article_snippet: Children whose ears stick out may be self-conscious.
article_snippet: But a new study shows that while large ears may catch the eye, the trait doesn’t carry a social stigma.
article_snippet: In fact, an experiment showed that adults tended to rate children with larger ears as being more intelligent and likeable upon first impressions.
article_snippet: A desirable attribute: An experiment showed that adults tended to rate children with larger ears as being more intelligent and likeable upon first impressions.
article_snippet: ‘Protruding ears catch the eye, but not necessarily the imagination in a negative way.
article_snippet: The facial plastic surgeon at Cantonal Hospital St Gallen in Switzerland said that protruding ears may make children seem particularly cute.
article_snippet: The facial plastic surgeon at Cantonal Hospital St Gallen in Switzerland’s thought that around five per cent of people have large ears.
article_snippet: In an experiment, scientists photographed 20 children between the ages of five and 19 who were considering surgery to stop scientists ears protruding as much.
article_snippet: scientists made a copy of each photograph and used Photoshop to show how 20 children between the ages of five and 19 who were considering surgery to stop their ears protruding as much would look after surgery and showed the pairs of images to 20 volunteers.
article_snippet: the study published in the journal JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery showed that protruding ears don't carry a social stigma and it's unknown why it's been thought that The experts may lead to a biased perception of personality.
article_snippet: the observers spent an average of 10 per cent of that time looking at protruding ears, compared to six per cent for the ears in the Photoshopped images, demonstrating that the over-sized features did catch the observers attention.
article_snippet: Dr Litschel said The experts were surprised to find that the volunteers did not see the protruding ears as an undesirable feature.
article_snippet: It’s unknown why It has been thought that protruding ears may lead to a biased perception of a person’s personality, but It could hark back to a 1876 study by an Italian criminologist called Cesare Lombroso, who identified criminals by unusual facial features, such as their ears.
article_snippet: This work suggested that unusual ears went hand-in-hand with crime.
article_snippet: Dr Litschel noted that the results of the study may vary depending on the culture of the volunteers, as, for example, big ears are seen as a sign of good fortune in Asia.
highlights_snippet: Plastic surgeon from Cantonal Hospital St Gallen, Switzerland found adults tended to rate children with larger ears as being more intelligent and cute .
  
highlights_snippet: Using eye-tracking technology adults found people's eyes were drawn to larger and protruding ears, but adults did see the feature as undesirable .
  
highlights_snippet: It’s thought that around five per cent of people have large ears .