Yes, we realize the irony that this woman's face is not pictured.
Watch where you’re looking, buddy. She has a brain, you know.
Your brain, however, may be what’s driving your eyes south because of…evolution? A study done at the University of Texas found that men who claimed to be looking for long-term relationships were more apt to look at a woman’s face, while guys looking to, you know, just have a good time, gravitated toward looking at her body.
Heterosexual study participants of both genders were presented with a masked photo of a potential date, with both the head and (clothed) body censored. The participants were then given the choice to either remove the box covering the head or the box covering the body, but not both.
Overall, sixty-one percent of men and sixty-nine percent of women chose to see their potential date’s face. (Does that mean that guys are only eight percent more “superficial” than women?).
For guys looking to just hook-up though, interest in seeing the woman’s face decreased. (Subsequently, girls the world over rolled their eyes.)
Jaime Confer, a co-author of the study, explained the phenomenon like this:
“Men who want a fling may be subconsciously looking to a woman’s waistline to judge the woman’s current fertility. Men looking for long-term partners, on the other hand, may be more interested in her face for clues of reproductive potential in the future.
This is an iteration of similar studies, which have suggested, for example, that wrinkles can indicate fewer reproductive years, or that waist-to-hip ratio can signal whether a woman is already pregnant or currently ovulating.
Women preferred looking at mens’ faces regardless of what relationship type they were looking for.
That said, guys… keep your ogling in the lab.