People can be perceptive, but a recent study conducted by researchers from three universities shows just how perceptive they can be. According to Ben Jones, Lynda Boothroyd and David Perrett, people can get an idea of what others' attitudes are toward relationships just by looking at their faces.

This is how the Jones et al. found out: they showed 700 heterosexual participants pairs of photographs of "averaged" faces of men and women in their early 20s with opposing attitudes to relationships.

The researchers then asked the participants to choose which among the faces they thought would be open to either a short-term or long-term relationship, as well as who would be most attractive for either kind of relationship.

Jones, Boothroyd and Perrett then compared the participants' responses with the participants' actual attitudes toward relationships as determined via questionnaire. The results: a majority of men and women could accurately tell who would be interested in either a short-term or long-term relationship just by looking at a photograph.

Boothroyd and Perrett, however, noted certain limitations to the study. Boothroyd acknowledged that perceptions may change over time as people age and get to know each other better. Perrett also recognized that physical appearance may lead to presumptions:

While faces do hold cues to sexual attitudes; men should not presume any kind of relationship is wanted from appearance alone since women's choice is what matters. Indeed most women found promiscuous-looking guys unattractive for both short and long-term relationships.