in the female during their foetal development usually result in “horizontal reduction of the chin, [and] forward movement of the gonion(jaw angle)”. This aesthetic change in the developing female’s chin, helps create an ‘attractive shape’.

Why a high set eyebrow is more attractive than a low set?

In his famous paper, Cunningham mentioned that the expressive features of highly set eyebrows were associated with female features. To corroborate his finds, two studies mentioned below are finds the high set eyebrows are sexually diamorphic feature.

Packiriswamy et al. in their paper “Anthropometric and Anthroposcopic Analysis of Periorbital Features”, quantified the aesthetic dimensions and position of periorbital features.The study involved 300 male and 300 female subjects with ages ranging from 17 to 25 years.Standardised facial photographs of the subjects were taken in frontal view and the aesthetic dimensions and position of periorbital features including eyebrow height(EH) were measured using Image analyzer. The study demonstrated that interbrow height was significantly greater in females than males(p < 0.005).

In a study carried out by Price et al. “Eyebrow and eyelid dimensions: An anthropometric analysis”, ideal eyebrow and eyelid dimensions were studied among 68 male and female subjects, divided into three age cohorts(20 to 39 years, 40 to 59 years, and 60 to 79 years) and by gender.The subjects were then photographed in the frontal view with brow fixation, first with eyes open in primary gaze, and then with eyes gently closed.The standardised digital images were then analysed using a measuring software.It was found that eyebrow height was significantly larger in women than men(p < 0.001).

The scientists Zhao et al in their study “Data - Driven Research on the Matching Degree of Eyes, Eyebrows and Face Shapes”, go on to explain that although eye to eyebrow distance does serve as a proxy for female attractiveness, it is heavily influenced by overall face shape.Shorter, rounder faces are scored as most attractive when they have high set(or more distal) eyebrows with a higher degree of curvature.Whereas square or longer faces are considered most attractive with exactly the opposite: lower set, flatter eyebrows(Zhao et al, 2019; Baker, 2007). The eye to eyebrow distance and shape can accentuate other attractive facial features, slim the overall facial appearance and alter the perception of eye size but the bi - directionality of this relationship means that the ideal eyebrow placement varies with individual facial aesthetics.