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Quick, what do John Edwards, Bernard Madoff and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger all have in common? No, they don't all party in Milledgeville, Ga. But they do all have wide faces, and according to recent research, that could be a telling sign of their trustworthiness -- or lack thereof.

Using a 2008 study that found professional hockey players with wider faces were more aggressive as the basis for his idea, PhD student Michael Stirrat from the school of psychology at the University of Scotland, wanted to explore the idea of facial width further.

"A core idea that comes up in all relationships is trust," says Stirrat. "I was keen to see how facial width related to that."

He conducted three experiments -- two using an economic game called the Trust Game, and one where people rated trustworthiness based solely on facial width (with all other factors such as age, attractiveness and skin color eliminated). The results? Wider-faced men exploited trust more often than narrower-faced men; other participants trusted the wider-faced men less often that they trusted narrow-faced men; and, finally, people rated narrow faces as more trustworthy in general.



Stirrat has two theories as to why wider-faced men get such a bad rap. The first is that broader-faced men may look more angry, and therefore are less often trusted. But his second theory, which is untested, is that it's an evolutionary signal among men as to how dominant or strong they are.

"In the animal kingdom, if animals can evaluate each other based on signals, without having to test each other's strength, then they could avoid a potentially dangerous fight," he says. "My thinking is that in humans, facial width in males is a signal of dominance. The dominant males don't need to play nice and can therefore face less consequences when they decide to exploit others."

In other words, they can typically get away with it -- at least for a while.

Does this broad-faced theory explain the behavior of these recent bad boys?

Ben Roethlisberger: Big Ben doesn't just have a big head. He's got big legal troubles. Last week a Georgia woman accused the Steelers quarterback of sexually assaulting her in a bar bathroom in Milledgeville, Ga. This is just one short year after a Nevada woman accused him of rape, and he weaseled his way out of that charge. You tell us: trustworthy or not?
Tiger Woods: His famously wide mug (and impossibly wide smile) warmed the hearts of millions as Tiger became the youngest professional golfer to win The Masters. Who knew he was also warming almost as many beds? He apologized, but do you believe it? You tell us: trustworthy or not?

John Mayer: You would think he houses a larger brain in his large head, but Mayer obviously wasn't using it when he kissed and told in a recent Playboy article. Making disparaging remarks about everything from black people to Jessica Simpson, we think he should stick to using his mouth for singing. You tell us: trustworthy or not?
Karl Rove: This fat-faced former deputy chief of staff for George W. Bush recently released a book, "Courage and Consequences," stating that he still stands behind the decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and calls Bush's achievements during his two-term presidency "impressive, durable and significant." Are you buying what he's selling? You tell us: trustworthy or not?