By+Zaria+Gorvett

George Nelson was Americas most wanted man—a gangster so bloodthirsty， Al Capone booted him out of his gang for being too violent.2

On 20 April 1934， the police decided to get him. Theyd been tipped off that he was staying at a lakeside hotel in Wisconsin， so they launched a secret operation to gun him down.3

But George Nelson had been blessed with a round face， large eyes and cute little nose. His fellow crooks4 called him “Babyface”—behind his back， of course. He hardly looked like a criminal5.

When the agents arrived， they locked eyes on a trio of men that apparently did.6 The men—who were actually undercover FBI agents—were gunned down in a matter of seconds， allowing Babyface and his fellow outlaws to escape.7

They jumped out of a second-floor window， followed the edge of the lake for several miles， stole a car and got away.

From literally getting away with murder， to monopolizing parental love and seducing the opposite sex， the babyface is a potent social weapon.8

The doe-eyed look can help people win over their enemies， elicit help from strangers and get ahead in their careers.9 It makes politicians seem more trustworthy， crooks less likely to be convicted and sentencing less severe.10

In all， babyfaced individuals are thought of as more honest， naive， warm， kind， approachable， trustworthy， likeable， familiar， and charismatic than the rest of us.11

This trust is misplaced. In fact， theyre more—not less—likely to become criminals. And once theyve turned their backs on the law， they tend to commit more offences than those who look the part.12

By the way—inexplicably—across diverse cultures，13 in every corner of the globe， baby-faced women are rated as the most attractive. “The big eyes， the long lashes， the arched brows， the plump lips， the small chins， the round face， the cute little nose—if I wasnt describing a baby， Id be describing a supermodel，” says Caroline Keating， an expert in non-verbal communication at Colgate University， New York.14

So whats going on？

Weve been judging people based on the way they look for thousands of years. The ancient Greeks turned it into a science， “physiognomy15”. As early as 500 BC， the mathematician Pythagoras would scrutinise young mens faces to determine if theyd make a good student； not long after Aristotle wrote how large-headed people were mean.16 It was widely believed at the time that the animal a person resembled was as good a judge of character as any.17

By the Middle Ages it was well and truly mainstream.18 Professionals coined the phrase “stuckup” to refer from the belief that those with upturned noses had an air of superiority， “high-brow” to refer to the high foreheads of aristocrats and “l(fā)ow-brow”to the less refined foreheads of the lower classes.19

Back in 2016， were still doing it. We view those who resemble Labradors as warm， while those who resemble lions as more dominant.20 We think of those with “resting moody face” as more aggressive， those who are less attractive as sick and expect people who look familiar to share our values.21 Many of these judgements occur in as little as 50 milliseconds22.

These bizarre subconscious errors arent as ridiculous as they sound.23 Faces contain valuable clues to who were dealing with （Are they aggressive？ Are they sick？）. Deep in our evolutionary past， the ability to make rapid， unconscious categorisations had life-and-death importance.24 To get to grips with25 why having a babyface is so great， first we need to understand what happens when we recognise an actual baby.

In fact the features of babies—and those universally considered “cute”—are nothing more than a series of developmental accidents. Since our eyes are already fully grown by the time were born and our heads arent. Similarly， our bodies do a lot more growing later on than our heads. They have more body fat than adults； chubby26 cheeks. The list goes on.

And regardless of whether youre very maternal or find babies really annoying， were hardwired to respond to their features by turning into cooing， baby-talking lunatics.27 Crucially， gazing into their innocent faces makes us less aggressive and more generous， smiley and helpful.28

So there you have it. Next time you find yourself staring affectionately into the eyes of a baby-faced friend， colleague or date—just remember， you may be the latest victim in a long-running systematic evolutionary fraud.29

1. babyface： 嬰兒般圓潤嬌嫩的臉蛋，娃娃臉。

2. 喬治·尼爾森曾是全美頭號通緝犯，一個極端殘暴的惡棍，甚至團(tuán)伙頭目阿爾·卡彭都覺得他太過暴力而將其踢出幫會。gangster： 歹徒，惡棍；bloodthirsty： 嗜血的，殘忍好殺戮的；Al Capone： 阿爾·卡彭，曾是芝加哥犯罪集團(tuán)的老大；boot out： 逐出，攆走。

3. tip off：〈口〉向某人透露消息，通風(fēng)報信；launch：發(fā)起（行動）；gun down： 槍殺。

4. crook：〈口〉壞蛋，騙子。

5. criminal： 罪犯。

6. 當(dāng)特工人員到達(dá)時，三個顯然就是兇犯的男人被迅速鎖定了。agent： 政府特工人員，執(zhí)法官；trio：三個（或三人）一組。

7. undercover： 從事秘密（或間諜）工作的臥底；FBI： 美國聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局（Federal Bureau of Investigation）的縮寫；outlaw： 歹徒，逃犯。

