Since youth we have, all been told to never judge a person by his or her looks since it is the character of a person that matters most.
But what if I told you that the way someone looks actually can tell you something about their character.
// physiognomy //
Let me introduce you to the practice of Physiognomy.
physiognomy is the practice of assessing a person’s character or personality from their outer appearance, especially the face, based on their features or external appearance. It suggests that certain facial characteristics are indicative of specific personality traits or behavioral tendencies. Historically, physiognomy has been used to make judgments about individuals' moral, intellectual, or emotional qualities, often leading to stereotypes and prejudices based on physical appearance. However, modern scientific consensus rejects physiognomy as a valid method for understanding human character, as there is no empirical evidence to support its claims, and it is considered to be rooted in unfounded assumptions and biases. (Which is totally incorrect by the way, different features are nurtured by different circumstances)
While physiognomy is seen as pseudoscience by many it was actually a common practice in not just the Classical age but also medieval times. In fact, it is unknowingly practiced by every single human on the face of the planet since it is normal biological behavior.
Physiognomy works because the form of something can tell us about the function. One of the biggest examples is when you see someone with wrinkled and dried out skin, you immediately think that this person is old, while they might not even be that old.
Or someone with crooked teeth, you will immediately assume they are unhygienic, this is because form is a result of function, which in this case is impaired and compensating with an open mouth, leading to the cheek’s pressure shifting the teeth out of ideal occlusion.
Or when you see someone muscular you can instantly say that that person takes care of themselves, is strong and eats a lot.
But Physiognomy goes much further than knowing that someone takes care of their health when they have some muscle or guessing their age from how wrinkled the skin on their face is. No, even the craniofacial structure (edit in screen: Craniofacial structure = bone structure of the face) can tell us something about someone's character.
// introduction of FWHR ratio //
Which brings us to the facial width-to-height ratio.
the Facial width to height ratio (or fWHR for short) is a measure of the width of a person’s face compared to its height. A high facial width to height ratio means that the face is very wide in comparison to how long it is. A low facial width to height ratio means that the face is very narrow in comparison to its length. (Horse face ahah)
The measurements don’t include the whole face but rather the midface, with the width being the bizygomatic width and the length going from upper lid to upper eyelid.
It is calculated by dividing bizygomatic width by the distance between the upper lip and the upper eyelid
There has been tons of research showing how this ratio presents correlations with various psychological, behavioral, and social traits. It can even be a direct indication of traits.
One area of research has explored the relationship between FWHR and traits related to aggression and dominance. Some studies have found a positive correlation between higher FWHR and aggressive behavior, as well as dominance-related traits in both men and women. These findings have led to speculation that FWHR may be associated with competitive behavior, particularly in contexts such as hand-to-hand combat. Regarding attractiveness, some studies have suggested that FWHR may influence perceptions of facial attractiveness, particularly in men. However, findings in this area are mixed, albeit interesting. Then there’s the idea that FWHR plays a role in these many aspects of behavior and social success which continues to remain controversial, and more research is needed to fully understand the underlying mechanisms and the consistency of these associations across different populations due to the different phenotypical tendencies that each region possesses.
// UFC fighter success //
One very interesting study about facial width-to-height ratio came out in September 2013, in which research was conducted by taking 146 portrait photographs of the MMA (UFC division) Caucasian origin professional fighters. Further, they then obtained data concerning their weight class, number of fights and wins within UFC, and fWHR was measured then statistics were ran through a series of tests in contrast with 50 photographs rated as aggressive using a verbally anchored 7-point scale. After being analytically nitted out it was clear that the authors had found a positive correlation between fWHR and proportion of fights won.
Further, perceived aggressiveness was positively correlated with the fWHR. And EVEN after they calibrated with weight categories for control, the link between fWHR and perceived aggressiveness REMAINED significant.
// Politics study //
Politics.
One thing even more interesting than fWHR and UFC fighting was a Croatian study published in October of 2022.
This study directly proved how physiognomy applies to the facial width-to-height ratio and how people unconsciously judge you by this ratio.
In this study 148 participants took part in two online experiments in which they were shown 8 different faces which were completely identical except for their bizygomatic width (which in turn is considered facial width-to-height ratio difference).
What was found was that participants who had a more conservative political ideology were in favor of leaders with a high facial width-to-height ratio during periods of wartime, the Croatian paper had as conclusion that conservative people tend to be more attentive to defensive matters and that a leader with a high facial width-to-height ratio tends to be more dominant and more capable to respond to threats.
This is also why leaders with a high facial width-to-height ratio were not preferred during peacetime since you want a more cooperative leader in those periods which doesn’t give anyone a reason to dislike them.
There are many more studies like this which prove how this special ratio makes you look more dominant; makes you be perceived as more dominant and how the most dominant people have a very high number in this ratio.
// What causes people to have their FWHR //
But that is not all, of course cause does not equal correlation, but this time it does.
Because if you become more dominant you will actually get a higher facial width-to-height ratio.
This has a lot to do with orofacial habits and the endocrine system.
You see, the width of the midface is mainly determined by the size of the cheekbones which is known as the zygomatic bone and the width of the upper jaw, which is also known as the maxilla.
The bigger the zygomatic and the wider the Maxilla, the higher the facial width-to-height ratio.
