Beware The Squinty Eyed Guy – Studying The Body Language Of Narrowed Eyes

Beware The Squinty Eyed Guy – Studying The Body Language Of Narrowed Eyes
Christopher Philip

Rightfully or wrongfully, facial features provide others a means use to make predictions about other people. Men with neotenous (childlike) features such as small chins, high eyebrows and large eyes are seen as honest, sincere, nurturing, innocent, naïve, intimate, weak, vulnerable and are judged to be more capable parents. These baby-like qualities also link to self-reported approachability and warmth and inversely to aggression.

At the other spectrum, masculine features including a large chin, thick brows, thin lips, prominent cheek bones, thinner cheeks, thicker facial hair and smaller eyes increase the perception of dominance, social status and masculinity, but decrease perception of warmth, emotionality, honesty, cooperativeness and parental quality.

Masculine facial features consistent with higher testosterone are thought to be evidence of higher gene quality. Masculine features are also preferred amongst women for short-term relationships whereas the reverse is true generally for long-term relationships. Men with high testosterone are figured to be less willing or capable to provide long-term care, but otherwise have good genes in a short term situation.

Therefore, women balance the relevant cues to the purpose of their desired relationship. When women seek a short commitment, they seek masculine men and when they wish to settle down and bear children, they seek more feminine men.

This being the case, little research has been conducted into eyelid openness and seduction though it has been referred to in popular literature.

Researchers Daniel Kruger and Jory Piglowski, University of Michigan sought to test the common lowered eyelid “eclipsed” gaze stereotyped by male seduction in a study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

They hypothesized that “Lowering the eyelids may reduce perceptions of neoteny and increase perceptions of maturity. This may facilitate attraction of mating partners, especially for brief relationships.”

They predicted that men with lowered eyelids would be associated with short-term mating strategies than a man with raised eyelids. They also predicted that men with raised eyelids would be preferred by women for long-term relationships and these would diminish with relationship length.

In the study, images were produced using software. Created was a raised and lowered eyelid condition including closed eyelids, lowered eyelids and raised (natural gaze) eyelids.

Over two studies the results were summarized as follows:

– The raised eyelid image was rated more favourably than the lowered eyelid image
for long-term relationships
– Both the raised eyelid image, and lowered eyelid image, were rated higher on short-term mating strategy than on long-term mating strategy.
– Women showed a preference trend for the man in the raised eyelid image as the father of their child.
– Men were more comfortable with the man in the raised eyelid image accompanying
their girlfriend on a 3 week trip to another city,
– Men showed a trend for preferring the man in the raised eyelid image as a son-in-law.
– Women did not exhibit a preference for someone accompanying their sister on a three-week trip to another city.
– Women preferred the man in the raised eyelid image (71%) for marriage, but did not exhibit an overall preference for a sexual affair.
– Women preferred the man in the raised eyelid image as the father of their child, and to accompany their sister on a three-week trip to another city.
– Men preferred the man in the raised eyelid image for a business partner (86%) and neighbor (87%).
– Participants were significantly more likely to match the raised eyelid image (69%) with the proper hero personality description, and the lowered eyelid image (65%) with the dark hero personality description.
– The raised eyelid image was rated higher than the lowered eyelid image on long-term mating strategy, and the lowered eyelid image was rated higher than the raised eyelid image on short-term mating strategy.
– Men preferred the man in the raised eyelid image as a son-in-law, and to accompany their girlfriend on a 3 week trip to another city
– Women preferred the man in the raised eyelid image for both marriage (91%) and a sexual affair (84%).

Drawing Conclusions

Squinting the eyes or not, has a profound effect on the perceptions of others. The squinty eyed guy was not overtly favoured in this study and the effects were seen as more negative than positive.

As we understand, squinty eyes are discerning, critical, judging eyes that carry negative attributes and demonstrate negative thought patterns. At times, they even indicate pain and are precursors to pain. This may partially explain why the researchers did not find the positive outcome they assumed.

However, they did find that squinting eyes were more associated with a short term mating strategy over a long term mating strategy, but this may simply be the result of a forced choice. While squinty eyes may boost dominance by reducing neotenous characteristics overall, it may do more damage than good due to the association, as mentioned, with negative, rather than positive, perceived thoughts.

Resources

Daniel J. Kruger and Jory S. Piglowski. The Effect of Eyelid Constriction on Perceptions of Mating Strategy: Beware of the Squinty-Eyed Guy! Personality and Individual Differences. 2019. 52: 576-580.