Men with round faces tend to be more aggressive, a study of sportsmen has shown. The male sex hormone testosterone makes faces more circular and now scientists have studied whether this characteristic is also linked to behaviour. A Canadian team studied 90 ice hockey players and found the rounder the face, the more aggressive the players. For male varsity and professional hockey players, the facial ratio was linked in a statistically significant way with the number of penalty minutes per game, report Justin Carre and Prof Cheryl McCormick of Brock University, Ontario. The penalties were incurred by players for violent acts including slashing, elbowing, checking from behind, fighting and so on. However, there was not a link between facial shape and aggression in women. ‘The facial structure of a man provides an indication of how aggressive he will be in a competitive situation,’ says Prof McCormick. ‘Therefore, we are able to predict, with some accuracy, the behaviour of men on the basis of their facial features. advertisement ‘If men’s faces are providing cues as to their potential for aggression, then likely people are probably picking up on this cue, although likely on […]