Lop-sided faces make better leaders
Baku, October 20 (AZERTAC). Beautiful people have many advantages in life, but those with lop-sided faces make better leaders, scientists claim. Uneven looks are said to mean they have to make more effort to persuade others, and this boosts their capacity to inspire. One prime example is Sir Winston. Others such as Abraham Lincoln and Admiral Horatio Nelson might also have owed part of their leadership ability to having asymmetrical faces, the theory suggests. This contradicts previous beliefs that symmetry is a mark of fitness and strength. Dr Carl Senior carried out two studies at Aston University in Birmingham, both of which involved assessing the physical symmetry of students. He said: `Winston Churchill was a great leader, and I would assume he was fairly asymmetrical. `It may be people who are asymmetrical have to work harder and this compensatory socialization manifests itself in organisational ability and leadership qualities.` Left and right measurements were made of several features including finger length, wrist width and ear length. In one study, 80 volunteers underwent psychometric tests of leadership qualities. In the other, 42 students at Aston Business School were split into groups which had to elect a leader and carry out the task of marketing and selling a car. Both studies found a strong correlation between specific leadership qualities and asymmetry. Results of the `business game` study were especially striking. They showed that not only were less symmetrical leaders rated more highly by their groups, but they also achieved better results.
Course tutors who did not know the purpose of the study marked the performance of groups with asymmetrical leaders. There`s literally tons of literature supporting the relationship between symmetrical morphology and positive social traits,` said Dr Senior, whose research is published in the Harvard Business Review. `Symmetrical people are perceived to be better, happier in their life, to have more friends, to be dominant and intelligent and attractive. They are the winners in the genetic lottery. We went into this study from that angle, and when we got the first results through we were flabbergasted. They weren`t the results we expected. It was one of those moments when you sit in your room chewing the ends of a pencil and thinking, `what on Earth?`.` The type of quality highlighted by the study is known as `transformational` leadership. This involves getting people to co-operate and inspiring them to achieve a common purpose willingly. It contrasts with `transactional` leadership which is more dictatorial, based on reward and punishment, and often involves a culture of fear. `Transformational leadership is the type of leadership that`s good for group work, bringing people together to behave co-operatively,` said Dr Senior. `If you`re in the military, it might be that you need a different type of leadership. `The exciting thing which keeps me awake at night is the fact that the quality of work produced by the group can be predicted by the asymmetrical morphology of the person leading the group. `There`s a potential biomarker for transformational traits which is based on asymmetry.` Previous research has found that people with asymmetrical faces and bodies can be more aggressive when provoked. Asymmetry is believed to be caused by the baby undergoing stress while in the womb, leading to uneven development.
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