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    1. Life
    2. Relationships

    Large-chinned women more likely to cheat

    Affairs more likely for women with prominent chins

    By Marie Claire
    Published 2 February 2009 In Features

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    Affairs more likely for women with prominent chins

    Women with prominent chins are apparently more likely to have affairs than those with softer features, according to psychologists in North America.

    Yes, we know a correlation between clandestine nookie and the size of one's chin sounds crazy, but science does play a part.

    Apparently, large chins are often caused by higher-than-average levels of testosterone in a woman, which also can increase a woman's 'sexual assertiveness'.

    However, while men are happy to play along with that in the short term, their brains realise it's not ideal for a life partner, which explains why the same study found men find women with large chins less attractive, too.

    The research, conducted in four universities in America and Canada and published in Personality And Individual Differences journal, kicked off by quizzing women about their sexual habits and fantasies and then saw those same women rated in terms of attractiveness by men.

    The result? Men looking for long-term partners, rather than a fling or one-night stand, were more attracted to the women without large chins.

    Marie Claire Newsletter

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    'The findings are important in demonstrating that perceptions of women as desirable and trustworthy long-term mates can be reliably gleaned by men from viewing only the women's facial features,' explain the study's authors.

    'Results suggest that information about women's sexual unrestrictedness, which is related to their risk of infidelity, can potentially be conveyed by the masculinity of women's faces.'

    One of the psychologists who participated in the study, Dr Lorne Campbell, adds: 'It is difficult to conceal physical features, such as facial characteristics, that are partly governed by testosterone and reliably correlate with one's sexual history and attitudes.

    'The research is the first to our knowledge to suggest that a more masculine facial appearance in women might convey their sexual unrestrictedness and perhaps their long-term mate quality.'

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