# What are the evolutionary advantages to touching one's own face? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 27, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528 "2009-04-27T18:12:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/1 "2009-04-27T18:12:17Z")
With all the info about the swine flu out there, I’ve seen several mentions of the fact that taking basic precautions like washing your hands often and taking care to not touch your mouth, nose, eyes with your dirty dirty hands will help protect you from infection. This is absolutely true, and so it occurred to me to wonder why we touch ourselves on the face so much in the first place. Given that it can lead to infection by things that will kill you, there should be substantial evolutionary pressure selecting against it, yet people touch their faces constantly. There must be some reason the behavior continues to exist. I have a few guesses, but no data to back them up. 1. The basic hand to mouth behavior is deeply ingrained because it’s important for ensuring that we feed ourselves. 2. During the vast majority of our evolution, there was nothing to wash with anyway, and since you had to feed yourself by hand, touching your mouth/face at other times didn’t add much to your chances of getting sick. 3. Opal makes us do it. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/2 "2009-04-27T18:24:01Z")
There isn’t a reason or purpose for anything evolutionarily (if that is a word). The answer is that, apparently, touching one’s face does not have any significant disadvantage; i.e., it doesn’t prevent enough people from reproducing that it would be a trait that was eliminated from the gene pool. It also begs the question a bit, because it’s possible that what is left right now IS the result of people touching their faces, and that we are just touching our faces a lot less than all others that went before us. We might be the least touchy ancestors of all the people that came before us, and we don’t even know if it matters! ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/3 "2009-04-27T18:45:01Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > There isn’t a reason or purpose for anything evolutionarily… Isn’t it just a trifle silly that this is noted in essentially every thread concerning evolution? Reason or purpose, as the OP title makes clear, in this context refers to evolutionary advantage - something that improves reproductive success. Yes, this is not strictly accurate for strict interpretations of “purpose”. But this way of speaking is in common use even by experts (e.g. Richard Dawkins). ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/4 "2009-04-27T19:01:31Z")
There’s no evolutionary benefit to being able to shove a cucumber up your ass, either, but we’re still capable of doing it. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/5 "2009-04-27T19:10:53Z")
I think you just need to stop and think about this. Imagine that you cannot touch your face at all, for even a single day. That’s why. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/6 "2009-04-27T19:11:46Z")
If there’s a booger hanging from your nose, you can actually do something about it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/7 "2009-04-27T19:13:32Z")
> [@](#): > > There’s no evolutionary benefit to being able to shove a cucumber up your ass, either,… Sure there is. We need a rectum able to accommodate stools of the texture dictated by our diet, and large enough to hold it for a reasonable length of time, to minimize the time we spend vulnerable in defecation. Any rectum not capable (with a bit of stretching) of having a cucumber shoved up it would also not be suitable for its primary function. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/8 "2009-04-27T19:14:39Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > There’s no evolutionary benefit to being able to shove a cucumber up your ass, either, but we’re still capable of doing it. Not to humans, maybe, but perhaps to the cucumber. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/9 "2009-04-27T19:15:56Z")
Maybe I wasn’t clear. I’m not asking about the evolutionary advantages of being _able_ to touch your face. I’m asking about the evolutionary advantages of the behavior of compulsively touching your face. Not touching your face for some length of time is actually difficult to do. And there appear to be valid evolutionary pressures that should keep us from that behavior (public health consensus is that touching your face results in increased mortality due to disease). ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/10 "2009-04-27T19:16:39Z")
It seems to me that there would be advantages in being able to put food in your mouth, blow your nose, and get little foreign objects out of your eyes, and having hands able to touch the face makes all of that easier. But it’s all part of being able to touch almost any part of the body (except the middle of the back), and being able to keep it clean and fix minor injuries on the body, which again seems to me evolutionarily useful. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/11 "2009-04-27T19:18:35Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > There’s no evolutionary benefit to being able to shove a cucumber up your ass, either, but we’re still capable of doing it. Pretty sure the OP is not asking why we _can_ touch our face (obviously we need to to feed ourselves, wipe our brow of sweat, clear our eyes and half a dozen other advantageous things), but why people do touch their faces a lot even when they don’t need to. I know I rub my nose and scratch my brow or chin a lot as nervous gestures. Watch a group of people for a bit and you’ll see a lot of similar behavior, to the point where I suspect it is instinctual, which rases the OP’s question, why? It’s apparently harmful in at least one respect, since it speeds transmission of disease. My guess, faces and hands are both very useful for communicating via body language, so putting the two togeather is even more so, to the point where the advantage to communication is more important then the disadvantage to hygene. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/12 "2009-04-27T19:18:59Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Maybe I wasn’t clear. I’m not asking about the evolutionary advantages of being _able_ to touch your face. I’m asking about the evolutionary advantages of the behavior of compulsively touching your face. That’s partly part of the drive to keep the skin relatively clean, by wiping sweat and dirt off it. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/13 "2009-04-27T20:22:31Z")
Desmond Morris believes that people touch their own faces in times of stress as a comforting action. In the absence of someone else (like a parent) holding the person, the person in a sense is trying to hold himself/herself. But that’s just one person’s opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/14 "2009-04-28T07:00:43Z")
Infectious diseases spread by “flu mechanisms” are a recent phenomena in the human realm, being side effects of animal husbandry and high-density human populations. In the big picture, people have been able to touch their faces all day long without contracting infectious diseases. Not anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/15 "2009-04-28T07:07:28Z")
I’d vote on #3. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/16 "2009-04-28T13:02:17Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > But it’s all part of being able to touch almost any part of the body ( **except the middle of the back** ) Sorry for the hijack, but I can’t find a part of my back I can’t touch. Is this right? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/17 "2009-04-28T13:07:36Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > Infectious diseases spread by “flu mechanisms” are a recent phenomena in the human realm, being side effects of animal husbandry and high-density human populations. In the big picture, people have been able to touch their faces all day long without contracting infectious diseases. Not anymore. This is very true, excellent point. Also, (pure speculation here) face-touching may be important for nonverbal communication, sexual selection, or some other advantage. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/18 "2009-04-28T13:13:34Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Sorry for the hijack, but I can’t find a part of my back I can’t touch. Is this right? It varies person-to-person. Sufficiently long arms and/or sufficient shoulder flexibility may allow one to touch pretty much all of their back. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/19 "2009-04-28T13:53:27Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Isn’t it just a trifle silly that this is noted in essentially every thread concerning evolution? Because it’s true? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528/20 "2009-04-28T14:02:42Z")
It would be more useful to develop some boilerplate about how the current existence of a behavior or body part doesn’t necessarily mean that behavior or body part gives an evolutionary advantage, but rather that that behavior or body part does not give an evolutionary _dis_advantage. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-evolutionary-advantages-to-touching-ones-own-face/494528.md?page=2)