8. 從確確實實的殺人逃逸，到獨(dú)得父母寵愛乃至吸引異性，這些人無不得益于一枚有效的社會利器—— 一張娃娃臉。literally：確實地，真正地；monopolize： 獨(dú)占，全部占有；seduce： 吸引，引誘；potent： 強(qiáng)有力的。

9. doe-eyed：（雌鹿般）眼睛天真迷人的；elicit： 引起，使發(fā)出；get ahead： 領(lǐng)先。

10. trustworthy： 值得信任的，可靠的；convict：（經(jīng)審訊）證明……有罪；sentencing： 判決，量刑；severe： 苛刻的，嚴(yán)厲的。

11. naive： 天真的；approachable： 親切的，可接近的；likeable： =likable，可愛的，討人喜歡的；charismatic： 有魅力的，有感召力的。

12. 這種人一旦與法律背道而馳，往往會比那些看上去像壞人的人更能犯罪。offence： 犯罪，攻擊；look the part： 看上去像的那種人。

13. inexplicably： 說不清地；diverse： 不同的，多種多樣的。

14. lash： 睫毛；arched brow： 彎彎的眉毛；plump lip： 豐滿的嘴唇；chin： 下巴；non-verbal communication： 非語言交流；Colgate University：柯蓋德大學(xué)，美國著名的私立文科大學(xué)。

15. physiognomy： 相面術(shù)。

16. mathematician： 數(shù)學(xué)家；Pythagoras： 畢達(dá)哥拉斯（580—500？BC），古希臘哲學(xué)家、數(shù)學(xué)家、畢達(dá)哥拉斯學(xué)派創(chuàng)始人和畢達(dá)哥拉斯定理（勾股定理）發(fā)現(xiàn)者，提倡禁欲主義，認(rèn)為數(shù)是萬物的本原；scrutinise： 詳細(xì)檢查；Aristotle： 亞里士多德（384—322BC），古希臘哲學(xué)家、科學(xué)家，柏拉圖的學(xué)生，著作幾乎涉及當(dāng)時所有知識領(lǐng)域；mean：（尤指能力方面）低劣的，平庸的。

17. 那時，人們普遍認(rèn)為，一個人若與某種動物長得像，那么也會具有相應(yīng)性格。resemble： 類似，像。

18. Middle Ages：（歐洲歷史上的）中世紀(jì)（公元500年左右至1500年左右），中古時期；mainstream： 主流。

19. coin： 杜撰，創(chuàng)造；stuck-up：〈口〉高傲自大的，自命不凡的；upturned nose： 朝天鼻；superiority：優(yōu)越性，優(yōu)勢；high-brow：〈口〉（自以為）文化修養(yǎng)（或趣味）很高的人；aristocrat： 有貴族氣派（或觀點(diǎn)）的人，超群出眾者；low-brow：〈口〉缺乏文化修養(yǎng)（或趣味）的人，文化素養(yǎng)低的人；refined： 優(yōu)雅的，有教養(yǎng)的。

20. Labrador： 拉布拉多犬；dominant： 支配的，統(tǒng)治的。

21. 我們認(rèn)為面部僵硬喜怒無常的人攻擊性強(qiáng)，長得不太漂亮的人總討人嫌，還會期待臉熟的人和我們的價值觀一致。resting： 僵化的，呆板的；moody： 喜怒無常的；aggressive： 強(qiáng)勢的，咄咄逼人的。

22. millisecond： 毫秒，千分之一秒。

23. bizarre： 怪誕的，異乎尋常的；subconscious：潛意識的，下意識的；ridiculous： 荒誕的，荒謬的。

24. evolutionary： 進(jìn)化的，發(fā)展的； categorization： 分類；life-and-death： 性命攸關(guān)的。

25. get to grips with：（認(rèn)真）對付（或處理），這里指搞明白。

26. chubby： 圓胖的，豐滿的。

27. 不管你是充滿母性慈愛，還是覺得嬰兒實在很煩，我們都會不由自主地因他們的特征而做出改變，變成輕聲細(xì)語、如嬰兒般交談的瘋子。maternal： 母親般的；hardwired：指內(nèi)在的，固有的；cooing： 溫聲細(xì)語的；baby-talking： 說兒語的；lunatic： 瘋子。

28. crucially： 關(guān)鍵地；gaze into： 凝視；smiley：微笑的。

29. 下次，當(dāng)你含情脈脈地盯著擁有娃娃臉的朋友、同事或者約會對象時，只需記住，你可能是長期以來人類進(jìn)化騙局的最新受害者。affectionately： 親切的；fraud： 騙局。