Women’s Probability of Conception Is Associated with their Preference for Flirtatious but not Masculine Facial Movement

Abstract

Women's preferences for facial structure vary over the menstrual cycle. Little is known, however, as to how preferences for behavior may be influenced by hormonal factors. Here, we demonstrate that social properties of facial motion influence attractiveness judgments in the absence of other cues, and that women's preferences for these displays vary over the menstrual cycle, as has been demonstrated for structural traits of men's faces in static stimuli. We produced shape-standardized facial models that were animated with male movement and assessed for flirtatiousness by 16 women and attractiveness by 47 women. In fertile phases of the menstrual cycle, women showed stronger preferences for flirtatious movement, but not for absolute movement. These data show that women (1) recognize specific mating-relevant social cues in male facial movement and (2) are differentially influenced by these cues at different phases of the menstrual cycle. This preference for flirtatiousness may promote the adaptive allocation of mating effort towards men who are, in turn, likely to respond positively.

Manipulating Shape Cues in Dynamic Human Faces: Sexual Dimorphism is Preferred in Female but not Male Faces

“…The phase of the menstrual cycle in which women made their judgments is known to affect attractiveness judgments in static (Penton‐Voak et al. 1999, Penton‐Voak and Perrett 2000) and moving (Morrison et al. 2009) faces.…”

“…In humans, motion‐capture techniques have shown that body movement can indicate body symmetry (Brown et al. 2005), and facial movement can indicate emotional expression (Bassili 1978, 1979; Rubenstein 2005) and flirtatiousness (Morrison et al. 2009).…”

Something in the way she moves: biological motion, body shape, and attractiveness in women

“…Motion-capture studies of human gait have shown that women prefer masculine movement, especially when they are in the fertile phase of their menstrual cycles and when they are more open to short-term mating (Provost, Troje & Quinsey, 2008). These findings parallel work on facial motion, which suggests that sex-typical movement is attractive in female faces (Morrison, Gralewski, Campbell, & Penton-Voak, 2007), and that women's preferences shift across the menstrual cycle (Morrison, Clark, Gralewski, Campbell, & Penton-Voak, 2009). Women's gait itself changes across the menstrual cycle, but, surprisingly, men prefer the gait of women in the luteal, non-fertile phase (Provost, Quinsey, & Troje, 2008).…”

Probing Ovulatory-Cycle Shifts in Women’s Preferences for Men’s Behaviors

“…Moreover, previous research has also reported changes in women’s flirting behavior and behavioral engagement with men displaying purported markers of genetic fitness (Cantú et al, 2014; Flowe, Swords, & Rockey, 2012). Women also seem to show preferences for flirtatious facial movement in the fertile phase of the ovulatory cycle (Morrison, Clark, Gralewski, Campbell, & Penton-Voak, 2010). Yet there are a lack of well-powered replications investigating preference shifts for men’s behavior (Jones, Hahn, & DeBruine, 2019).…”