Single women prefer feminine looking men when judging them for long term relationships, this is the finding of a study published online, in the British Journal of Psychology.

In the study carried out at the University of Aberdeen, 449 heterosexual women were presented with a series of men's faces manipulated to look either feminine (with high arched eyebrows, small jaw, large eyes) or masculine (with pronounced brow ridges and jaws).

Lead researcher of the study, Dr Ben Jones from the Face Research Laboratory at the University of Aberdeen said: "We found that a preference for eye contact - signalling social interest - was very sensitive to the type of judgment we asked the women to make, and the type of men they were judging.

"Preferences for direct eye contact from feminine looking men were strongest when we asked the women how attractive the men would be as a long-term partner. We know from previous research that women perceive feminine men as honest, kind and even as 'good parents'. So it makes good sense that women find attention from these caring and sharing men attractive when they are thinking about who would be attractive as a long-term partner.

"These findings show that there's more to attraction than being handsome and show that women find different types of men attractive for different types of relationships."

You can assess your own face preferences and find out the types of faces that you find attractive by taking part in some short online tests at faceresearch.

Source
British Psychological Society