Talking about catchy titles, here is one that caught my eye. Carre and McCormick studied the association of facial width-to-height ratio with aggressiveness in a random sample of students and (Canadian) hockey players. They found out that there is sexual dimorphism in the facial metrics, and that men with higher facial width-to-height ratios show more aggressive behaviour.
High possibility of bias in the measurements (which the authors acknowledge) and the possible sources of environmental effects (read steroids) aside, I found the way the authors collected the facial metrics data ingenious. The authors measured the facial metrics from photos of students, varsity and professional hockey players. The students’ aggressiveness was assayed with a test (Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm), while the hockey players were rated according to the number of penalty minutes per number of games played.
Since the differences in the facial metrics are not linked to differences in body size, the results of this study strengthen the view that along the course of human evolution, the facial metrics have faced (excuse the pun) selective pressures independent of body size.
Carre, J.M. and McCormick, 2008. In your face: facial metrics predict aggressive behaviour in the laboratory and in varsity and professional hockey players. Proc. Roy. Soc. B. 275: 2651-2656. doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.0873
4 Comments
Nice. I like these studies which take advantage of data freely available on the net. Think of all the data out there that we have, but just don’t know it yet…
I wonder and bet that Finns have on average higher width-to-height ratio than Swedes for instance. Irrespectively of gender. What does that then indicate?
a. Finns eat more steroids than Swedes
b. Finns are more aggressive than Swedes
c. Something else
A packet of first-rate Saludo coffee will be lotterized among all respondents with a correct answer.
Shouldn’t be too hard to find out, the data is out there….
Finns: http://www.sm-liiga.fi/pelaajat/08-09.html
Swedes: http://www.hockeyligan.se/index.php?menu=3&lang=sv
And how about adding a control? Referees are supposed to behave neutrally, aren’t they?
http://www.sm-liiga.fi/erotuomarit/08-09.html
http://www.hockeyligan.se/index.php?menu=4&lang=sv
(And unlike the NHL, the Finnish and Swedish leagues control doping more tightly.)
I almost said that why not to check how many penalty minutes there is on average on Swedish vs Finnish games, but then I seemed to remember that you have a project starting with ‘P’ to attend as well. One complication with the steroids is that their usage in past will not show up in tests today albeit they leave strong signature on your jaws that lasts until the happy end.