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Mate preferences and choices for facial and body hair in heterosexual women and homosexual men: Influence of sex, population, homogamy, and imprinting-like effect
Abstract
Recent research has reported that male body and facial hair influence women's mate preferences. However, it is not clear whether such preferences are typical for women or for individuals who prefer males as sexual partners. Here we explored body and facial hair in preferred and actual partners among men and women who prefer men as sexual partners. Including homosexual individuals provides a unique opportunity to investigate whether evolved mating psychologies are specific to the sex of the individual or sex of the partner. Based on an online survey of 1577 participants from Brazil and the Czech Republic, we found that, on average, homosexual men preferred hairier stimuli than heterosexual women, supporting past findings that homosexual men have strong preferences for masculine traits. Preferences for facial and body hair appear to be influenced less by sex of the preferred partner than sex of the individual, pointing to a possible sex-specific mating psychology. Further, Brazilians preferred bigger beards than Czechs, which was positively associated with the self-reported amount of beardedness in Brazil, suggesting that familiarity effects underpin cross-cultural differences in preferences for facial hair. Moreover, homosexual men preferred a self-similar degree of beardedness, and Czech women preferred a similar degree of beardedness as their fathers had during their childhood. However, these effects were not associated with the level of facial hair in their actual partners; in general, mate preferences and actual mate choices for facial and body hair differed. Thus, individual differences in some self-reported characteristics, cultural factors and aspects of personal experience may modulate differences in preferences for masculine traits.
... Importantly, heterosexual women do not show a clear preference for masculine traits, while homosexual men have stronger preferences for masculine traits than heterosexual women. For example, homosexual men prefer more masculine faces (Glassenberg et al., 2010) and more facial and body hair than women (Valentova et al., 2017b). On the contrary, heterosexual men have much clearer preference for feminine traits in their potential female partners (e.g., Fraccaro et al., 2010). ...
... In particular, nonheterosexual women prefer self-similar waist-to-hip ratio, buttock size, and breast size and shape in their ideal partners (Valentova, Bártová et al., 2017). Non-heterosexual men from one Latin American and one European population preferred self-similar degree of beardedness, although there was no such e ect in body hair preferences (Valentova et al., 2017b). North American men, however, preferred self-similar amount of body hair, while in their ideal partners, men desired more facial hair than they had themselves (Muscarella et al., 2002). ...
... Non-heterosexual men also showed a preference for father-similar somatotype, which was similar to preferences of heterosexual women (Štěrbová et al., 2018). However, no father similarity has been found in preferences or actual mate choices based on father's facial and body hair (Valentova et al., 2017b). Mostly, actual partners did not resemble parents of both homosexual or heterosexual men and women. ...
Evolutionary social science is having a renaissance. This volume showcases the empirical and theoretical advancements produced by the evolutionary study of romantic relationships. The editors assembled an international collection of contributors to trace how evolved psychological mechanisms shape strategic computation and behavior across the life span of a romantic partnership. Each chapter provides an overview of historic and contemporary research on the psychological mechanisms and processes underlying the initiation, maintenance, and dissolution of romantic relationships. Contributors discuss popular and cutting-edge methods for data analysis and theory development, critically analyze the state of evolutionary relationship science, and provide discerning recommendations for future research. The handbook integrates a broad range of topics (e.g., partner preference and selection, competition and conflict, jealousy and mate guarding, parenting, partner loss and divorce, and post-relationship affiliation) that are discussed alongside major sources of strategic variation in mating behavior, such as sex and gender diversity, developmental life history, neuroendocrine processes, technological advancement, and culture. Its content promises to enrich students’ and established researchers’ views on the current state of the discipline and should challenge a diverse cross-section of relationship scholars and clinicians to incorporate evolutionary theorizing into their professional work.
... While masculine hirsutism is associated with men's mating success (Barber 2001;Dixson et al. 2017c), women's attractiveness judgments of beards and body hair are highly variable between samples Valentova et al. 2017). Facial and body hair more consistently enhance judgments of men's age, masculinity, social dominance (Dixson and Brooks 2013;Dixson and Vasey 2012;Dixson et al. 2017a;Neave and Shields 2008;Sherlock et al. 2017;Saxton et al. 2016) and aggressiveness (Craig et al. ...
... The extent to which body hair enhances male physical attractiveness also varies cross-culturally. Pronounced chest hair was preferred among women from the UK (Dixson et al. 2003), Bakossi women of Cameroon judged moderate amounts of chest hair as most attractive (Dixson et al. 2007a), while women from Brazil and Czech Republic stated preferences for hairless and very light body hair (Valentova et al. 2017). Women judged hairless chests as most attractive in Finland, China, Turkey, New Zealand, Slovakia and the U.S (Dixson et al. 2007b(Dixson et al. , 2010Prokop et al. 2012Prokop et al. , 2013Rantala et al. 2010). ...
... Participants and Procedure Studies were undertaken on-line (www.socialsci.com). Mate preferences vary with sexual orientation when judging cues of facial and bodily sexual dimorphism (Glassenberg et al. 2010;Petterson et al. 2015Petterson et al. , 2016Petterson et al. , 2018, including beards and body hair (Valentova et al. 2017). From the total sample of 4535 participants (3814 women and 719 men), women indicating heterosexual preferences from the 30 countries for which we had data on all covariates of interest were retained (n = 3436, Mean age = 27.43, ...
Objectives
According to the ectoparasite avoidance hypothesis, natural selection has shaped human hairlessness to reduce the potential for the body to host disease carrying ectoparasites. However, men retain sexually dimorphic and conspicuous patches of facial and body hair. The ectoparasite avoidance hypothesis also proposes that sexual selection via women’s mate preferences for reduced hirsutism has further elaborated upon the reduction in body hair and could explain variation in women’s preferences for body hair in men. The current study tests this hypothesis using cross-cultural data from 30 countries on women’s preferences for chest hair.Methods
We test whether heterosexual women’s (N = 3436) preferences for reduced hirsutism are most pronounced in countries with higher disease and parasite levels or whether other social and economic factors previously shown to influence preferences for facial masculinity and beardedness predict women’s preferences for chest hair.ResultsWe found that preferences were unrelated to past or current disease rates. Instead, preferences for body hair were stronger among women who were older, had strong preferences for facial hair, and were from countries that had male-biased sex ratios, higher human development indices, and lower education indices. Women’s body hair preferences were also associated with facial masculinity preferences and gender empowerment. However, neither these terms, nor human development indices or education indices were individually significant in their contributions to the family of best-fit models and we suggest caution when interpreting their significance.Conclusions
Women’s preferences for body hair may be strongest among women from countries where male-male competition is higher and preferences for beardedness are stronger rather than where prevailing ecological conditions my impact on maternal and offspring survival.
... When evaluating sex differences, most studies focused on heterosexual populations, not addressing the variation in sexual behavior across the sexual orientation spectrum (Valentova et al., 2022b; for exceptions see Lippa, 2007;Štěrbová et al., 2017;Valentova et al.,2017a;2017b). Although attraction to same-sex individuals, whether partial or exclusive, may significantly compromise individual reproductive success, it is consistently documented among different species and human societies, and thus constitutes a topic of evolutionary, social, and psychological importance (Hames et al., 2017;Rahman et al., 2020). ...
... The seventh hypothesis, that individuals would prefer partners similar to themselves, was strongly supported by the data, which indicated homogamy as a consistent predictor of partner preference. This result is compatible with the previous studies that found moderate correlations between trait self-perception and ideal partner trait preference in heterosexual individuals (Buston & Emlen, 2003;Johnson, 2005), 1 3 as well as studies demonstrating that homogamy guides preference for overall physical attractiveness (Kocsor et al., 2011), for specific physical characteristics (Nojo et al., 2012;Valentova et al., 2017aValentova et al., , 2017b, for intelligence (Escorial & Martín-Buro, 2012), and for personality traits (Escorial & Martín-Buro, 2012;Stěrbová et al., 2017); and actual partner choice for health (Monden, 2007) and for educational and socioeconomic level (Smits et al., 1998;Mäenpää 2015). ...
