Women see masculine-looking men as more unsuitable long-term partners but men with more feminine features are seen as more committed and less likely to stray, researchers said Wednesday.

Scientists at the universities of Durham and St Andrews came to the conclusion by asking more than 400 British men and women to make judgments¹ on character after looking at digitally-altered pictures of men's faces.

The web-based test asked participants to rate the face for traits such as dominance, ambition, wealth, faithfulness, commitment, parenting skills, and warmth.

Men with square jaws², larger noses and smaller eyes were classed as significantly more dominant³, less faithful, worse parents and as having less warm personalities⁴.

Those with finer facial features, fuller lips, wide eyes and more curved eyebrows⁵ on the other hand were viewed as a better bet for long-term relationships.

Older faces were generally viewed more positively⁶ compared to younger ones.

The scientists said there was a "high amount of agreement" between women about what they see in terms of personality when seeing a man's face and they may well use their impression to decide whether or not to engage with him.

"That decision-making process all depends on what a woman is looking for in a relationship at that time of her life," said Lynda Boothroyd, from Durham University's Department of Psychology⁷.

Her colleague, David Perrett from St Andrews, said: "Our results contradict claims that machismo denotes fitness and disease immunity⁸. Masculinity may buy you dominance but not necessarily tip top physical condition.

"Instead women see a healthy guy as the source of wealth, and fit for family life."

The research is published in the latest edition of the journal "Personality and Individual Differences".

据研究人员本周三介绍，女性认为较有“男人味”的男性不大适合做长期伴侣，而较为阴柔的男性则更加忠诚，出轨的可能性较小。

这一结论由英国达勒姆大学和圣•安德鲁斯大学的科学家们得出。他们让400多名英国男女观看经数码处理的男性面部照片后判断照片中人的性格特征。

该项在网上进行的测试要求调查对象根据男性的面部特征对他们的控制力、野心、财富、忠诚度、责任感、育儿能力及亲切感等特征进行评分。

方下巴、大鼻子、小眼睛的男人被认为更具控制力、不够忠诚、育儿能力较差以及性格不够温和。

长相较好、嘴唇较厚、眼睛较大、眉毛较弯的男性则被认为更适合作长期伴侣。

较成熟的面庞普遍比年轻的面庞更受青睐。

据科学家介绍，女性看到一个男人的面部后对他们性格特征的判断“十分一致”，而且她们很可能会根据这种印象来决定是否与这个男人结合。

达勒姆大学心理学系的林达•布斯罗伊德说：“这一做决定的过程完全取决于一个女人在她人生的那个阶段需要从一份感情中得到些什么。”

她的同事、圣•安德鲁大学的大卫•皮雷特说：“我们的结果与‘男人味意味着身体健康和疾病免疫力较强’一说相矛盾。男子气概可能能让你赢得控制力，但不一定表明身体状况很好。”

“而女性则认为健康的男人能赚钱，也有利于家庭生活。”

该研究在最新一期《个性与个体差异》发表。