Our anger faces are optimized to make us look stronger.

Photo: flickr/TastonFurrowed brow: check. Flared nostrils: check. Thinned lips: check. Have you ever noticed that we all look pretty much alike when we're angry? Obviously, this is because we activate the same sets of facial muscles. But why do we use those muscles in particular? Here, researchers hypothesize that humans have evolved such that the faces we make when we're angry also make us look stronger and more intimidating. To test this idea, they broke down the "anger face" into its constituent parts and manipulated facial expressions using one component at a time. They then had participants rate how strong they thought the person was. The result? The scientists were right: the same expression features that make up the "anger face" also make us look stronger. Which leaves us wondering whether Mr. T was actually strong--or just pissed off all the time. The human anger face evolved to enhance cues ...