Boys can tell if girls are cheaters just by looking at their face

Suspicious boys can work out if a girl is faithful just by looking at their face, a new study suggests.

Judging a book entirely by its cover, research claims boys can identify a potential cheater from the way they look.

Researchers from the University of Western Australia asked a group of men to look at photos of 34 women, but gave them no additional information.

By studying photos of 34 girls, the boys were able to work out who had previously cheated – getting 59 per cent of the answers right.

The photos were shown in pairs – one of the girls had cheated on a partner at least twice in the past, and one had always been faithful.

Experts believe having strong cheekbones and high eyebrows give off the impression you are more trustworthy.

Researchers said this makes sense in terms of evolution as apparently men have evolved the ability to spot a cheater because they can never be sure a child is genetically theirs.

In the paper, University of Western Australia scientists wrote: “Due to the significant fitness cost associated with cuckoldry, it would be adaptive for men to have evolved the ability to predict or detect unfaithfulness in a potential partner.

“In summary, we show for the first time that men’s judgments of faithfulness from images of women can contain a kernel of truth when they are able to directly compare images in a forced choice task, although accuracy did not generalise to all pairs of women.

“Previously, accuracy in faithfulness judgments has only been found for women judging men’s faces.

“It is striking that men were able to show any accuracy from images alone after only a brief presentation, considering that accuracy in faithful judgments made from behavioural information is relatively poor.”

A study published last year found that we consider someone with high eyebrows and prominent cheekbones to be honest, while we are less likely to trust someone with wrinkles and sunken cheeks.

The psychologists from New York University also found that a section of the brain decides a person’s trustworthiness even before we have consciously perceived who they are.

Apparently the brain takes just 33 milliseconds to decide whether someone is to be trusted.