People tend to choose masculine-looking leaders to lead them in times of war and crisis, while in peaceful times, they prefer feminine-looking politicians, a study showed. The actual gender does not matter much.

Brian Spisak and Mark Van Vugt at the University of Kent, UK used image manipulation on photographs to give them masculine and feminine features. Then they showed the pictures to 118 volunteers, and asked them to choose one as the leader for different scenarios ranging from war to transition periods to peacetime.

In another part of the research, the images were altered to look older or younger, and another group of 145 volunteers picked their leader for the same scenarios.

For troubled times of conflict, people chose masculine and older faces, while in situations where negotiations and peacekeeping were a priority, younger feminine faces were preferred. The actual gender was less relevant, with masculine-looking females toppling feminine-looking males in conflict situations, and vice verse.

While the role of gender in leadership selection has long been known to sociologists, the fact that looks may matter more than the actual gender is news, reports New Scientist magazine.