Study Says 'Gaydar' Is Real

[DeSwiss]

Study Says 'Gaydar' Is Real

By WILLIAM WEIR | Courant Staff Writer
August 21, 2008



Not only does "gaydar" exist, suggests a study out of Tufts University, but it can work pretty fast. Some people say they can tell the sexual orientation of folks with little information, and now a study gives them data to back up their claims. Published in July's Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, the study claims that people could guess fairly accurately ("better than chance") whether men were gay or straight by looking at photos of their faces.

For the study, 15 undergraduate students, both male and female, were shown photos of faces of 90 men, evenly divided between gay and straight. The photos were taken from Internet personal ads and from Facebook. The study's lead author, graduate student Nicholas Rule, says men were used in this study for convenience, because they have a greater presence on the Internet than women. The researchers found that subjects could accurately determine in 50 milliseconds — one-twentieth of a second — whether the men were gay or straight about 60 percent of the time. Rule says all the subjects were accurate 55 percent to 70 percent of the time.

When subjects were allowed to look at the photos for up to 10 seconds, they weren't much better at judging sexual orientation than in 50 milliseconds. But when subjects had only 33 milliseconds to consider each photo, their judgments were significantly less accurate. In the study, the researchers consider the possibility that the ability to suss out the sexual orientation of others serves an evolutionary purpose; knowing who you've got a shot at a date with helps a lot in assessing your mating opportunities. Rule says he would like to further explore this idea with another study using photos of women's faces.

On the other hand, he says the study might just be an indication that we're much better than previously thought at perceiving overall characteristics of others, of which sexual orientation is just one of many. Rule has made something of a specialty out of facial features and snap judgments. Earlier this year, he published a study suggesting that certain facial features of companies' CEOs helped predict the profits of their businesses.

The debate over whether homosexuality has its roots in nurture or nature has prompted studies in recent years on everything from voices to hair whorl patterns. Rule says his study doesn't address the question, because previous studies have shown that life experience can affect facial features. It also doesn't address what it was about the faces that led subjects to their conclusions. He says an ongoing study is looking at that.

http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-gaydar.artaug21,0,1062750.story">LINK

- Well, I can't say that I'm surprised by this study's results.

On the other hand, it says: "the study might just be an indication that we're much better than previously thought at perceiving overall characteristics of others..."

Which doesn't explain how George W. Bush got elected. Twice.
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DeSwiss


http://www.atheisttoolbox.com/">The Atheist Toolbox

[PDJane]

1. George Bush stole the elections.

Twice. Now if we can judge possible criminality by facial features....

[DeSwiss]

2. Well, yeah....

...I know he stole them. But how did he even get that far to be in a position to steal them, if everyone could discern that he was a psychopath just by looking at him???

:shrug:

[aquart]

5. You equate homosexuality with criminality?

Please say you were kidding.

[PDJane]

11. No, I don't. I was merely pointing out

that since sexuality can be determined by facial features, it would be a fine research project to determine whether criminality can be pre-determined by examination of facial features.

[aquart]

19. Uh, that is equating.

Now go have a long talk with yourself.

[PDJane]

21. go back and read again, shake your head, and

ask yourself how asking if facial features can indicate criminality, why that would be equating homosexuality to criminality, just because you can determine sexuality by looking at someone's face.

I can look at one apple and tell it's a royal gala, and another apple and determine that it's a granny smith....and understand that they are two different things.

There's some warped logic in your assumption.

[Lorien]

3. I've always seen similarity in the facial features of my gay and lesbian

friends, just as a person can usually tell if someone is Jewish just by looking at their features; it's very subtle and hard to define, but it's there. If we could define it, then I think that this would just go to prove even more strongly that sexual orientation is a physical characteristic that people are born with,not a "choice".

[aquart]

6. It's the way they hold their mouths.

Not every gay guy does it, but no straight guy does. It's not the features, it's the way they use them.

Women I can never guess.

[Lorien]

13. It's the same with women-the way they hold their mouths-plus there's

something about the eyes. That's why I related it to Jewish features; Jon Stewart, Henry Winkler and my friend Howard all have the same eyes, but there are no other similar features between them. I was under the impression that Ricky Martin was straight, but his eyes set off my Gaydar. Maybe there would be a way of taking head shots and doing a bit of computer analysis to define the physical traits of being gay or lesbian, and finally put an end to the "lifestyle choice" debate.

[cosmic _mind]

16. My gaydar isn't working at all on those pictures

which cat is gay?

[thesquanderer]

17. expressions, etc.

Yes, I tend to believe it's more likely the facial expression than the facial features that give the clue. Also there could be other indications in the pictures, like how they are keeping their hair, style of dress, a bunch of subtle things that could add up to someone making a judgment from the photo, apart from "the face." And live (as opposed to a photo), I think it is often more clear because of the whole set of facial expressions as they talk (even without a lisp or even if you're not close enough to hear vocal inflections). Presumably that is largely or entirely learned behavior (which makes me wonder, are lisps common in gay men in other countries/cultures, that speak different languages?).