Partner preferences are an important differential in relationship formation and evolutionary fitness, and vary according to individual, ecological, and social factors. In this study, we evaluated the variation in preference for intelligence, kindness, physical attractiveness, health, and socioeconomic level among individuals of different sexes and sexual orientations in a Brazilian sample. We analyzed the preference scores of 778 heterosexual, bisexual, and homosexual men and women in three budgeted mate design tasks (low vs. medium vs. high budget) and their association with sociosexuality, attachment styles, homogamy, and willingness to engage in short- and long-term relationships. Results indicated a global trait preference order, with intelligence ranking first, followed by kindness, physical attractiveness, health, and lastly by socioeconomic status. Typical sex differences were observed mostly within the heterosexual group, and specific combinations of sex and sexual orientation were linked to variation in preference for physical attractiveness, kindness, and socioeconomic status. We also found unique associations of the other variables with partner preferences and with willingness to engage in short- or long-term relationships. By exploring the partner preferences of non-heterosexual individuals from a Latin American country, an underrepresented group in evolutionary psychology research, our results help understand the universal and specific factors that guide partner preferences and human sexual behavior.
... Furthermore, in some populations (e.g., Brazil, Czech Republic, China, and the United States), women rate the faces and bodies of men with less beard or hair as the most attractive (Valentova et al., 2017b). However, in some populations (United Kingdom and Cameroon), women prefer men with beards and body hair (Davis and Arnocky, 2020). ...
... Women's attraction to male body hair may be influenced by frequencydependent negative selection, meaning that body hair bearded faces may be more attractive when they are rarer in the population (Janif et al., 2014). Homosexual men generally prefer hairier men than women (Valentova et al., 2017b). Similar to body hair shaving practices, standards for cranial hair have varied significantly across populations and time. ...
... Women's ratings of the attractiveness of men's facial and body hair are highly variable between samples and across cultures (discussed in Dixson et al., 2019). In many societies (e.g., Brazil, China, and U.S.), women rate the faces and bodies of men that are hairless or have a small amount of hair as the most attractive Dixson, Dixson, Li, & Anderson, 2007a;Dixson & Rantala, 2016;Dixson & Vasey, 2012;Rantala, Pölkki, & Rantala, 2010;Valentova, Bártová, Štěrbová, & Varella, 2017a;Valentova, Varella, Bártová, Štěrbová, & Dixson, 2017b). In contrast, women in a smaller number of cultural contexts (The United Kingdom and Cameroon) seem to prefer bearded men and thicker chest hair (Dixson, Halliwell, East, Wignarajah, & Anderson, 2003;Dixson, Dixson, Morgan, & Anderson, 2007b). ...
... Importantly, however, evidence indicates that for some characteristics and mate competition tactics, that particular sexual orientations are aligned with a unique mating psychology. For example, homosexual men prefer more facial and body hair on men in comparison with heterosexual women (Valentova et al., 2017b). And heterosexual women appear to engage in significantly more sexual inducements and appearance enhancement for the purpose of mate retention, relative to lesbian women, gay men, and straight men (VanderLaan & Vasey, 2008). ...
Researchers have highlighted numerous sociocultural factors that have been shown to underpin human appearance enhancement practices, including the influence of peers, family, the media, and sexual objectification. Fewer scholars have approached appearance enhancement from an evolutionary perspective or considered how sociocultural factors interact with evolved psychology to produce appearance enhancement behavior. Following others, we argue that evidence from the field of evolutionary psychology can complement existing sociocultural models by yielding unique insight into the historical and cross-cultural ubiquity of competition over aspects of physical appearance to embody what is desired by potential mates. An evolutionary lens can help to make sense of reliable sex and individual differences that impact appearance enhancement, as well as the context-dependent nature of putative adaptations that function to increase physical attractiveness. In the current review, appearance enhancement is described as a self-promotion strategy used to enhance reproductive success by rendering oneself more attractive than rivals to mates, thereby increasing one’s mate value. The varied ways in which humans enhance their appearance are described, as well as the divergent tactics used by women and men to augment their appearance, which correspond to the preferences of opposite-sex mates in a heterosexual context. Evolutionarily relevant individual differences and contextual factors that vary predictably with appearance enhancement behavior are also discussed. The complementarity of sociocultural and evolutionary perspectives is emphasized and recommended avenues for future interdisciplinary research are provided for scholars interested in studying appearance enhancement behavior.
... All participants reported having regular menstrual cycles (not more than ± 5 days of difference between consecutive cycles), no diagnosed health problems, were not pregnant, breast-feeding, or had not taken any form of hormonal contraception for at least 3 months prior to participation. We removed participants who did not complete the rating tasks or identified as homosexual, as sexual orientation influences facial hair preferences (Valentova et al., 2017). This left a final sample of 52 women. ...
... A study among romantically involved couples found that a stronger desire for extra-pair mates occurred at the fertile phase than the luteal phase among women with less facially attractive partners (Gangestad et al., 2010). We did not measure the characteristics of women's partners and past studies have reported that women's preferences for facial hair are positively associated with that of their partners Janif et al., 2014;Valentova et al., 2017). Finally, variation in women's willingness to engage in short-term relationships, as measured using the sociosexual inventory (SOI), may impact on mate preferences (Sacco et al., 2012) and might explain variation in preferences for facial hair. ...
According to the ovulatory shift hypothesis, women's mate preferences for male morphology indicative of competitive ability, social dominance, and/or underlying health are strongest at the peri-ovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle. However, recent meta-analyses are divided on the robustness of such effects and the validity of the often-used indirect estimates of fertility and ovulation has been called into question in methodological studies. In the current study, we test whether women's preferences for men's beardedness, a cue of male sexual maturity, androgenic development and social dominance, are stronger at the peri-ovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle compared to during the early follicular or the luteal phase. We also tested whether levels of estradiol, progesterone, and the estradiol to progesterone ratio at each phase were associated with facial hair preferences. Fifty-two heterosexual women completed a two-alternative forced choice preference test for clean-shaven and bearded male faces during the follicular, peri-ovulatory (validated by the surge in luteinizing hormone or the drop in estradiol levels) and luteal phases. Participants also provided for one entire menstrual cycle daily saliva samples for subsequent assaying of estradiol and progesterone. Results showed an overall preference for bearded over clean-shaven faces at each phase of the menstrual cycle. However, preferences for facial hair were not significantly different over the phases of menstrual cycle and were not significantly associated with levels of reproductive hormones. We conclude that women's preferences for men's beardedness may not be related to changes in their likelihood of conception.
... According to the ectoparasite avoidance hypothesis, reduced hirsutism was further elaborated upon via sexual selection [36,43]. Indeed, in only a minority of cultures, such as the UK and Cameroon, do women prefer male chest hair [44,45], whereas hairless chests are most attractive in Brazil, the USA, the Czech Republic, China, New Zealand, Finland, Turkey, and Slovakia [46][47][48][49]. Beards may harbour bacteria or parasites [50] and women rated bearded faces as dirtier than clean-shaven faces [51], which may contribute to the variation in women's preferences for men's facial hair (for reviews see [49,52]). ...
... Indeed, in only a minority of cultures, such as the UK and Cameroon, do women prefer male chest hair [44,45], whereas hairless chests are most attractive in Brazil, the USA, the Czech Republic, China, New Zealand, Finland, Turkey, and Slovakia [46][47][48][49]. Beards may harbour bacteria or parasites [50] and women rated bearded faces as dirtier than clean-shaven faces [51], which may contribute to the variation in women's preferences for men's facial hair (for reviews see [49,52]). However, whether women's preferences for men's beards vary following exposure to ectoparasites or differ due to individual differences in pathogen disgust remains to be determined. ...
Women’s preferences for men’s androgen dependent secondary sexual traits are proposed to be phenotypically plastic in response to exposure to pathogens and pathogen disgust. While previous studies report that masculinity in facial shape is more attractive to women who have recently been exposed to pathogenic cues and who are high in self-reported pathogen disgust, facial hair may reduce male attractiveness under conditions of high pathogens as beards are a possible breeding ground for disease carrying ectoparasites. In the present study, we test whether women’s preferences for beardedness and facial masculinity vary due to exposure to different pathogenic cues. Participants (N = 688, mean age + 1SD = 31.94 years, SD = 6.69, range = 18–67) rated the attractiveness of facial composite stimuli of men when they were clean-shaven or fully bearded. These stimuli were also manipulated in order to vary sexual dimorphism by ±50%. Ratings were conducted before and after exposure to one of four experimental treatments in which participants were primed to either high pathogens (e.g. infected cuts), ectoparasites (e.g. body lice), a mixture of pathogens and ectoparasites, or a control condition (e.g. innocuous liquids). Participants then completed the three-domain disgust scale measuring attitudes to moral, sexual and pathogen disgust. We predicted that women would prefer facial masculinity following exposure to pathogenic cues, but would show reduced preferences for facial hair following exposure to ectoparasites. Women preferred full beards over clean-shaven faces and masculinised over feminised faces. However, none of the experimental treatments influenced the direction of preferences for facial masculinity or beardedness. We also found no association between women’s self-reported pathogen disgust and their preferences for facial masculinity. However, there was a weak positive association between moral disgust scores and preferences for facial masculinity, which might reflect conservatism and preferences for gender typicality in faces. Women’s preferences for beards were positively associated with their pathogen disgust, which runs contrary to our predictions and may reflect preferences for high quality individuals who can withstand any costs of beardedness, although further replications are necessary before firm conclusions can be made. We conclude that there is little support for pathogenic exposure being a mechanism that underpins women’s directional preferences for masculine traits.
