Facial masculinity does not appear to be a condition-dependent male ornament in humans and does not reflect MHC heterozygosity

Aa, Zaidi; White, JD; Mattern, BC; Liebowitz, CR; Puts, DA; Claes, Peter; Shriver, Mark D.

doi:10.1101/322255

Cited by 14 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…These individuals may therefore be healthier (Lie et al, 2009) and thus appear more attractive because healthier individuals may be better able to provide direct benefits such as help with parenting, protection, or resources, and indirect benefits by passing on genes for a strong immune system to offspring. MHC heterozygosity is thought to be detectable via (largely unknown) cues in individuals' odour and in facial appearance (Lie et al, 2009), though recent evidence suggests that facial masculinity is not a valid cue of MHC heterozygosity (Zaidi et al, 2019). Studies examining men's and women's preferences for the bodily odour of MHC heterozygous vs. homozygous individuals tend to involve asking participants to wear a t-shirt for a period of time to collect sweat, measuring participant heterozygosity at a number of loci in the MHC, and then asking a second group of participants to smell the sweaty t-shirts and rate them on traits such as attractiveness or pleasantness.…”

Section: Major Histocompatibility Complexmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical cues of partner quality

Stephen¹,

Luoto²

2021

Preprint

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The dominant evolutionary theory of sexual attraction posits that attraction serves as a psychological mechanism for identifying healthy, fertile, and appropriate mates. According to this theory, humans and animals display cues that reflect their mate quality and are perceived as attractive by potential mates. There is evidence for such valid cues in human faces, bodies, and in non-bodily traits, which include adornments and items that signal provisioning ability, creativity, artistic skills, or conspicuous consumption. In this chapter, we discuss the evidence for the existence of these facial, bodily, and non-bodily cues, and for their role in communicating aspects of partner quality, including health, fertility, developmental stability, genetic quality, and potential for parental investment. We further discuss sex differences in the kinds of physical cues that men and women rely on in mate choice. We conclude by noting how central and evolutionarily important physical cues are even in contemporary sexual selection, and how the importance of physical cues of partner quality manifests in evolutionarily novel inventions such as physical self-enhancements, social media, and online dating.

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Section: Major Histocompatibility Complexmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical cues of partner quality

Stephen¹,

Luoto²

2021

Preprint

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“…Facial morphology is affected by overall body size [45][46][47][48] , which is also sexually dimorphic and thus influences the perception of various social traits. Taller and heavier men are not only perceived as more masculine 49 but taller men also possess more masculinized facial structure 20 . Height is also associated with male health.…”

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confidence: 99%

How and why patterns of sexual dimorphism in human faces vary across the world

Kleisner

Tureček

Roberts

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Sexual selection, including mate choice and intrasexual competition, is responsible for the evolution of some of the most elaborated and sexually dimorphic traits in animals. Although there is sexual dimorphism in the shape of human faces, it is not clear whether this is similarly due to mate choice, or whether mate choice affects only part of the facial shape difference between men and women. Here we explore these questions by investigating patterns of both facial shape and facial preference across a diverse set of human populations. We find evidence that human populations vary substantially and unexpectedly in both the magnitude and direction of facial sexually dimorphic traits. In particular, European and South American populations display larger levels of facial sexual dimorphism than African populations. Neither cross-cultural differences in facial shape variation, sex differences in body height, nor differing preferences for facial femininity and masculinity across countries, explain the observed patterns of facial dimorphism. Altogether, the association between sexual shape dimorphism and attractiveness is moderate for women and weak (or absent) for men. Analysis that distinguishes between allometric and non-allometric components reveals that non-allometric facial dimorphism is preferred in women’s faces but not in faces of men. This might be due to different regimes of ongoing sexual selection acting on men, such as stronger intersexual selection for body height and more intense intrasexual physical competition, compared with women.

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“…However, evidence for such an association is somewhat equivocal. For instance, one recent study found that facial masculinity, which also depends on testosterone, does not reflect immunocompetence as measured by heterozygosity at the major histocompatibility complex (Zaidi et al, 2019). The potential benefits of mating with relatively masculine men may extend beyond those of health and genetic immunity.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-rated Attractiveness and Sociosexual Behavior Predict Gay Men’s Preferences for Masculine Cues in Male Voices in China

Zhang

Zheng

2019

Evol Psychol

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Theory and some evidence suggest that masculine characteristics (e.g., lower pitched voice) will predict indices of men’s long-term health. In a related finding, researchers have demonstrated that the attractiveness of individuals predicts variation in their mate preferences. As self-perceived attractiveness may predict sociosexuality (i.e., the willingness of individuals to engage in restricted or unrestricted sexual relationships), we investigated how self-rated attractiveness and sociosexuality influence preferences regarding male voices among 338 gay men across different cities in China. Each participant was randomly presented with six pairs of male voices and gave preferences using a forced-choice method; each pair of male voices consisted of a masculine (lower pitched) and feminine (higher pitched) version of the same original voice. Our findings suggested that gay men who perceived themselves as more attractive showed stronger preference for lower pitched voices compared with self-perceived less attractive individuals. In addition, we found that gay men’s sociosexuality score was positively correlated with their preference for masculine cues in male voices, indicating that gay men who were less sociosexually restricted preferred lower pitched voices over higher pitched versions compared with men who were more restricted. Our study presents evidence contributing to a better understanding of condition-dependent strategies of partner choice in gay men.

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Facial masculinity does not appear to be a condition-dependent male ornament in humans and does not reflect MHC heterozygosity

Cited by 14 publications

References 98 publications

Physical cues of partner quality

Physical cues of partner quality

How and why patterns of sexual dimorphism in human faces vary across the world

Self-rated Attractiveness and Sociosexual Behavior Predict Gay Men’s Preferences for Masculine Cues in Male Voices in China

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