norcross1

No.

I never used it as a pickup line, but I've told people things like "you have a perfect face" or "your nose is textbook" or something (in the context of a much larger conversation...not out of nowhere)...but it freaks people out immensely. They get paranoid that I am staring at them and evaluating them...and that I am just very weird. I still don't see it as weird, btw. I just control myself better. Also, a lot of this stuff is from plastic surgery literature - the ev psych people don't really go into features in this way. Plastic surgeons get very specific - and there are "perfect noses" in textbooks, literally.

Well, that was just a quick reply at first (that now became the top question I ever answered...yay for that..) but I would say no based on external feedback and scientific analysis combined.

Also, I was also a very good looking kid - and then after puberty, I turned into something totally different...so that was jarring & the change in how I was treated was hard to miss. That being said, I'm not a monster...I'm a 5 or 6. As a kid, I was the popular one who was like a 9 or 10... not as an adult.

Prominent cheekbones & other "extraordinary" features can be attractive for a few reasons based on evolutionary psychology.

First, there is a theory called "costly signaling"* that means that if you see someone with high, broad cheekbones (or any "extraordinary" feature), this means that their body had to go through all of this extra "expense" to build and support those cheekbones..and this person has more "reproductive fitness" (better genes). I don't know if it applies to cheekbones, but it's a theory that's fairly convincing for a number of our traits (and animal traits too)

Second, cheekbones support the eyes - so broad cheekbones and wide set eyes (on a man in particular) indicate that he is probably a better athlete / hunter than someone with sunken cheekbones and poorly supported eyes. The cheek bone (and orbital rim - which it is attached to) was also important in supporting the eye during injury - which is crucial for survival. Also, the cheek bones (in the front) surround a major nerve that comes out of the face - and stronger frontal cheek bones protect this nerve. This last part (the protection factor) - I think - is probably why they are so important.

Someone should do a study on female cheek bones and hormone levels and waist - hip ratio to see if these things correlate. My hypothesis is that you'd see some correlation, but the study has not been done.

Cheekbones have different levels of attractiveness in men and in women -and the ideal shape and size differ. In men, the "population average" cheekbone is the most attractive. In women, the "population average + slightly feminized" is the most attractive.

I hope that made sense, but ask a follow-up if it did not.

(*) The exact name of the theory is used in different ways - but this is how I first learned it.

The most surprising discovery to me (not by me - but in the field) is that a man's body odor (smelled by women) can reveal how attractive their faces and symmetrical their bodies are. This was done by making men wear no deodorant and plain t-shirts for 3 days while females came in to smell the odors & rate them. Some follow up studies added a few twists, I think (and I think ovulation plays a role here)...it's been a while since I followed this line of research.

I always assumed body odor had some role in things, given evolution - but the fact it would correlate to appearance to such an extent (especially with ovulating women as the participants who smelled the t-shirts) was surprising.