... Beards may enhance perceived male formidability by exaggerating underlying masculine facial structure, especially jaw size (Dixson, Little, Dixson, & Brooks, 2017;Sherlock et al., 2017;Mefodeva et al., 2020), which could explain why beards facilitate recognition of male faces posing angry facial expressions (Craig, Nelson, & Dixson, 2019;Dixson, Barkhuizen, & Craig, 2021), but not happy faces . Yet like facial masculinity, beardedness has variable effects on judgments of social traits related to trustworthiness, such that bearded faces are judged as more attractive than clean-shaven faces in some studies , Dixson, Lee, Blake, Jasienska, & Marcinkowska, 2018Stower et al., 2020), but not others (Dixson & Brooks, 2013;Dixson, Tam, & Awasthy, 2013;Gray et al., 2020;Muscarella & Cunningham, 1996;Neave & Shields, 2008;Valentova, Varella, Bártová,Štěrbová, & Dixson, 2017), while facial hair increases perceptions of trustworthiness in several studies (Bakmazian, 2014;Guido, Peluso, & Moffa, 2011;Mittal & Silvera, 2021;but see Fetscherin, Tantleff-Dunn, & Klumb, 2020). ...
... In a similar vein, many studies into women's preferences for male chest and trunk hair have revealed that hairless stimuli are judged as more attractive than hirsute stimuli across cultures ; Dixson et al., 2019). Studies quantifying women's preferences for men's beards are also mixed, so that beards were rated most attractive by women in some studies (Dixson et al., 2017a(Dixson et al., ,2017b while clean-shaven faces were most attractive in others (Dixson & Vasey, 2012, Gray et al., 2020Valentova et al., 2017). Thus, masculine facial shape, beardedness, and body hair may not to consistently enhance men's attractiveness to women. ...
Evolution via sexual selection has driven variation in the evolution of remarkably diverse ornaments. Sexually attractive traits can be visual, olfactory, tactile, and auditory. This contribution discusses sexual attractiveness in visually conspicuous and sexually dimorphic traits, drawing on examples from nonhuman primates in order to understanding how sexual selection has shaped attractive physical attractiveness in humans.
... Mate choice investigations in humans usually report traits and behavior preferences [1][2][3]. However, the rejection of negative physical traits was possibly a relevant decision for our ancestors: for example, rejecting traits that indicate compromising health aspects, poor hygiene, or low reproductive potential [4]. ...
Investigations on mate choice in humans frequently report preferences, but there is little knowledge about what is important for rejection by a potential mate. The present study aims to verify if facial asymmetry and facial disharmony have an influence on mate rejection by men. We hypothesized that more asymmetric and disharmonious faces would be more rejected. For this purpose, photographs of women's faces were presented in pairs by self-declared heterosexual men. It was requested they reject one of the faces as a potential mate for a long-term relationship. Women's faces were also analyzed to measure facial asymmetry and facial disharmony. We used a linear mixed model to evaluate the effect of the cited metrics on each face's number of rejections. We found that the female metrics influenced mate rejection only if associated with male age and income. The older participants rejected female partners with asymmetric faces. We suggest that aging makes men more demanding in mate choices, at least considering facial asymmetry. We concluded that rejection could be a key variable in mate choice studies, but further research is needed to clarify its effects.
... The data also suggest that homosexualidentifying men prefer men's masculine faces in general. Homosexual men preferred, on average, masculine physical characteristics in their ideal partners (Zheng & Zheng, 2015), partners of equal height or those taller than themselves (Varella Valentova et al., 2016), lowpitched voices (Valentová et al., 2013), hairier features (Valentova et al., 2017), and masculine faces (Petterson et al., 2015). Bailey et al. (1997) made several suggestions about the reasons that a preference for more masculine partner characteristics in homosexual relationships may be similar to or different from those in heterosexual relationships. ...
Frequent consumption of sexually explicit material (SEM) on the internet may influence attitudes toward sex (e.g., sociosexuality), and sociosexuality may influence people's preferences for potential partners' facial dimorphism. However, few studies have focused on the association between dimorphism preference and pornography consumption, and fewer have examined it in heterosexual‐identifying and homosexual‐identifying men. A total of 234 heterosexual‐identifying and 133 homosexual‐identifying men were asked to respond to questions regarding their preferences toward facial dimorphism, sociosexual orientation, and frequency of viewing SEM. Frequency of SEM consumption was related to sociosexuality and preference for potential partners' sex‐typical facial features, sociosexuality worked as a full mediator in this relationship, and similar mediating associations were found among heterosexual‐identifying and homosexual‐identifying men. The results identified associations between consumption of pornographic material and sexual dimorphic preference for the first time. Findings suggest not only that homosexual‐identifying men prefer masculinity in same‐sex partners but also that the sexual script theory that pornographic material consumption may influence men's short‐term relationship orientation among sexual minorities and under a conservative sexual culture. This study contributes to the understanding of the preference for facial dimorphism from a perspective on social learning and mate choice.
... This allowed to test whether the expression of preferences was driven by the own biological sex or by the sex of a potential partner who attraction is directed at. Results largely agreed that the directionality of attraction makes little difference to the expression of partner preferences, which are more strongly influenced by the own sex (Challacombe & Perdomo, 2021;Gobrogge et al., 2007;Kenrick et al., 1995;Lawson et al., 2014;Lippa, 2007;Lucas et al., 2011;Petterson et al., 2018;Valentova et al., 2017). However, while the directionality of sexual attraction may offer insights into the dependence of partner preferences into how one's own biological sex and the sex of a potential partner, it does not probe the broader role that sexual attraction as a psycho-biological mechanism plays for the maintenance of sex differences in partner preferences. ...
Sex differences in mate preferences are ubiquitous, having been evidenced across generations and cultures. Their prevalence and persistence have compellingly placed them in the evolutionarily adaptive context of sexual selection. However, the psycho-biological mechanisms contributing to their generation and maintenance remain poorly understood. As such a mechanism, sexual attraction is assumed to guide interest, desire, and the affinity toward specific partner features. However, whether sexual attraction can indeed explain sex differences in partner preferences has not been explicitly tested. To better understand how sex and sexual attraction shape mate preferences in humans we assessed how partner preferences differed across the spectrum of sexual attraction in a sample of 479 individuals that identified as asexual, gray-sexual, demisexual or allosexual. We further tested whether romantic attraction predicted preference profiles better than sexual attraction. Our results show that sexual attraction accounts for highly replicable sex differences in mate preferences for high social status and financial prospects, conscientiousness, and intelligence; however, it does not account for the enhanced preference for physical attractiveness expressed by men, which persists even in individuals with low sexual attraction. Instead, sex differences in physical attractiveness preference are better explained by the degree of romantic attraction. Furthermore, effects of sexual attraction on sex differences in partner preferences were grounded in current rather than previous experiences of sexual attraction. Taken together, the results support the idea that contemporary sex differences in partner preferences are maintained by several psycho-biological mechanisms that evolved in conjunction, including not only sexual but also romantic attraction.
... This study being conducted in the Indian Context reiterates similar findings. In this regard, it is important to note that preferences for beardedness is mostly context-dependent (Dixson, Rantala & Brooks, 2019;Valentova et al., 2017). ...
... All images had clothing and backgrounds removed and presented on a grey background (Fig. 1). See 37,56,57 for further details about the creation and validation of this image set and 37,43,44,58,59,60 for previous ratings of these stimuli. ...
