Women really are drawn to men with the dark, brooding looks that suggest they are mad, bad or dangerous to know, according to a new study.
From the moody Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights to dangerous James Bond, women are attracted to their facial features, psychologists say.
It's thought this is because of a primitive desire to find a mate who appears mentally strong and confident to make a good father, with women drawn to narcissistic features having larger broods.
Men have facial features that display the 'dark triad' of personality traits - Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy, according to the study published in for the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour.
These include large skulls, solid and defined jaws, angular noses and deep-set eyes.
And women who want children, show a clear preference for some of these features because, like natural selection among animals, it indicates strong genes and good mental as well as physical health.
Experts from the University of Liverpool as well as institutions in Poland and Finland, showed 2,370 adult female participants a selection of computer simulated men's faces in sets of two - with one face with more or less of the Dark Triad features than the other.
The women were asked which of the two they were most attracted to.
Some were attracted to men with strong features associated with psychopathic, Machiavellian or narcisitic traits, while others were not.
Appearances associated with psychopathic tendencies were looking 'aggressive' and 'less happy' while those associated with Machiavellianism looked 'dishonest'.
'Masculine' and 'dominant' traits were linked to narcissists.
The researchers wrote in the study: 'We examined whether preferences for the dark triad personality traits in men's faces were related to reproductive success in contemporary women.'
They found that women with preference for high narcissistic men's faces gave birth to more offspring, while women drawn to men with Machiavellian facial features had fewer children.
'We found that the number of offspring born to women given for their age was associated with women’s preference for narcissistic and Machiavellian male faces, but not with preference for psychopathic male faces,' the study explained.
'Preference for narcissism was positively associated with the age-adjusted number of offspring born to women, as a 10 per cent increase in preference was, on average, associated with 5.17 per cent higher offspring number.'
By contrast, the researchers found a 10 per cent increase in preference for Machiavellianism was, on average, associated with 2.88 per cent lower offspring number in women.
The results took into account any differences that may have been caused by age, health and other factors.
They concluded: 'These findings suggest that in modern society, women's preference for some of the dark triad traits in men may be related to their reproductive success.'
<<Print>>