How to Judge People by What They Look Like

by Edward Dutton

I have found one academic study which summarises research looking at the relationship between ornament size and personality (Steiner, 1980). It notes two key studies, both unpublished conference presentations by the American psychologist Nancy Hirshberg (1937-1979), who unfortunately seems to have been taken very young, and her colleagues. In these studies, the 144 subjects were female students at the University of Illinois. Large breast size was found to be significantly positively correlated with being ‘undersocialized’ (that is, antisocial), undependable, impulsive, ‘psychologically minded’ (that is introspective), flexible and adventurous. So, to some extent, the larger a woman’s breasts are the lower in Conscientiousness she is, the higher in Extraversion she is and the less Agreeable she is. Women with large buttocks were found to be introverted, self-abasing, and high in guilt. In other words, they were relatively low in Extraversion and relatively high in aspects of Neuroticism. Another study highlighted by Steiner (Wiggins et al., 1968) involved 95 male subjects. It found that men who like small breasts tend toward being religious and depressive, and men who like larger buttocks are ordered, dependent, and ‘self-blaming.’