Tilting The Head Is Display Of Intimidation, Study
Christopher Philip
Research Primer – On Facial fWHR
Research by a group U.S. scientists have found evidence that titling the head either up or down, is done expressly to appear more intimidating to others.
Previous research has found evidence that the facial width-to-height ratio or fWHR is an “honest signal” of the level of testosterone possessed by an individual since it is related to human male cranial growth.
The fWHR is the physical measurement of the width of the face from the left cheekbone to the right, divided by the upper facial height, measured as the distance between the upper lip and the mid-brow. A high fWHR is linked to a high testosterone-to-estrogen ratio (high testosterone, but low estrogen) which helps bone growth including the cheek-bones, mandibles, chin, and forward growth of the eyebrow ridges.
Recent research has found that males with high fWHR are seen as untrustworthy and racially-prejudiced than thinner faced individuals. Interestingly, these are not necessarily incorrect assessments. Indeed fWHR have been positively linked to greater reactive aggression, feelings of personal power and overall untrustworthiness.
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The researchers point out that “Humans may have developed this sensitivity to fWHR in order to avoid the physical danger or loss of resources represented by greater fWHR individuals.” They continue, “Indeed, recent research indicates that wider-faced men may be particularly dangerous in combative situations.”
For example, wider faced men of the Namibian !Kung San, a primitive human tribe, have been involved in greater violence. Also, forensic samples have shown that men with high fWHR are less likely to be killed by violent contact such as stabbings and strangulations. Those with high fWHR also tend to be less cooperative when working in groups, and tend to rate themselves higher on aggression.
“Thus, evidence from multiple lines of research converge in indicating that greater fWHR individuals may be more dangerous in social contexts in which they are challenged, and therefore may be perceived as more intimidating,” say the researchers.
Thus, there may be important advantages to appearing physically intimidating. “Therefore”, the researchers speculate, “just as non-venomous snakes may come to resemble their deadly counterparts, individuals might sometimes behave so as to be perceived with a greater fWHR, and consequently, as more intimidating.
Over two studies, this is exactly what they found.
In the first study, 57 participants were asked to pose for two photographs – a neutral baseline photo and an intimidating photo. The first photograph was simply a baseline photo where the subjects held a neutral expression. For the second photograph, the subjects were given the following instructions: “For the next photo, we’d like you to try to appear as tough, dominating, or intimidating as possible, but without changing your facial expression. We are only taking a picture of your face, so again, without changing your facial expression, please pose as intimidating-looking as possible.” If the subject made any sort of facial expression, the instructions were repeated and the photograph, retaken. The two images were then compared to one another to see if people used the head-tilt to modify their fWHR.
The results showed that most tended to tilt their faces downward (84%) as compared to upward (16%) and that the upward tilting tended to be slightly more effective than downward tilting in increasing their fWHR from the baseline. Interestingly, all those that tilted their heads upward were male. The results also showed that those with smaller initial fWHR tended to increase their scores more than did those with higher starting fWHR.
This confirmed the researcher’s hypothesis. When trying to appear intimidating, people spontaneously increase their fWHR by tilting their head. Also, those with smaller fWHR tended to compensate for this deficit by tilting more than those with greater fWHR but both groups were equally likely to tilt their heads.
Say the researchers, “Considering these two results in conjunction indicates that fWHR affects not the likelihood of tilting one’s head, but rather the degree to which the head is tilted among those who do so.”
In the second experiment photographs used sample images in three conditions to assess the impressions they had on observers. The photos include the baseline or neutral, head-on, head tilted up and head tilted down. The subjects were told to rate the images with the following instructions: Please report your impression of this person on the following characteristics: How [mean, intimidating, attractive, friendly, creative]?” Before starting, the subjects were told that the targets in the images were instructed to pose in a spontaneous manner that captured their personality but while holding a neutral expression.
The results showed that tilted heads are indeed perceived as more intimidating than the head-on neutral orientation. Interestingly, this was more effective for those who had a relatively greater baseline fWHR. As baseline fWHR decreased, the effect of the head tilt on the ratings of intimidation diminished. In other words, when trying to appear intimidating, tilting the head up and down in all people increases the effect, but they increased sharper for those with a higher start fWHR.
Summary Of The Findings
The researchers summarize their findings with four main effects:
a) Individuals spontaneously increase their fWHR when trying to appear intimidating by modifying the angle at which their faces are perceived.
b) Smaller fWHR individuals, for whom it would be particularly advantageous to appear more intimidating, spontaneously increase their fWHR more so than greater fWHR individuals.
c) Faces with increased fWHR due to tilting are indeed evaluated as more intimidating. d) The increased perceptions of intimidation from tilting are sharper for individuals with greater baseline fWHR.
Applying The Findings
This is important in so much that a high fWHR can be modified, but also that those with a high baseline fWHR are indeed people that should be fretted about especially if one is concerned with personal safety or protecting property. Naturally, however, correlation does not presume causation. While a person with a high fWHR likely indicates a higher than ordinary level of testosterone and this might provide a tendency to act on it, it does not mean that they necessarily will.
If one is blessed (or cursed) with a high fWHR it means that one might experience reduced challenges for resources or a decrease in aggressive challenges.
Conversely, if one has a low fWHR, then one can intimidate others modestly and simply, by tilting the head up or down. Those with low fWHR are likely to have to work harder than those scoring higher on fWHR, that is more “faking it.”
We know that when fighters such as boxers and mixed martial arts fighters square off, they typically cant their heads downward. This has been theorized to be a protective response to immanent threat by lowering the brow to protect vulnerable eyes and lowering the chin to protect the neck.
On the other hand, tilting the head back, which was far less common might be a display rooted in authority and superiority such as ‘looking down one’s nose’ which is why it wasn’t adopted as frequently in the study.
One would presume that if having a high fWHR was disadvantageous, it would be diminished over time through natural selection. That it persists, suggests that it is, at some level, adaptive. However, as the researchers point out “in some contexts it may be advantageous to be perceived as displeasing and intimidating rather than well-liked and quiescent.”
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Resources
Hehman, Eric; Jordan B. Leitner and Samuel L. Gaertner. Enhancing Static Facial Features Increases Intimidation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2019; 49: 747-754.