Human visual systems have evolved to extract ecologically relevant information from complex scenery. In some cases, the face in the crowd visual search task demonstrates an anger superiority effect, where anger is allocated preferential attention. Across three studies (N = 419), we tested whether facial hair guides attention in visual search and influences the speed of detecting angry and happy facial expressions in large arrays of faces. In Study 1, participants were faster to search through clean-shaven crowds and detect bearded targets than to search through bearded crowds and detect clean-shaven targets. In Study 2, targets were angry and happy faces presented in neutral backgrounds. Facial hair of the target faces was also manipulated. An anger superiority effect emerged that was augmented by the presence of facial hair, which was due to the slower detection of happiness on bearded faces. In Study 3, targets were happy and angry faces presented in either bearded or clean-shaven backgrounds. Facial hair of the background faces was also systematically manipulated. A significant anger superiority effect was revealed, although this was not moderated by the target’s facial hair. Rather, the anger superiority effect was larger in clean-shaven than bearded face backgrounds. Together, results suggest that facial hair does influence detection of emotional expressions in visual search, however, rather than facilitating an anger superiority effect as a potential threat detection system, facial hair may reduce detection of happy faces within the face in the crowd paradigm.
... Compared to clean-shaven states, beards increase ratings of masculinity, age, social dominance, and aggressiveness Nelson et al., 2019), potentially by enhancing underlying masculine facial structure and jaw size (Dixson et al., 2017a;Mefodeva et al., 2020;Sherlock et al., 2017) Why then do men remove such a prominent cue of sexual maturity and masculinity? Women's mate preferences for bearded partners vary considerably across studies (Gray et al., 2020;Valentova et al., 2017), and there is no evidence that facial hair is more attractive among women at the periovulatory phase measured using questionnaires (Dixson & Brooks, 2013;Dixson et al., 2013;Dixson & Rantala, 2016) and hormonally (Dixson et al., 2018a, b). Instead, patterns in facial hair styles in London from 1842 to 1971 showed peaks in the popularity of beardedness during years with fewer women than men in the marriage market (Barber, 2001), possibly reflecting that men groom their facial hair in response to the degree of beardedness among their contemporaries. ...
... Although partner preferences can influence actual partner choices (and vice versa, Kučerová, Csajbók, & Havlíček, 2018), previous research shows some discrepancy between ideal and actual partners in personality and physical characteristics in heterosexual individuals (Courtiol, Picq, Godelle, Raymond, & Ferdy, 2010;Valentova et al., 2016a, c) and also in non-heterosexual men and women (Valentova et al., a,b,c, 2017. For example, non-heterosexual men prefer slightly more beard than their actual partners have, and non-heterosexual women prefer narrower waists than their partners have . ...
Human sexual orientation is an intriguing phenomenon which is still poorly understood and has important evolutionary implications. Evolutionary based studies mostly focus on heterosexual individuals and relationships, probably because non-heterosexuality concerns a minority of the population and decreases individual direct reproductive success. To better understand human nature, it is important to analyse whether the mating psychology of minorities exhibit specific evolved sexual/reproductive strategies. Here we review studies on partner preferences, mate choice, and flirting in non-heterosexual populations, to identify which patterns are similar to or different from heterosexuals. The general pattern supports the notion that sex differences are larger than within sex variation among people of different sexual orientations. However, although some mating strategies among non-heterosexuals resemble heterosexuals of the same sex, others resemble heterosexuals of the opposite sex, and yet in others, the pattern is different than among either heterosexual men or women. We point to limitations of the current state of this research, and we suggest possible future directions in the study of non-heterosexual relationship initiation.
... Although partner preferences can influence actual partner choices (and vice versa, Kučerová, Csajbók, & Havlíček, 2018), previous research shows some discrepancy between ideal and actual partners in personality and physical characteristics in heterosexual individuals (Courtiol, Picq, Godelle, Raymond, & Ferdy, 2010;Valentova et al., 2016a, c) and also in non-heterosexual men and women (Valentova et al., a,b,c, 2017. For example, non-heterosexual men prefer slightly more beard than their actual partners have, and non-heterosexual women prefer narrower waists than their partners have . ...
Human sexual orientation is an intriguing phenomenon which is still poorly understood and has important evolutionary implications. Evolutionary based studies mostly focus on heterosexual individuals and relationships, probably because non-heterosexuality concerns a minority of the population and decreases individual direct reproductive success. To better understand human nature, it is important to analyse whether the mating psychology of minorities exhibit specific evolved sexual/reproductive strategies. Here we review studies on partner preferences, mate choice, and flirting in non-heterosexual populations, to identify which patterns are similar to or different from heterosexuals. The general pattern supports the notion that sex differences are larger than within sex variation among people of different sexual orientations. However, although some mating strategies among non-heterosexuals resemble heterosexuals of the same sex, others resemble heterosexuals of the opposite sex, and yet in others, the pattern is different than among either heterosexual men or women. We point to limitations of the current state of this research, and we suggest possible future directions in the study of non-heterosexual relationship initiation.
... It is possible that women's preferences associated with male facial hair are distinctly contextdependent (e.g. Dixson, Rantala, & Brooks, 2019;Stower et al., 2019;Valentova et al., 2017). However, these contexts are not emphasized in the present study. ...
Researchers have found that men's facial hair may have certain signaling functions connected with intrasexual competition and intersexual attractiveness. The interesting issue is whether men's and women's preferences for men's facial hair may be considered a reflection of their intuitive knowledge about these functions. The aim of the presented studies was to analyze women's and men's preferences regarding men's facial hair using questions with a dichotomous answer format (Study 1 and Study 2) and pictorial stimuli (Study 2). In both studies, women were asked to indicate their preferences for men's facial hair. Men were asked to report preferences for facial hair in themselves and in other men, as well as to report their actual appearance of facial hair. The results showed that women's preferences for men's facial hair were ambiguous, while men preferred facial hair for themselves and had a lower inclination to prefer facial hair in other men. It suggests that men may be aware of some aspects of signaling functions of facial hair, especially these connected with intrasexual competition.
... Indeed, individuals' use of mate retention is strongly associated with their partners' displays of mate retention, such that individuals tend to reciprocate both cost-inflicting and benefit-provisioning strategies (Shackelford et al. 2005;Welling et al. 2012). The principle of homogamy (positive assortative mating; see Valentova et al. 2017) suggests that individuals tend to mate with partners that are similar to themselves in several attributes from perceived attractiveness (Little et al. 2006) to personality traits (Kardum et al. 2017). Thus, homogamy is also likely to explain a similar use of mate-retention strategies between partners. ...
This study investigated whether relationship satisfaction mediates the association between own and perceived partner mate-retention strategies and commitment. One hundred and fifty individuals (Mage = 23.87, SDage = 7.28; 78.7% women) in a committed relationship participated in this study. We found an association between perceived partner mate-retention strategies and commitment and that relationship satisfaction mediated this link. Similarly, we found that relationship satisfaction also mediated the association between individuals’ own cost-inflicting strategies and commitment. Specifically, perceived partner benefit-provisioning strategies are positively associated with commitment through increased relationship satisfaction and, conversely, both perceived partner and own cost-inflicting strategies are negatively associated with commitment through decreased relationship satisfaction. Additionally, we observed that relationship satisfaction moderated the association between perceived partner cost-inflicting strategies and participants’ own frequency of cost-inflicting strategies. That is, participants’ cost inflicting strategies are associated with their partner’s cost inflicting strategies, such that this association is stronger among individuals with higher relationship satisfaction. The current research extends previous findings by demonstrating that the association between perceived partner and own mate-retention strategies and commitment is mediated by relationship satisfaction. Additionally, we showed that an individual’s expression of mate retention is associated with their perception of the strategies displayed by their partner, which also depends on relationship satisfaction.
... In this study, we only analyzed heterosexual participants because of the study design but also did not have enough data for a separate analysis of homosexual mate choice, in both, men and women. However, this aspect is also important, because individual differences and preferences in homosexual mate choice have been rarely studied (for examples see Kenrick et al., 1995;Valentova et al., 2017) and, to our knowledge, never in relation to morningness/ eveningness. Individuals whom identify as non-heterosexual may possess similar evolved psychological mechanisms that guide their mating preferences and behaviors. ...
Chronotype influences the success of mate choice. Evening types reproducibly report higher mating success than morning types. In this study, we directly assessed the reasons for these advantages, hypothesizing the degree of choosiness a person has concerning mate choice being causal. A total of N = 1247 (male = 440/female = 807) heterosexuals participated in an experiment. We defined two facets of choosiness: attractiveness rating and dating desire. Participants rated the attractiveness of opposite sex stimuli and indicated whether they had a desire to date the stimuli or not. Morningness in males correlated with a higher attractiveness-rating and dating desire, while results of evening-orientated males, and females in general were not significant. The causes of higher mating success in eveningness remains unclear. Unexpectedly, we showed that eveningness is related to a higher choosiness.
... Questionnaires were then completed online using the Qualtrics platform. The study was part of a larger project on partner preferences Valentova et al. 2016aValentova et al. , 2016bValentova et al. , 2017aValentova et al. , 2017b and the whole procedure therefore took around 40 min. The respondents were not reimbursed for their participation. ...
Evidence suggests that personality may influence romantic relationship quality in several ways. Quality of relationship can be affected by an individual's personality (actor effect), partner's personality (partner effect), by discrepancy between ideal and actual partners' personalities (discrepancy effect), or by similarity between partners' personalities (similarity effect). Most studies, however, focus on just one of these effects, their results are often ambiguous, and based on western populations. We tested all these effects at once in individuals from two distinct populations: Brazil and the Czech Republic. In total, 626 individuals in a long-term committed relationship completed the Ten-Item Personality Inventory for their own, actual, and ideal partner, and the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Hierarchical categorical regression analyses showed that the actor and partner effect contributed significantly, although weakly, to dyadic adjustment, while the impact of discrepancy and similarity was negligible. Explained variance was around 10% for the actor effect, around 30% jointly for actor and partner effects, and around 40% jointly for actor, partner, discrepancy, and similarity effects. The overall results were similar for both studied populations. Importantly, all reported effect sizes are small, which suggests that other factors contribute to dyadic adjustment more substantially.
... Although cross-cultural and historic variation in male facial hair displays is recognized (Oldstone-Moore 2017), the scholarly literature has focused on the cultural West, with a few exceptions such as a sample of Polynesian women in Samoa who rated male facial hair (Dixson and Vasey 2012) or a comparison showing that Brazilian women preferred more facial hair than Czech women (Valentova et al. 2017). This is one motivation for the present study including evaluations of male facial hair in a sample from India and from the US. ...
Objective
The objective of this study was to address the putative ancestral social signaling value of male facial hair, in concert with variable cultural meaning. The ability to grow facial hair might have served as an honest ancestral signal of male age, social dominance, strength and health. Male facial hair may also have had signaling value for attractiveness, though these might be less strong than effects tied to male-male competition. Male facial hair can also be modified, giving rise to cultural variation in its potential signaling function.Methods
We surveyed N = 252 US men and women and N = 280 Indian men and women, ages 18–25, about sociodemographics and attitudes toward male facial hair. Participants rated a randomized series of nine images of a composite male model with facial hair with respect to: preferred style, estimated age, attractive to potential partners, assertive, physically strong, friendly, and healthy. Types of facial hair were group into three categories: clean shaven, partial (e.g., Van Dyke, soul patch, stubble) and beard.ResultsSupporting hypothesized differences, results show that more male facial hair was positively associated with age estimates and negatively with friendliness, and positively related to assertiveness and physical strength. Supporting hypotheses, women preferred less facial hair and rated less facial hair as more attractive. Some sample differences arose, such as Indian participants perceiving greater age range estimates than US respondents.Conclusion
These data indicate patterned variation in evaluations of male facial hair that can be situated within an evolutionary and culturally evolved signaling framework.
... Facial hair unambiguously communicates age, sexual maturity, and masculinity (Dixson et al. 2017c;Neave and Shields 2008), which may explain why women rate men with beards as most attractive when judging long-term relationships (Neave and Shields 2008;) and fathering abilities (Clarkson et al. 2020;Dixson and Brooks 2013;Dixson et al. 2019b;Stower et al. 2019). Women's stated preferences for men's facial hair are reflected in mate choices Štěrbová et al. 2019;Valentova et al. 2017) and are strongest under socio-economic conditions of high male intrasexual competition (Barber 2001;Dixson et al. 2017cDixson et al. , 2019a. ...
Objectives
Intra-sexual selection has shaped the evolution of sexually dimorphic traits in males of many primates, including humans. In men, sexual dimorphism in craniofacial shape (i.e. facial masculinity) and facial hair have both been shown to communicate aspects of social and physical dominance intra-sexually. However, less attention has been given to how variation in physical and social dominance among receivers impacts on perceptions of facial masculinity and beards as intra-sexual signals of formidability.Methods
In the current study, male participants (N = 951) rated male faces varying in masculinity and beardedness when judging masculinity, dominance and aggressiveness. These participants also responded to scales measuring their psychological dominance, sexual jealousy, status seeking, and masculine morphology (facial masculinity, facial hair, and height).ResultsBeardedness exerted strong effects over clean-shaven faces on ratings of masculinity, dominance, and aggressiveness. Trait ratings of masculinity, dominance, and aggressiveness rose linearly with increasing craniofacial masculinity. The significant facial masculinity × facial hair interaction suggests that beardedness caused strong effects on all trait ratings over clean-shaven faces at every level of facial masculinity. Participants with full beards also reported higher scores on dominance and assertiveness scales. Participants high in dominance and assertiveness also gave higher ratings for dominance, but not masculinity or aggressiveness, to bearded over clean-shaven faces. Participants low in intra-sexual jealousy rated clean-shaven and/or feminised faces as less dominant, less masculine, and less aggressive.Conclusions
These findings demonstrate that facial hair enhances perceptions of masculinity, dominance, and aggressiveness above ratings of facial masculinity, potentially by augmenting masculine craniofacial features. Individual differences in intra-sexual dominance showed associations with judgments of facial hair but not facial masculinity. Our study demonstrates that when two sexually dimorphic androgen dependent facial traits are judged in concert, ornamental rather than structural masculine facial features underpin men’s intra-sexual judgments of formidability.
... Previous empirical evidence indicates homogamy in partner preference in gay men. Gay men prefer potential partners who are similar to themselves in personality ( Štěrbová et al., 2017), height ( Valentova et al., 2014Valentova et al., , 2016, and beardedness ( Valentova et al., 2017). Gay men prefer masculine men, and preference for masculinity may be related to the participants' own levels of masculinity ( Bailey et al., 1997). ...
This study examined the association between mental rotation ability and facial masculinity preference in gay and bisexual men in China. The participants (436 gay/bisexual men, 132 heterosexual men, and 254 heterosexual women) completed an online Shepard and Metzler-type mental rotation task and a forced-choice preference task of 10 pairs of masculinized/feminized male faces. The results revealed that mental rotation ability was significantly associated with preference for masculinized faces in both gay and bisexual men. There were no significant correlations between mental rotation ability and facial masculinity preference in both heterosexual men and women. The findings imply homogamy in partner preference in gay and bisexual men in terms of masculinity.
... In our study, we employed two sets of participants using sampling in one South American and one Central European population (Brazil and Czech, respectively), which differ widely as to their history, culture, ethnicity, and demographic data, and which both also differ from Western European and North American societies. Moreover, these populations also differ in several body measures, such as height and weight (e.g., Varella et al., 2014;Valentova et al., 2016), facial and body hair in men (Valentova et al., 2017b), while self-rated breast size, buttock size, and WHR in women is the same in both (Valentova et al., 2017a). Furthermore, Brazilian population reports a significantly higher sociosexuality than the Czech population (Varella et al., 2014). ...
Perceived vocal attractiveness and measured sex-dimorphic vocal parameters are both associated with underlying individual qualities. Research tends to focus on speech but singing is another highly evolved communication system that has distinct and universal features with analogs in other species, and it is relevant in mating. Both speaking and singing voice provides relevant information about its producer. We tested whether speech and singing function as “backup signals” that indicate similar underlying qualities. Using a sample of 81 men and 86 women from Brazil and the Czech Republic, we investigated vocal attractiveness rated from speech and singing and its association with fundamental frequency (F0), apparent vocal tract length (VTL), body characteristics, and sociosexuality. F0, VTL, and rated attractiveness of singing and speaking voice strongly correlated within the same individual. Lower-pitched speech in men, higher-pitched speech and singing in women, individuals who like to sing more, and singing of individuals with a higher pitch modulation were perceived as more attractive. In men, physical size positively predicted speech and singing attractiveness. Male speech but not singing attractiveness was associated with higher sociosexuality. Lower-pitched male speech was related to higher sociosexuality, while lower-pitched male singing was linked to lower sociosexuality. Similarly, shorter speech VTL and longer singing VTL predicted higher sociosexuality in women. Different vocal displays function as “backup signals” cueing to attractiveness and body size, but their relation to sexual strategies in men and women differs. Both singing and speech may indicate evolutionarily relevant individual qualities shaped by sexual selection.
... However, other studies do not confirm this pattern. For example, preferences for body and facial hair were stronger among gay men compared to heterosexual women (Valentova, Varella, Bártová, Štěrbová, & Dixson, 2017). Heterosexual men perceived a woman's face as sexually desirable due to its feminine characteristics. ...
We present the results of the first study exploring whether perceptions of tattooed men may be influenced by sexual orientation. We asked heterosexual women (n=2,436) and men (n=230), and lesbian women (n=50) and gay men (n=60) to rate nine photos of male models with the provisos that at least one image had a digitally added tattoo and participants would not evaluate the same model in both tattooed and non-tattooed versions. Heterosexual men and women rated tattooed men as more masculine, dominant, and aggressive; however, only heterosexual men rated tattooed men as more attractive. While gay men perceived tattooed men as less attractive, more dominant, and more aggressive, no significant differences in perception were observed for lesbian women. We also explored whether sexual orientation moderated the relationship between attractiveness and tattooed men’s perceived masculinity, dominance, and aggression. Perceived aggression was related to lower perceived attractiveness among gay men, but higher perceived attractiveness among heterosexual women. This study demonstrates that the perception of tattooed men’s attractiveness is associated with the assessment of their masculinity, dominance, and aggression. These associations are influenced by both gender and sexual orientation of participants. Our results suggest that the sexual orientation of participants should be taken into account in studies investigating attractiveness perceptions.
... Nevertheless, this finding can be frequency-dependent and feminine-male tactic seems to work better in contexts characterized by an overall lower male femininity, such as Brazil, where it has been shown that men are more masculine than their Czech counterparts at least in some dimensions of femininity/masculinity (e.g. facial and body hair; Valentova, Varella, Bártová, Štěrbová, & Dixson, 2017a). ...
Sociosexuality, i.e. individual's willingness to engage in uncommitted sex, is systematically higher in men than in women, and can be considered a male typical trait. However, intrasexual variation in sociosexuality is considerable , with individual femininity/masculinity being one of the factors influencing sociosexuality. The aim of our study was to test, in heterosexual and homosexual men and women from Brazil and the Czech Republic, whether childhood gender nonconformity (CGN) and continuous gender identity in adulthood (CGI) are associated with individual sociosexual orientation (SOI-R). A sample of 1336 heterosexual and homosexual men and women completed questionnaires on CGN, CGI, and SOI-R. In general, correlations show that higher masculinity in heterosexual women and higher femininity in both heterosexual and homosexual men are related to higher sociosexuality. Higher sociosexuality in masculine women can be explained by prenatal or actual androgen effects on sexual libido and can reflect a fast life history strategy. In feminine men, this result might reflect female preferences for feminine characteristics in men and an overall shift towards male femininity which can increase individual fitness. Also, gender nonconforming individuals can be more liberal adopting behaviors which are considered as non-traditional. This study challenges the widely association between masculinity and unrestricted sociosexuality.
... Participants then indicated if they were pregnant, how many children they had and their children's ages (in years and months), and if they currently use hormonal contraceptives. We removed 25 participants who did not report their age and a further 65 participants for either not reporting their sexual orientation or for reporting homosexual sexual preferences, as sexual orientation impacts on face preferences (Petterson et al., 2016;Petterson et al., 2015;Petterson et al., 2018) (Petterson, including facial hair (Valentova et al., 2017). A further 274 participants were removed for not completing the face ratings in the survey. ...
Mating strategy theories assert that women's preferences for androgen dependent traits in men are stronger when the costs of reduced paternal investment are lowest. Past research has shown that preferences for facial masculinity are stronger among nulliparous and non-pregnant women than pregnant or parous women. In two studies, we examine patterns in women's preferences for men's facial hair - likely the most visually conspicuous and sexually dimorphic of men's secondary sexual traits - when evaluating men's masculinity, dominance, age, fathering, and attractiveness. Two studies were conducted among heterosexual pregnant women, mothers, non-contractive and contraceptive users. Study 1 used a between-subjects sample (N = 2103) and found that mothers had significantly higher preferences for beards when judging fathering than all other women. Pregnant women and mothers also judged beards as more masculine and older, but less attractive, than non-contractive and contraceptive users. Parous women judged beards higher for age, masculinity and fathering, but lower for attractiveness, than nulliparous women. Irrespective of reproductive status, beards were judged as looking more dominant than clean-shaven faces. Study 2 used a within-subjects design (N = 53) among women surveyed during pregnancy and three months post-partum. Judgments of parenting skills were higher for bearded stimuli during pregnancy among women having their first baby, whereas among parous women parenting skills judgments for bearded stimuli were higher post-partum. Our results suggest that mothers are sensitive to beardedness as a masculine secondary sexual characteristic that may denote parental investment, providing evidence that women's mate preferences could reflect sexual selection for direct benefits.
... Among younger (2-5 years) and older (6-9 years) children, we hypothesized that beards would reduce judgments of male attractiveness but would enhance judgments of age and masculinity and dominance. We also hypothesized that children with bearded fathers, or who interact with male acquaintances with facial hair, would judge beards more favorably on dimensions of attractiveness and parenting abilities as social exposure to beardedness has been shown to influence how adults judge facial hair Janif, Brooks, & Dixson, 2014;Valentova, Varella, Bártová, Štěrbová, & Dixson, 2017). As beard growth emerges during adolescence (Randall, 2008), we predicted that physical attractiveness judgments and sensitivity to emerging formidability and social dominance should become more adult-like from early to late adolescence, leading in young adulthood. ...
Adults use features such as facial hair to judge others' social dominance and mate value, but the origin of these judgments is unknown. We sought to determine when these associations develop, which associations develop first, and whether they are associated with early exposure to bearded faces. We presented pairs of bearded and clean-shaven faces to children (2–17 years old; N = 470) and adults (18–22 years; N = 164) and asked them to judge dominance traits (strength, age, masculinity) and mate choice traits (attractiveness, parenting quality). Young children associated beardedness with dominance traits but not mate choice traits. This pattern became more extreme during late childhood and gradually shifted toward adult-like responses during early adolescence. Responses for all traits were adult-like in late adolescence. Finally, having a bearded father was associated with positive judgments of bearded faces for mate choice traits in childhood and both mate choice and dominance traits in adolescence.
... First, other factors, such as symmetry (Mogilski & Welling, 2017) or the amount of facial hair (e.g. Valentova, Varella, Bártová, Štěrbová, & Dixson, 2017), could have influenced third-party ratings of male faces. This could explain the lack of association between subjective perceptions of facial FM and facial shape. ...
Femininity-masculinity affects perceived attractiveness and indicates biosocial qualities. Physiological and morphological femininity-masculinity is primarily influenced by reproductive hormones; however, its perception is mediated biopsychosocially, and it is not clear if self- and other-rated femininity-masculinity is associated. We examined possible associations between self-rated, other-rated, and measured femininity-masculinity and attractiveness of faces, voices, and behavior (dance) in a target sample of 41 women and 38 men, aged 18–35 years, from Brazil. We took their facial photos, recorded voices and dancing behavior, and we measured sexual dimorphism of facial shape, vocal fundamental frequency, and performed behavioral analysis of the videos. These participants self-rated their facial, vocal, and behavioral femininity-masculinity and attractiveness. Sixty-four (43 women) and 51 (28 women) Brazilian students, aged 18–35 years, independently rated facial, vocal and behavioral femininity-masculinity and attractiveness, respectively, of the target sample. In general, men's self-rated femininity-masculinity and attractiveness correlated with third-party ratings. Male voice pitch correlated with self- and other-rated femininity-masculinity. In women, there was no association between self-ratings and third-party ratings, or between self-ratings and objective measures of femininity-masculinity. Women's subjective perceptions thus do not reflect perceptions of others or objective measures. Studies using different measures of attractiveness or femininity-masculinity should thus reflect upon this discrepancy.
... Some research discusses the positive correlation between self-perceived attractiveness and masculinity preference in the domain of faces (Kandrik & DeBruine, 2012;Little et al., 2001), while other studies explore it in the domain of voice Vukovic et al., 2008); the results are highly consistent. Moreover, research has demonstrated that mate preferences and actual choices are different because actual partners do not reach ideal standards and choices will be influenced by other realistic factors (Valentova, S ˇ těr- bová, Bártová, & Varella, 2016;Valentova, Varella, Bártová, S ˇ těrbová, & Dixson, 2017). Future research should replicate the association between gay men's self-rated attractiveness and their masculinity preference in other domains, such as body, olfaction, and personality characteristics, or in integrating them when forming attractiveness judgments and mate preferences; the association between mate value and actual mate choice will be an especially meaningful topic. ...
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.
... We ran a survey that screened participants for sex, age, and sexual orientation for which participants received $0.05USD. Sexual orientation is a significant predictor of women's preferences for facial hair (Valentova, Varella, Bártová, Štěrbová, & Dixson, 2017) and facial masculinity (Glassenberg et al., 2010;Petterson, Dixson, Little, & Vasey, 2015, 2016, 2018. Thus, we retained the contact information of those participants who were women, heterosexual (0 or 1 on the Kinsey scale), and who were 18-44 years of age. ...
