Body Language of Facial Hair and Beards
Cue: Beards
Synonym(s): Facial Hair.
Description: Facial hair on the chin, cheeks and sometimes the neck.
In One Sentence: Facial hair is a universal signal of dominance.
How To Use it: The use of facial hair as a positive signal is reserved exclusively to men. Men should use facial hair if they wish to send a dominance signal. Research shows that the longer the beard, the more masculine it is perceived by others. High stubble, on the other hand is found to be the most attractive as it is seen as thick, but not unwieldy. Keeping the beard well manicured will produce the best impression. An extremely long beard will be seen as wise. Artistic or fashionable beards including designs can produce the impression of masculinity with creativity.
Regardless, keep a beard if you want to be viewed as dominant, sexually mature, capable and wise.
Note too, that bear fashion and preferences for beards changes over time. With all this in mind, use beard length and style to create your desired impression.
Context: General.
Verbal Translation: a) “I’m expressing my own personal character and may or may not care what other people think about that.” b) “I’m dominant and masculine permitting me to express this uniquely male characteristic.”
Variant: Facial hairstyles includes the goatee, mustaches, full beard, mountain man beard, French cut, mutton chops, or stubble.
Cue In Action: a) The teenage boy was the first in his class to be able to grow out a moustache to the envy of the others. b) His beard was full and always well groomed. He was a specimen of masculinity. c) His beard was unwieldy and un-kept, a real turn-off to women.
Meaning and/or Motivation: It is a nonverbal message signifying wisdom and is scholarly unless left to grow untrimmed. In this case, it is seen as unwieldy and primitive.
Rarely does a beard indicate secretiveness, though, some may ascribe that character to a bearded person. Beards are a cosmetic choice. Beards can indicate that a man feels he looks better that way, is trying to look older, is trying to hide age by covering wrinkles, is trying to conceal a facial flaw such as a weak chin or has a rebellious or artistic personality.
Growing a beard is linked to genetic qualities, but beard growth is linked to high levels of testosterone. The more testosterone produced the faster and fuller a beard grows. Having a beard provides cues to others as to the level of aggression and dominance a person may be prone.
Women habitually have mixed feelings about beards that may be linked to their personal preferences for dominance in their partners. Beards are also treated differently according to culture. In the West, beards are seen as hyper-masculine where a clean-shaven feminized face is preferred.
Cue Cluster: N/A
Body Language Category: Dominant body language.
Resources:
Conti, Richard P ; Conti, Melanie A. Mock jurors’ perceptions of facial hair on criminal offenders. Perceptual and motor skills. 2004. 98(3 Pt 2): 1356-8.
De Souza, Altay Alves Lino ; Baião, Vera Baumgarten Ulyssea ; Otta, Emma. Perception of men’s personal qualities and prospect of employment as a function of facial hair. Psychological reports. 2003. 92(1): 201-8.
Dixson, Barnaby J ; Vasey, Paul L. Beards augment perceptions of menʼs age, social status, and aggressiveness, but not attractiveness. Behavioral Ecology. 2012. 23(3): 481-490.
Dixson, Barnaby J ; Tam, Jamie C ; Awasthy, Monica. Do women’s preferences for men’s facial hair change with reproductive status? Behavioral Ecology. 2013. 24(3): 708-716.
Dixson, Barnaby J. and Robert C. Brooks. The Role Of Facial Hair In Women’s Perceptions Of Men’s Attractiveness, Health, Masculinity And Parenting Abilities. Evolution and Human Behavior, 2013; 34 (3): 236–241.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/study-finds-that-men-are-most-attractive-with-heavy-stubble-beards
Geniole, Shawn N. ; Mccormick, Cheryl M. Facing our ancestors: judgements of aggression are consistent and related to the facial width-to-height ratio in men irrespective of beards. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2014. 1090-5138.
Gröning, Flora ; Liu, Jia ; Fagan, Michael J ; O’Higgins, Paul. Why do humans have chins? Testing the mechanical significance of modern human symphyseal morphology with finite element analysis. American journal of physical anthropology 2011. 144(4): 593-606.
Krumhuber, Eva ; Manstead, Antony ; Kappas, Arvid. Temporal Aspects of Facial Displays in Person and Expression Perception: The Effects of Smile Dynamics, Head-tilt, and Gender. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2007. (1): 39-56
Lee Ann Renninger, T. Joel Wade, Karl Grammer. Getting that female glance: Patterns and consequences of male nonverbal behavior in courtship contexts. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2004; 25: 416–431.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/part-i-how-to-read-male-sexual-body-language-a-study-for-women-and-the-men-who-wish-to-cheat-the-system/
Middleton, Jacob. Bearded patriarchs: Jacob Middleton investigates the eccentric set of prejudices against shaving that led our Victorian forefathers to adorn their chins with a lush growth of facial hair. History Today. 2006, Vol.56(2), p.26(2).
Mignault, Alain and Chaudhuri, Avi. The Many Faces of a Neutral Face: Head Tilt and Perception of Dominance and Emotion. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2003 27(2): 111-132.
Marshall, Steven D. ; Low, Laura E. ; Holton, Nathan E. ; Franciscus, Robert G. ; Frazier, Mike ; Qian, Fang ; Mann, Kyle ; Schneider, Galen ; Scott, Jill E. ; Southard, Thomas E. Chin development as a result of differential jaw growth American Journal of Orthodontics & Dentofacial Orthopedics. 2011 139(4): 456-464.
Neave Nick and Kerry Shields. The Effects of Facial Hair Manipulation on Female Perceptions of Attractiveness, Masculinity, and Dominance in Male Faces. Personality and Individual Differences. 2008. 45(5): 373–377. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2008.05.007.
Schubert, T. W. (2005). Your highness: Vertical positions as perceptual symbols of power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 89, 1–21.
Weisbuch, Max ; Slepian, Michael L ; Eccleston, Collette P ; Ambady, Nalini. Nonverbal Expressions of Status and System Legitimacy. Psychological Science. 2013. 24(11): 2315-2321.
Wogalter, Michaels. ; Hosie, Juditha. Effects of Cranial and Facial Hair on Perceptions of Age and Person. The Journal of Social Psychology. 1991 131(4): 589-591.
Zinnia J. Janif, Robert C. Brooks, Barnaby J. Dixson. Negative Frequency-Dependent Preferences and Variation in Male Facial Hair. Biology Letters. Published online April 16, 2014. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2013.0958.