![]() We often think of our personalities and beliefs as reflecting the essence of who we are – whether shy or outgoing, commitment-phobic flirt or devoted partner, left-wing or right-wing. “Just as physical strength shapes the conflict behavior of other animals in the domains that are important to them (e.g., mating and territorial contests), physical strength appears to shape the behavior of the political animal in this key conflict domain,” the researchers wrote. The findings for women were mixed, with some studies finding strength correlated with a greater endorsement of egalitarianism and others showing the opposite pattern. The rationale is that in our ancestral past, such men were more likely to thrive in a society where it was everyone for themselves. In a study published this year, a pair of political scientists reported evidence from 12 countries, including the US, Denmark and Venezuela, suggesting that stronger, more muscular men were more likely to be against political egalitarianism. Just how far-reaching are the ties between how you look and who you are? For men, even political views could be implicated. “The current findings support the hypothesis that stronger and more attractive men have more sex partners in part because these men are calibrated toward the pursuit of uncommitted mating opportunities,” the researchers wrote. This pattern of findings is consistent with the idea that among our male ancestors, those in better physical shape had more reproductive success by engaging in lots of casual sex and that such a sexual strategy has since evolved as a response to being physically capable. For instance, in their research involving hundreds of undergrads, Aaron Lukaszewsk at Loyola Marymount University and colleagues, including Christina Larson and Kelly Gildersleeve at the University of California, found that the men (but not the women) who were stronger – based on a weight-training test – and more attractive were more likely to say that sex without love is okay, and that they could happily have sex with someone without being close to them. Other research has suggested that your approach to hooking up with relationship partners may also be a strategic adaptation influenced by your bodily and facial features, especially if you are male. It’s not just people’s extroversion and neuroticism that are associated with their physical attributes. That bolstered the idea that physical attributes increase extroversion, rather than the body-personality associations merely reflecting shared genetic effects. What’s more, their findings could not be explained entirely by differences in a key gene related to androgen function (likely to influence strength, attractiveness and aspects of personality). But if you are physically formidable, you can afford to be more of a risk-taker. If you are physically weak, then being cautious and wary of danger is likely to lengthen your lifespan. ![]() Again, this makes sense if you see personality as an adaptive strategy. Other research has found that physically more formidable men also tend to be more prone to aggression and less neurotic (as in, less fearful and worrisome). The same strength-extroversion association was not found among the women in the study. One study out of Germany’s University of Göttingen recently reported that of more than 200 men, those who were physically stronger and who had more “macho” bodies – including larger chests and biceps – also tended to be more extroverted, especially in the sense of being more assertive and physically active. That’s exactly what some research has found. ![]() In evolution, it would make strategic sense if stronger, more physically capable people exploited their bodily advantages by being more extroverted. (It’s worth noting that the theory remains tentative thanks to a dependence so far on mostly correlational and inconsistent data, and because there are alternative explanations for the findings, such as that our personality traits can shape our bodies).Ĭonsider trait extroversion, which involves not only being more sociable, but also more adventurous and willing to take risks. How our teenage years shape our personalitiesĮvidence supporting facultative personality calibration is growing – not only in terms of how one’s looks influence our personality traits, but even our approaches to finding romantic partners and our political beliefs.The hidden ways that faces shape politics. ![]() Known as “facultative personality calibration”, this is the idea that our personalities develop in a way that best suits the other genetic cards we’ve been dealt, including our size, strength, and attractiveness. Was that correspondence between their body and character traits a chance correlation, or had their personalities developed in response to their physiques? One theory holds that it could be the latter. ![]()
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