Facial dominance in Homo sapiens as honest signaling of male quality

Abstract

For a cohort of military officers, graduates of the class of 1950 of the United States Military Academy at West Point, dominant feudal appearance was a consistent and important predictor of rank attainment at the academy and, for those who graduated from staff college, a predictor of high final rank. For men performing below the average, however, dominant facial appearance was a handicap for promotion. High rank came with high fitness. Thus, facial dominance can be an evolutionarily stable honest signal of dominant behavior, a crucial dimension of the potential for high status in a male dominance hierarchy. These findings may also apply to civilian populations.