Lack of support for the association between facial shape and aggression: a reappraisal based on a worldwide population genetics perspective.

ABSTRACT: Antisocial and criminal behaviors are multifactorial traits whose interpretation relies on multiple disciplines. Since these interpretations may have social, moral and legal implications, a constant review of the evidence is necessary before any scientific claim is considered as truth. A recent study proposed that men with wider faces relative to facial height (fWHR) are more likely to develop unethical behaviour mediated by a psychological sense of power. This research was based on reports suggesting that sexual dimorphism and selection would be responsible for a correlation between fWHR and aggression. Here we show that 4,960 individuals from 94 modern human populations belonging to a vast array of genetic and cultural contexts do not display significant amounts of fWHR sexual dimorphism

SUBMITTER: Gomez-Valdes J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3541377 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature