Resource Security Impacts Men’s Female Breast Size Preferences

Abstract

It has been suggested human female breast size may act as signal of fat reserves, which in turn indicates access to resources. Based on this perspective, two studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that men experiencing relative resource insecurity should perceive larger breast size as more physically attractive than men experiencing resource security. In Study 1, 266 men from three sites in Malaysia varying in relative socioeconomic status (high to low) rated a series of animated figures varying in breast size for physical attractiveness. Results showed that men from the low socioeconomic context rated larger breasts as more attractive than did men from the medium socioeconomic context, who in turn perceived larger breasts as attractive than men from a high socioeconomic context. Study 2 compared the breast size judgements of 66 hungry versus 58 satiated men within the same environmental context in Britain. Results showed that hungry men rated larger breasts as significantly more attractive than satiated men. Taken together, these studies provide evidence that resource security impacts upon men’s attractiveness ratings based on women’s breast size.

Men's preferences for women's breast size and shape in four cultures

“…Zelazniewicz & Pawlowski (2011) found that Polish men with high sociosexuality (i.e., tendency for sexual variety) prefer larger breasts. Similarly, a study from Malaysia found that men of lower socio-economic status prefer larger breasts than their counterparts of higher socio-economic status (Swami & Tovée, 2013b).…”

“…Dixson et al (2011b) found that men from Papua New Guinea, who are predominantly subsistence farmers, preferred large breast size more frequently than men from New Zealand and Samoa. Furthermore, Malaysian men with low socioeconomic status tend to prefer larger breasts when compared to their counterparts with higher socioeconomic status (Swami & Tovée, 2013b). As breast size is associated with higher body mass (Brown et al, 2012) this preference may reflect a generalized preference for women with plumper bodies, a tendency frequently found in communities that experience resource scarcity (Sugiyama, 2004;Wetsman & Marlowe, 1999).…”

“…More recently, some studies employed more realistic avatars, digitally manipulated in five (Swami &Tovée, 2013a, 2013b or even 14 (Swami et al, 2015) breast size steps.…”

The Breast Size Rating Scale: Development and psychometric evaluation

“…This likely results in different perceptual meaning being attributed to the images as compared with two-dimensional images of real people (Bateson, Cornelissen, & Tovée, 2007). Not surprisingly, then, within the literature on physical attractiveness, scholars have begun using photographic or computer-generated images (e.g., Dixson et al, 2011;Swami & Tovée, 2013b;Zelazniewicz & Pawłowski, 2010) Breast size dissatisfaction 6 or video-clips (Swami & Tovée, 2013a) of women varying in bust size, with far superior ecological validity.…”

“…We developed a new set of computer-generated images, as has been done in previous studies where breast size has been the only trait varied across figures (Swami & Tovée, 2013a, 2013b. Specifically, the stimuli were created using DazStudio 3.1 (www.daz3d.com), an interactive three-dimensional (3D) modelling software that allows for the creation of photo-realistic 3D models.…”