Men in relationships prefer women with more feminine faces for a fling.

This is the suggestion of new research published in the British Journal of Psychology, which considered whether men favoured different face types when looking for long-term or short-term relationship.

Carried out by Dr Anthony Little from the University of Stirling and Benedict Jones of the University of Glasgow, the investigation included an online experiment with 393 heterosexual men, who were shown images of women and asked to rate them.

It was shown that, when looking for a short-term fling, men in relationships were more likely to plump for females with more feminine features.

Dr Little stated: “It’s interesting that these findings are comparable to previous research that indicates women’s preference for masculine male faces are higher if they were judging for short-term relationships. Our findings point to a similar preference in men. When they already have a partner, men find more feminine women more attractive for short-term relationships.

'There are several possible explanations; perhaps some men are inclined to take a long-term partner whilst still attempting to cheat with other, more feminine, women. Or maybe once a long-term partner is secured, the potential cost of being discovered may increase a man’s choosiness regarding short-term partners relative to unpartnered men.”

“In another part of the study we also showed that men who think themselves attractive have stronger preferences for femininity than those who think themselves less attractive. Again, this effect appears similar to an effect seen in women, whereby attractive women are choosier in their preferences for men. Across the two studies attractive men were found to be more discriminating in their preferences for a woman’s facial femininity.”

Dr Anthony Little runs an online research laboratory that contains his studies. Click here to find out more.

The full journal paper can be accessed here.

The Society publishes 11 academic journal titles in conjunction with our publishing partner Wiley-Blackwell. The British Journal of Psychology (BJP) is the flagship journal of the Society with a successful publishing history spanning over 100 years and is renowned worldwide for its comprehensive approach to all areas of the psychology discipline. BJP publishes original research on all aspects of general psychology including cognition; health and clinical psychology; developmental, social and occupational psychology.

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