The Most Attractive Facial Traits According To Science

From a biological standpoint, male and female faces differ slightly. According to a report by the School of Psychology at the University of Aberdeen and the Department of Psychology at the University of Stirling in Scotland, hormones dictate many of these differences, like "more prominent cheekbones" and "larger jawbones" in men. It's been found that these "sexual characteristics" — that is, predominantly masculine features and feminine features — are attractive. Though, why this is the case is not fully known. The researchers said these traits may be considered attractive because they could signify "good genes" or perhaps health.

In 2016, researchers also discovered what they called the "Johnny Depp effect" — which is when male faces with feminine features are thought of as more attractive. As explained by Jamin Halberstadt, a professor at Otago's Department of Psychology, people actually generally prefer more feminine faces — "unless the context forces the viewer to put the face into rigid gender boxes."

Ambiguous faces aren't just a preference in the West. As part of the study on facial adiposity conducted in El Salvador, people without internet access were also found to prefer men with more feminine facial characteristics and women with more masculine traits.