Abstract There is considerable evidence that human male faces contain honest, detectable cues to their physical dominance, which are related to their objective facial masculinity. As such, some have argued that the extent to which observers' rate masculinised male faces as appearing more physically dominant is a useful measure of their ability to detect cues of dominance and threat in other men. We found across 3 studies (total n = 272) that younger, taller, and stronger men showed greater sensitivity to facial cues of dominance. Additionally, participants were more likely to associate younger than older masculinised faces with physical dominance. Self-perceived social dominance did not moderate perceptions. These results contrast with previous work which found that shorter, less socially dominant men had greater ability to detect facial cues of dominance. We propose the hypothesis that younger, more formidable males show greater sensitivity to facial cues of dominance as they are more likely to engage in violent intrasexual competition.

中文翻译：

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年轻、强大的男性对面部优势线索表现出更高的敏感性

摘要 有相当多的证据表明，人类男性面部包含真实的、可检测到的关于他们身体优势的线索，这与他们客观的面部男性气质有关。因此，一些人认为，观察者认为男性化的男性面孔在身体上更具优势的程度是衡量他们检测其他男性优势和威胁线索的能力的有用指标。我们在 3 项研究（总共 n = 272）中发现，更年轻、更高、更强壮的男性对面部优势线索表现出更高的敏感性。此外，参与者更有可能将年轻而不是年长的男性化面孔与身体优势联系起来。自我感知的社会支配地位并没有缓和感知。这些结果与之前的工作形成对比，后者发现更短的，社会支配地位较低的男性更有能力发现面部支配地位的线索。我们提出的假设是，更年轻、更强大的男性对面部优势线索表现出更大的敏感性，因为他们更有可能参与激烈的性内竞争。