Sex‐typicality and attractiveness: Are supermale and superfemale faces super‐attractive?

Rhodes, Gillian; Hickford, Catherine; Jeffery, Linda

doi:10.1348/000712600161718

Cited by 204 publications

(189 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(46 reference statements)

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“…clearly above zero. This is in line with findings from previous studies that have reported a general preference for masculinity/masculine traits (Cunningham et al 1990;Gillen 1981;Grammer and Thornhill 1994;Koehler et al 2004;Neave et al 2003;Rhodes et al 2003Rhodes et al , 2007Saxton et al 2009;Scheib et al 1999), but in contrast to other studies which reported that overall, women prefer a close to average or slightly feminine male face shape (Little et al 2001;Penton-Voak et al 2004, 2003Perrett et al 1998;Rhodes et al 2000;Scott et al 2010). Our results might differ from these latter findings because we used an asymmetric range of masculinity (−100% to +200%).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

Women’s Preferences for Men’s Facial Masculinity: Trade-Off Accounts Revisited

Holzleitner

Perrett

2017

Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology

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Studies on mate preferences have demonstrated that women's perception of male attractiveness is sensitive to men's facial masculinity, and that women's preferences for facial masculinity are subject to individual differences, such as own condition. These individual differences have been linked to potential tradeoffs that women face given the hypothesized benefits and costs that masculinity may cue in a potential partner. Whereas most studies based conclusions regarding such trade-offs on shifts in mean preferences for a feminized vs. masculinized face shape, here we directly investigated attractiveness as a function of different levels of masculinity. Using computer-graphic methods, we manipulated the facial masculinity of men's 3D faces to vary between extremely feminine and hypermasculine, and assessed women's preferences for these different masculinity levels in the light of individual differences in self-rated attractiveness, financial worries, pathogen disgust sensitivity, self-reported health and relationship status. Our findings show that some individual differences shift preferences towards a generally lower or higher masculinity level, whereas others affect the tolerance to low vs. high levels of masculinity. We suggest that the use of preference curves allows for a more comprehensive investigation of how and why women's preferences for masculinity may shift under different contexts.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

Women’s Preferences for Men’s Facial Masculinity: Trade-Off Accounts Revisited

Holzleitner

Perrett

2017

Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology

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“…This explanation has been widely adopted within facial attraction research (e.g. Thornhill & Gangestad, 1999;Rhodes et al, 2000;Penton-Voak et al, 1999;Johnston et al, 2001). …”

Section: Immunocompetencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Research has shown varying preferences for masculinity in male faces, with some studies finding a female preference for feminine looking males (e.g. Perrett, Lee, Rowland, Yoshikawa, Burt, Henzi, Castle & Akamatsu, 1998;Rhodes, Hickford & Jeffery, 2000) and some a preference for masculine looking males (e.g. Johnston, Hagel, Franklin, Fink, & Grammer, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facial masculinity is related to perceived age but not perceived health

Boothroyd¹,

Jones²,

Burt³

et al. 2005

Evolution and Human Behavior

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Publisher's copyright statement:Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. ABSTRACTVariation in women's preferences for male facial masculinity may reflect variation in attraction to immunocompetence or to maturity. This paper reports two studies on a) the inter-relationships between women's preferences for masculinity, apparent health and age in male faces and b) the extent to which manipulating each of these characteristics affects women's attributions of the remaining characteristics.Both studies were carried out with a large sample of the general public (Studies 1a and 2a) and independently in a lab environment with smaller undergraduate samples (Studies 1b and 2b). In both samples, masculinity and age preferences were positively related and masculinity preferences were not associated with preferences for apparent health. There was also a positive relationship between perceived age and perceived masculinity in both samples, but evidence for a link between perceptions of masculinity and health was equivocal. Collectively these findings suggest that variation in women's preferences for masculine proportions in male faces reflect variation in attraction to male age and do not support a strict immunocompetence explanation of preferences for facial masculinity.

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“…The relationship between attractiveness and male facial masculinity is not clear cut; some findings show attraction to masculinity (Cunningham et al 1990;DeBruine et al 2006;Grammer & Thornhill 1994) and others show attraction to femininity (Berry & McArthur 1985;Cunningham et al 1990;Little & Hancock 2002;Perrett et al 1998;Rhodes et al 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social influence in human face preference: men and women are influenced more for long-term than short-term attractiveness decisions

Little

Burriss

Jones

et al. 2008

Evolution and Human Behavior

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Word count: 3,854 words (incl references)Social influence in human face preference: men and women are influenced for long-term but not short-term attractiveness decisions. AbstractIn non-human animals mate-choice copying has received much attention, with studies demonstrating that females tend to copy the choices of other females for specific males. Here we show, for both men and women, that pairing with an attractive partner increases the attractiveness of opposite-sex faces for long-term relationship decisions but not short-term decisions. Our study therefore shows social transmission of face preference in humans, which may have important consequences for the evolution of human traits. Our study also highlights the flexibility of human mate choice and suggests that, for humans, learning about non-physical traits that are important to pair-bonding drives copying-like behaviour.

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Sex‐typicality and attractiveness: Are supermale and superfemale faces super‐attractive?

Cited by 204 publications

References 29 publications

Women’s Preferences for Men’s Facial Masculinity: Trade-Off Accounts Revisited

Women’s Preferences for Men’s Facial Masculinity: Trade-Off Accounts Revisited

Facial masculinity is related to perceived age but not perceived health

Social influence in human face preference: men and women are influenced more for long-term than short-term attractiveness decisions

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