A new survey of facial fitness in Australia has found that Australians who sport the “beautiful” facial expressions of the Aussie way of life appear to be far more likely to be successful at socialising and socialising with others than those who do not.
“The study is one of the first of its kind to test the relationship between facial expressions and physical attractiveness and also of facial attractiveness and perceived social competence,” the researchers wrote.
“The results reveal that people who are more expressive are more likely than those with a more neutral facial expression to be viewed positively in social situations.”
A study published in February by researchers at the University of Adelaide and the University at Buffalo found that people with the most expressive facial expressions are more successful in social interactions.
In their study, researchers recruited 1,000 Australians aged between 19 and 30.
They surveyed them about their attitudes to social interaction, body image, and whether they were physically attractive.
The participants were also asked how often they had socialised with people they felt liked, and how likely they were to meet a person they liked.
Participants were then asked to complete a series of five self-assessments.
They rated their facial attractiveness, perceived social confidence, and perceived ability to communicate in a series that included things like “how often I am at work” and “how much money I make.”
A total of 6,715 participants rated their attractiveness and responses to questions about social confidence.
Participants who reported high levels of facial expression and perceived physical attractiveness were more likely overall to be perceived as attractive.
However, people with a neutral facial tone were more successful at interacting with others and had lower levels of perceived social competency.
The researchers said they were concerned that a lack of facial expressions may be contributing to negative perceptions of the Australian way of living.
“Although we expect a range of facial features to play a role in the way we behave, these results suggest that people’s perceptions of facial masculinity and femininity are likely to vary,” they said.
“It could be that individuals with more expressive facial expression appear to have more socially competent or competent social contacts and this could in turn be related to social competence and perceived competence.”
Read more from the ABC’s Newsroom