According to the dual mating strategy model, in short-term mating contexts women should forego paternal investment qualities in favor of mates with well-developed secondary sexual characteristics and dominant behavioral displays. We tested whether this model explains variation in women’s preferences for facial masculinity and beardedness in male faces. Computer-generated composites that had been morphed to appear ± 50% masculine were rated by 671 heterosexual women (M age = 31.72 years, SD = 6.43) for attractiveness when considering them as a short-term partner, long-term partner, a co-parent, or a friend. They then completed the Revised Sociosexual Inventory (SOI-R) to determine their sexual openness on dimensions of desire, behavior, and attitudes. Results showed that women’s preferences were strongest for average facial masculinity, followed by masculinized faces, with feminized faces being least attractive. In contrast to past research, facial masculinity preferences were stronger when judging for co-parenting partners than for short-term mates. Facial masculinity preferences were also positively associated with behavioral SOI, negatively with desire, and were unrelated to global or attitudinal SOI. Women gave higher ratings for full beards than clean-shaven faces. Preferences for beards were higher for co-parenting and long-term relationships than short-term relationships, although these differences were not statistically significant. Preferences for facial hair were positively associated with global and attitudinal SOI, but were unrelated to behavioral SOI and desire. Although further replication is necessary, our findings indicate that sexual openness is associated with women’s preferences for men’s facial hair and suggest variation in the association between sociosexuality and women’s facial masculinity preferences.
... Following previous research33 , participants under 18 years (N = 101) or over 40 years (N = 699) of age were removed as peri-pubertal and postmenopausal women judge masculine faces differently[73][74][75] . Preferences for masculine traits also vary with sexual orientation[76][77][78][79][80] . Thus, participants who did not report being exclusively heterosexual were also removed (N = 1510). ...
... Following previous research 33 , participants under 18 years (N = 101) or over 40 years (N = 699) of age were removed as peri-pubertal and postmenopausal women judge masculine faces differently [73][74][75] . Preferences for masculine traits also vary with sexual orientation [76][77][78][79][80] . Thus, participants who did not report being exclusively heterosexual were also removed (N = 1510). ...
The strength of sexual selection on secondary sexual traits varies depending on prevailing economic and ecological conditions. In humans, cross-cultural evidence suggests women’s preferences for men’s testosterone dependent masculine facial traits are stronger under conditions where health is compromised, male mortality rates are higher and economic development is higher. Here we use a sample of 4483 exclusively heterosexual women from 34 countries and employ mixed effects modelling to test how social, ecological and economic variables predict women’s facial masculinity preferences. We report women’s preferences for more masculine looking men are stronger in countries with higher sociosexuality and where national health indices and human development indices are higher, while no associations were found between preferences and indices of intra-sexual competition. Our results show that women’s preferences for masculine faces are stronger under conditions where offspring survival is higher and economic conditions are more favorable.
... Women preferred clean-shaven men in a New Zealand and US sample where attractiveness declined as hirsuteness increased (Dixson et al. 2010). Brazilian and Czech women preferred clean-shaven and light body-haired men (Valentova et al. 2017), and similar findings for hairless chests have been found in Turkish and Slovakian women (Prokop et al. 2012(Prokop et al. , 2013. In a study investigating different categories of hirsuteness in a Hispanic sample (i.e., clean shaven, facial hair, chest hair, and facial and chest hair), Garza et al. (2017) did not find any significant differences in attractiveness ratings between hirsuteness categories. ...
Physical characteristics, such as a V-shaped torso and body hair, are visually salient information that reflect a potential mate’s immunocompetence, status, and reproductive potential (Dixson et al. 2014; Singh 1994), and are thus often desired by women. Recently, the use of eye tracking in attraction research has demonstrated that visual patterns are behavioral indices of interest in a potential mate. Two studies investigated women’s visual perception of men’s attractiveness across different phases of the menstrual cycle (i.e., low vs. high fertility) while manipulating hair distribution across waist to chest ratios. In study 1 (N = 83), men with low (0.7) waist to chest ratios were rated as more attractive, and women focused most of their visual attention to the upper region of the body (i.e., head and midriff). There were no differences in visual attention as a function of fertility status. Study 2 (N = 53) replicated the findings from study 1 and found support for visual differences across the menstrual cycle using progesterone. Women viewed the head region (i.e., face) longer and took more time viewing men in general during the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle (low progesterone) compared to the nonfertile phase (high progesterone). Study 2 also showed that visual attention to the head and chest region was influenced by short-term mating orientation. The findings add to the existing literature on visual attention and attraction, and they contribute new findings in determining differences in visual perception across the menstrual cycle and mating orientation in women.
... Women preferred clean-shaven men in a New Zealand and US sample where attractiveness declined as hirsuteness increased (Dixson et al. 2010). Brazilian and Czech women preferred clean-shaven and light body-haired men (Valentova et al. 2017), and similar findings for hairless chests have been found in Turkish and Slovakian women (Prokop et al. 2012(Prokop et al. , 2013. In a study investigating different categories of hirsuteness in a Hispanic sample (i.e., clean shaven, facial hair, chest hair, and facial and chest hair), Garza et al. (2017) did not find any significant differences in attractiveness ratings between hirsuteness categories. ...
Physical characteristics, such as a V-shaped torso and body hair, are visually salient information that reflect a potential mate’s immunocompetence, status, and reproductive potential (Dixson et al. 2014; Singh 1994), and are thus often desired by women. Recently, the use of eye tracking in attraction research has demonstrated that visual patterns are behavioral indices of interest in a potential mate. Two studies investigated women’s visual perception of men’s attractiveness across different phases of the menstrual cycle (i.e., low vs. high fertility) while manipulating hair distribution across waist to chest ratios. In study 1 (N = 83), men with low (0.7) waist to chest ratios were rated as more attractive, and women focused most of their visual attention to the upper region of the body (i.e., head and midriff). There were no differences in visual attention as a function of fertility status. Study 2 (N = 53) replicated the findings from study 1 and found support for visual differences across the menstrual cycle using progesterone. Women viewed the head region (i.e., face) longer and took more time viewing men in general during the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle (low progesterone) compared to the nonfertile phase (high progesterone). Study 2 also showed that visual attention to the head and chest region was influenced by short-term mating orientation. The findings add to the existing literature on visual attention and attraction, and they contribute new findings in determining differences in visual perception across the menstrual cycle and mating orientation in women.
... This approach can be used to study the effects of some factors, e.g. physical properties, sexual orientation, and cultural or family background (Courtiol, Picq, Godelle, Raymond, & Ferdy, 2010;DeBruine et al., 2006;Sterbova et al., 2018;Valentova, Varella, Bartova, Sterbova, & Dixson, 2017); however, it is less suitable for investigations of other, more variable factors (fertility, partnership and parenthood status). Moreover, such 'realised preferences' are determined not only by the subjects' mating preferences, but also by other external factors, such as availability and mating preferences of the partners with the preferred properties (DeBruine et al., 2006). ...
The issue with most studies concerned with mate selection preferences in humans is that they rely on declarations and rational actions of experimental subjects, which are affected by their pre-conceived opinions and prejudices. Moreover, current research suggests that subcortical structures and processes, rather than the neocortex, play the principal role in actual partner choice behaviour. Consequently, we have only limited information on how relevant our current knowledge is in relation to real-life human ethology. To address these issues, we surveyed 2718 women and 4073 men between the ages of 16–50 and compared their declared and observed preferences for various properties in short-term and long-term partners. We found differences between what the subjects declared to prefer and what they preferred in reality: for example, men declared that wealth was the second least desirable property out of eleven in short-term partners, but we observed that in reality, they considered wealth the third most important factor after charisma and sense of humour. Similarly, while women declared that dominance and masculinity were desirable properties in short-term partners, in the observational part of the study, they showed little preference for these traits. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of the phase of the menstrual cycle, hormonal contraception, pregnancy, and partnership and parenthood status on these preferences. We found some support for the good parents hypothesis and no support for the good genes and the immunocompetence handicap hypotheses when observed, rather than declared preferences were considered. We also detected that hormonal contraception, and parenthood and partnership status influenced declared preferences in considerable ways, but had only a small, if any, impact on observed preferences. We suggest interpreting the results of studies reliant on declarations and rational actions of experimental subjects with great caution.
