Self-rated attractiveness predicts preferences for sexually dimorphic facial characteristics in a culturally diverse sample

Abstract

Individuals who are more attractive are thought to show a greater preference for facial sexual dimorphism, potentially because individuals who perceive themselves as more physically attractive believe they will be better able to attract and/or retain sexually dimorphic partners. Evidence for this link is mixed, however, and recent research suggests the association between self-rated attractiveness and preferences for facial sexual dimorphism may not generalise to non-Western cultures. Here, we assess whether self-rated attractiveness and self-rated health predict facial sexual dimorphism preferences in a large and culturally diverse sample of 6907 women and 2851 men from 41 countries. We also investigated whether ecological factors, such as country health/development and inequality, might moderate this association. Our analyses found that men and women who rated themselves as more physically attractive reported stronger preferences for exaggerated sex-typical characteristics in other-sex faces. This finding suggests that associations between self-rated attractiveness and preferences for sexually dimorphic facial characteristics generalise to a culturally diverse sample and exist independently of country-level factors. We also found that country health/development moderated the effect of men’s self-rated attractiveness on femininity preferences, such that men from countries with high health/development showed a positive association between self-rated attractiveness and femininity preference, while men from countries with low health/development showed the opposite trend.

Too Beautiful to be Fake: Attractive Faces are Less Likely to be Judged as Artificially Generated

“…Self-rated attractiveness was also assessed using 2 items -one measuring general attractiveness ("How attractive would you say you are?" Marcinkowska et al, 2021) and the other measuring physical attractiveness ("How would you rate your own physical attractiveness relative to the average, " Spielmann et al, 2020). 3 attention check questions were also embedded in the surveys.…”

No evidence that sociosexual orientation moderates effects of conception probability on women’s preferences for male facial masculinity

“…Sample 1 is from a large, cross-national survey investigating human mating 19 , 20 . Participants were online volunteers recruited via social media, university platforms, and personal communication.…”

“…This resulted in a final sample of 2304 women ( M = 26.85 years, SD = 7.62 years) from 25 countries (Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Iran, Italy, Latvia, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States). For more information on this sample, see Marcinkowska et al 20 and Marcinkowska et al 19 .…”

No evidence that sociosexual orientation moderates effects of conception probability on women’s preferences for male facial masculinity.

“…Sample 1. Sample 1 is from a large, cross-national survey investigating human mating 19,20 . Participants were online volunteers recruited via social media, university platforms, and personal communication.…”

“…This resulted in a final sample of 2304 women (M = 26.85 years, SD = 7.62 years) from 25 countries (Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Iran, Italy, Latvia, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States). For more information on this sample, see Marcinkowska et al 20 and Marcinkowska et al 19 . Sample 2.…”