The reason facial width is such an indicator of dominance, aggression, success in hand-to-hand combat, leadership qualities and that it makes you more attractive to women is because it is an indicator of high Testosterone, in presence of HGH, and IGF-1.
Testosterone and more importantly it’s stronger metabolite DHT are very anabolic to bones with in particular the zygomae and maxilla.
It is Testosterone and DHT that increase the activity of bone-building Osteoblasts while inhibiting the activity of the bone-reducing Osteoclasts.
Eventually this has as result that the Cheekbones grow bigger and gain more bone, While the Maxilla also responds to Testosterone and DHT, it does grow in a slightly different way.
When you look at the anatomy of the Maxilla you can see that in the middle there is a line of cartilaginous tissue formed exactly like stitches, this line of cartilaginous tissue is called the mid-palatal suture, (it and keeps the left and right side of the Maxilla connected.
It is from this midpalatal suture that the Maxilla expands through the means of chondrocyte differentiation and endochondral ossification upon mechanical simulation. Chondrocyte differentiation, is when new cartilage is built, while endochondral ossification is the phenomenon of this cartilage being changed into bone.
While chondrocyte differentiation and endochondral ossification are stimulated by Testosterone and DHT, these hormones are not the only factor when it comes to the expansion of the Maxilla.
Very big players in the expansion of the Maxilla are nutrition and mechanic stimuli.
Starting off with nutrition, to make sure that cartilage and bone are laid down in the midpalatal suture in the first place you first of all need to ensure the body has the proper building blocks to create cartilage and bone.
Since cartilage is made out of collagen it is a great idea to increase the collagen production inside of the body. And collagen production is increased when the intake of collagenous foods is increased, because those foods contain all the building blocks the body needs.
Collagenous foods would be animal skins, organ meats, tendons, joints or other connective tissues. But since these foods are hard to come by something like gelatin powder would be much more cost and time efficient. (Get it on aesthetic-alimentum.com)
Moving on to mechanical stimuli, it is the chondrocytes that respond very well to Piezoelectrical impulses, piezoelectrical impulses are small electric signals transmitted by movement, pressure or any other form of mechanical stimuli.
Whenever a mechanical stimulus occurs like the act of chewing on something or your tongue pressing on the roof of your mouth, a piezoelectric charge travels through the bones which are picked up by cells like the Osteocytes which in turn triggers a cascade of chemical reactions causing more bone to be created on the bones which experienced the most mechanical stress.
Mewing, or correct tongue posture puts direct force on the midpalatal suture, forcing chondrocyte differentiation and endochondral ossification to take place, if you don’t know how to mew correctly, I suggest you watch the short I made on it which will pop up right now in the corner of this video.
Chewing is a different way to stimulate the midpalatal suture, it stimulates the vagus nerve which activates all sorts of parasympathetic mechanisms which ease the tissues in the maxilla and allow the jaw to be manipulated freely, as well as the fact that the lateral pterygoids, muscles that aid you in chewing along with the masseters have a connection with the inside of the skull, specifically the sphenoid, ethmoid, and maxilla, the 2 formers are key bones, the maxilla rests on them and they are connected to most bones in the skull anyway, so loosening them up, stimulating growth in them and remodeling them will ALWAYS affect the maxilla bone positively and allow it to reach new levels of unreached potential.
Although not the main topic today , I thought we should include another not so known so called “pseudoscience”.. Phrenology.
Phrenology is another theory that gained popularity in the 19th century. It proposes that the personality traits, character, and mental faculties of an individual can be determined by examining the shape and size of their skull. Phrenologists believed that the brain was made up of distinct organs or specialized regions, each responsible for a specific personality trait or mental ability, and that the size and development of these organs could be inferred from the shape of the skull.
Phrenologists would examine the bumps and contours of a person's skull and use this information to make judgments about their intelligence, moral character, and predisposition to certain behaviors. Phrenology has been widely discredited by modern science due to its lack of empirical evidence and its reliance on unfounded assumptions about the relationship between skull morphology and mental attributes.
And in comparison to physiognomy there is much less to stand for it.
Although one must be true to themselves, the warrior vs wimp skull fiasco is a decent example of some phrenology at play,
But what are the differences between phrenology and physiognomy? They seem a bit hard to differentiate from , well;
Physiognomy and phrenology are both pseudoscientific practices that attempt to make inferences about an individual's character, personality, or mental attributes based on physical characteristics. However, there are many key differences between the two:
-Physiognomy: It focuses primarily on facial features and external appearances such as the shape of the nose, eyes , mouth, etc. and associating different subsets of forms in these attributes to particular traits based on social prejudices , cultural beliefs, religious ideologies, and social status/actions of people with similar traits.
Physiognomy is to be argued very well true due to the different morphologies craniofacial structures can come with and the childhood development, compensations, types and degrees of traumas that have to occur for certain compensations to appear,
High GABA people will almost ALWAYS look more relaxed, at ease, confident and competent than someone who’s dendrites are spamming serotonin all day
-As for Phrenology: Focuses on the shape and size of the skull as a means to determine personality traits, mental abilities, and moral character, and holds the belief that the brain or head is divided into distinct organs (regions) each responsible for a particular personality aspect or behavior
Phrenologists would assess the bumps and contours of a skull to infer the size and development of these “brain organs”
Historical examples include beliefs that a prominent bump on the skull may indicate a sense or predisposition towards a certain talent or behavior/activity.