But also, like your Jewish analogy, it's easier to tell in the positive than the negative. That is, a person who looks Jewish is probably Jewish, but there are plenty of Jews who don't look Jewish, too. I think that while people who look gay are probably gay, there are also plenty of gays who don't look gay.

[aquart]

20. So you can spot an Ashkenazi Jew, can you?

Big surprise. So can most of us.

Except, of course, you'd guess wrong about my mom, my grandmother, and pretty much all of my wide-spaced blue-eyed family members with the blond and red hair. Most people assume Irish. Which they revise when they hear the Russian accent. My grandfather was made to ride in the back of the bus despite his Lithuanian accent, because people in Atlanta, Georgia took one look and knew for sure what he was.

Some Jews have big, arabic noses, no doubt about it. You can spot semitic features a mile away. Tip: not all of us look that way. Genetically, dispersed Jewish men married women of whatever nation they were exiled to, according to the mitochondrial profiles. Ain't no purity to our bloodlines whatsoever. We've been busy and our religion doesn't hate sex.

[Lorien]

22. Well, as TheSquanderer said

"it's easier to tell in the positive than the negative. That is, a person who looks Jewish is probably Jewish, but there are plenty of Jews who don't look Jewish, too. I think that while people who look gay are probably gay, there are also plenty of gays who don't look gay".

Most of my Jewish friends look Jewish (only one has the Arabic nose; I think eyes give away more than other features), but a few are blonde with blue eyes and don't appear to have any features that give away their ethnicity. Similarly, there are many Native Americans in my family that look Native because of both bone structure and their somewhat Asian shaped eyes. Another friend is blond and blue eyed, but I knew at once that he was also Native American because of his bone structure and eye shape. Sure enough, his grandmother was an Eastern band Cherokee who grew up on a reservation. I think that the more time that you spend with a particular ethnic group, the easier it is to spot other members of that group-like telling someone who is Thai from someone who is Japanese. Working in the entertainment industry has helped me to make many gay and lesbian friends over the years, so I think that my "gaydar" has been pretty well honed.And it doesn't matter what ethnic group a gay or lesbian person is from, there are still those subtle facial clues that many seem to have in common. That's why I think the issue is somewhat important to proving to the doubters that sexual identity is something that's programed biologically-like left and right handedness. There's no "choice" about it.

[DeSwiss]

8. Me too.

- And I've been more right, than wrong...

[Beregond2]

4. I do think that conservatives have a kind of disability

when it comes to sensing evil in people. Their leaders tend to be obvious charlatans that one would think a child of two could see through. Politicians, evangelists, pundits...to me, they are transparently rotten, but not, obviously, to the millions they con.

[DeSwiss]

9. Maybe they're just seeing...

...elements of themselves in others.

[Beregond2]

7. I wouldn't take this study seriously at all.

First, the percentage of "success" isn't all that high. Second, how do we know what the pictures looked like? If you put in even a small percentage of very obvious gays, it would scew the whole thing. And third, I'm gay, and I have zero gaydar. I am wrong at least as often as I am right. If I can't do it, when it would be so to my advantage to be able to, why would a cross section of the populace be able to? Oh wait; they didn't use a cross section, just young guys. Another problem with the methodology.

[DeSwiss]

10. All those limitations....

...being considered, the study states that: "people could guess fairly accurately ("better than chance")." In other words, beter than 50-50. And obviously some people may have a more developed sensibility about such things than others. Just as we do for so many other things.

For example, when I used to fish a lot, I could tell whether there would be fish biting at a lake or stream -- or not, just by looking at it. There were a lot more factors at-play of course, but still, I could just tell. And when you think about it, fishing for fish and fishing for a date aren't all that different.

- In the end, we just want to eat them and sit back with a satisfied grin on our faces when we're done.....

[kestrel91316]

12. I have really sensitive male gaydar, but my female gaydar is pretty

rudimentary. I get laughed at sometimes for failing to notice that some lesbian has been flirting or hitting me up, lol.

I also never seem to notice that someone has been drinking unless they are falling-down drunk.......

[mitchtv]

14. No suprise here either

I keep my antennae well polished

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

15. Probably has to do with mannerisms, clothes, appearance...

The fact remains that a large portion of the gay population tends toward certain facial expressions and visual appearances. Most people have trouble guessing that I'm gay unless I find them attractive and look at them wistfully. I wear New Era hats and pretty baggy urban style clothes, I don't talk with a huge lisp and prefer hip hop over dance pop. All this really seems to prove is that a large percentage of our gay male population can be detected by features in the photo that set them apart from straight men.

It would be interesting to rerun this experiment with a group of gay men and lesbians who have been chosen specifically because their outward appearance does not conform to traditional fashion and visage stereotypes.

[mitchtv]

18. Boy, did my Gayydar g into condition red

Last night watching the USA high diving team. funny , I got no vibes from the Brit or Aussies.Russian/Chinese, but tho.se two Americans put it on high