Transcripts

Daniel McNeill:
The main thing is average-ness. But good-looking faces also tend to be youthful looking and tend to be healthy.

Daniel McNeill, co-author of The Face...

And, certain features we find attractive. Things like a small nose, widely-spaced eyes, wide eyes, and big pupils. Certain people, like say, Sharon Stone, will be found attractive everywhere on earth and by every occupational group and every personality type.

One recent study showed that babies, maybe 20 hours old, can identify an attractive face, and they prefer it.

The human face is the only face that has a chin. Why?

We don’t know. It’s a very, very good question. The chin does strengthen the jaw but why we would need stronger jaws we don’t know.

There is also a masculine defiance gesture where you lift up your jaw, and a strong chin suggests that gesture even when you aren’t doing it. So women tend to be attracted to men with strong chins.

And we do know that chins over the last 200 generations have been growing in size.

And why do our faces blush? No one knows.

It is a good question. If I am embarrassed why I should have to show everybody in the room? It may well be that it show other people that we’re concerned about their opinion and this could strengthen bonds between people. That’s the best theory.

At somethingyoushouldknow.net, I’m Mike Carruthers, and that’s Something You Should Know.