... This approach can be used to study the 138 effects of some factors, e.g. physical properties, sexual orientation, and cultural or family background (Courtiol, 139 Picq, Godelle, Raymond, & Ferdy, 2010;DeBruine et al., 2006;140 Sterbova et al., 2018;Valentova, Varella, Bartova, Sterbova, & Dixson, 2017); however, it is less suitable for 141 investigations of other, more variable factors (fertility, partnership and parenthood status). Moreover, such 142 ...
Bacground. The issue with most studies concerned with mate selection preferences in humans is that they rely on declarations and rational actions of experimental subjects, which are affected by their pre-conceived opinions and prejudices. Moreover, current research suggests that subcortical structures and processes, rather than the neocortex, play the principal role in actual partner choice behaviour. Consequently, we have only limited information on how relevant our current knowledge is in relation to real-life human ethology. Methods. To address these issues, we surveyed 2,718 women and 4,073 men between the ages of 16-50 and compared their declared and observed preferences for various properties in short-term and long-term partners. Results . We found differences between what the subjects declared to prefer and what they preferred in reality: for example, men declared that wealth was the second least desirable property out of eleven in short-term partners, but we observed that in reality, they considered wealth the third most important factor after charisma and sense of humour. Similarly, while women declared that dominance and masculinity were desirable properties in short-term partners, in the observational part of the study, they showed little preference for these traits. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of the phase of the menstrual cycle, hormonal contraception, pregnancy, and partnership and parenthood status on these preferences. We found some support for the good parents hypothesis and no support for the good genes and the immunocompetence handicap hypotheses when observed, rather than declared preferences were considered. We also detected that hormonal contraception, and parenthood and partnership status influenced declared preferences in considerable ways, but had only a small, if any, impact on observed preferences. Discussion. We suggest interpreting the results of studies reliant on declarations and rational actions of experimental subjects with great caution.
How face perceptions unfold during ontogeny shapes how humans navigate adult social life. A vast literature implicates variation in sexually dimorphic facial characteristics in guiding judgments relating to suites of key life choices, ranging from partner choices to preferences for leaders. Although growing evidence supports that facial morphology underpins children's first impressions from faces, whether these impressions influence children's predictions about others' behaviour remains unclear. We contrasted the influence of men's facial hair, a highly sexually dimorphic masculine trait, on children's explicit (Who looks strong/trustworthy) vs. implicit first impressions (Who do you want to tell your secret to/fight dragons?). While reading a storybook, children (N = 80; 4.5-12.0 years) and adults (N = 134), selected one of two twins (two images of the same identity, one bearded and one clean-shaven) to help them face a challenge requiring either a trustworthy or a dominant social partner. In control tasks, participants selected the strongest and most trustworthy member of each pair and then pointed to which face regions informed their decision. In the implicit task, both the probability of selecting a bearded partner and differential selection of bearded partners as a function of relevant trait increased with age. Selections in the explicit task were more adult-like and age-related changes in which facial cues participants used was surprisingly small. Thus, adult-like patterns in predicting other's behaviour based on facial cues to trustworthiness and dominance lag behind adult-like patterns in inferring traits based on facial cues, potentially because first impressions are of unreliable.
This chapter primarily covers the nonverbal expression of sexual interest in cisgender, heterosexual individuals, from their libidinal urges to their post-sex behaviors, with a major focus on flirtation. The focus on flirtation necessitates consideration of the theoretical frameworks and methodological issues that might elucidate, cloud, or distort a true understanding of this domain of scientific inquiry. In part 1, a new framework for defining and discussing gender differences in the human courtship sequence (e.g., expressions of sexual interest or flirting) is offered. In part 2, historical and contemporary research pertaining to how sexual interest is nonverbally expressed and gender differences in the same are discussed in the following areas: sex drive; flirtation; sexual arousal; consent to sex; sex activity; the orgasm gap; and post-copulation. Findings pertaining to non-heterosexual individuals are integrated within each of the covered areas, unless they were extensive enough to warrant separate treatment, which was the case with flirtation and sexual consent.
Self-resemblance refers to couples with similar characteristics, also known as homogamy or positive assortative mating. Previous studies have indicated that heterosexual men and women prefer partners with similar facial features. In this study, we examined whether Chinese gay men preferred self-resemblance to faces. The participants (N = 70) completed a personal information questionnaire and preference selection task involving 10 pairs of self-resembling/control male faces. Ten pairs of self-resembling/control male faces of each participant were also rated by another gay man. The results revealed that the proportion of the participants who chose self-resembling faces was significantly higher than that of the control faces. However, the preference for "self-resembling" and control faces by other-rating was not significantly different. These findings indicate homogeneity in facial preferences among gay men.
Studies have indicated that people are attracted to partners who resemble themselves or their parents, in terms of physical traits including eye color. We might anticipate this inclination to be relatively stable, giving rise to a sequential selection of similar partners who then represent an individual’s “type”. We tested this idea by examining whether people’s sequential partners resembled each other at the level of eye color. We gathered details of the eye colors of the partners of participants (N = 579) across their adult romantic history (N = 3250 relationships), in three samples, comprising two samples which made use of self-reports from predominantly UK-based participants, and one which made use of publicly available information about celebrity relationship histories. Recorded partner eye colors comprised black (N = 39 partners), dark brown (N = 884), light brown (N = 393), hazel (N = 224), blue (N = 936), blue green (N = 245), grey (N = 34), and green (N = 229). We calculated the proportion of identical eye colors within each participant’s relationship history, and compared that to 100,000 random permutations of our dataset, using t-tests to investigate if the eye color of partners across an individual’s relationship history was biased relative to chance (i.e., if there was greater consistency, represented by higher calculated proportions of identical eye colors, in the original dataset than in the permutations). To account for possible eye color reporting errors and ethnic group matching, we ran the analyses restricted to White participants and to high-confidence eye color data; we then ran the analyses again in relation to the complete dataset. We found some limited evidence for some consistency of eye color across people’s relationship histories in some of the samples only when using the complete dataset. We discuss the issues of small effect sizes, partner-report bias, and ethnic group matching in investigating partner consistency across time.
Este livro foi pensado para ser um primeiro texto introdutório às bases ecológicas e evolutivas do comportamento humano, voltado para o ensino ao nível de graduação. Embora cada capítulo possa ser lido em qualquer ordem, organizamos de modo que a sequência sugerida permita ao aprofundamento paulatino dos diferentes conceitos e disciplinas dedi- cadas aos estudos do comportamento humano.
As a physicist, my scientific career was interrupted by maternity, and afterward retaken, with a parallel independent personal perspective on human evolution. My previous published contributions are reanalyzed as Hypothesis and Theory. The focus is on safe infant carrying in primates, sexual selection among Hominoidea, fur reduction in hominins, and tensile properties of hominoid hairs, justifying the necessary change to bipedal locomotion from the overwhelming selective pressure of infant survival. The Discussion starts with analysis of existing bias against acceptance of these new ideas, first with rational arguments on bias existing between Exact Sciences and Biological Sciences. A reanalysis of data on elasticity of hominoid hairs is made, based on published differences between statistical analysis of measurements in exact and inexact sciences. A table constructed from the original data on hair elasticity allows a simplified discussion, based on statistics used in Physics in the study of “known samples,” adding extra information to the available data. Published data on hair density in primates and mammals allow the conclusion that hair elastic properties might have evolved correlated to the pressure of safe carrying of heavy infants, with an upper limit of 1 kgf/cm² for safe infant clinging to primate mother’s hair. The Discussion enters then on the main ideological bias, related to the resistance in the academy to the idea that bipedalism could be connected to a “female problem,” that means, that it was not a “male acquisition.” Tripedal walk, occurring naturally among African Apes carrying their newborns, unable to support themselves by ventral clinging, is the natural candidate leading to evolution of bipedal locomotion. Tripedal walk as an intermediate stage to bipedalism was in fact theoretically proposed, but ignoring its role in primate transportation by ape mothers. The Discussion proceeds to a proposal of phylogenetic evolution of Hominoids, the usual focus on the males changes to the role of females with infants, allowing an integrated view on Hominin evolution, with fur reduction and thermoregulation of the naked skin, with subcutaneous insulating fat layer. The model for earliest hominin social structures is based on huddle formation and hormonally defined rites of passage.
Sexual imprinting refers to the phenomena where an individual's mate selection behavior is influenced by the characteristics of their parents in the early stages of life. Previous studies revealed that heterosexual men and women prefer partners with personality traits similar to their opposite-sex parents, indicating the sexual imprinting effects in personality preferences. This study aims to examine whether there are sexual imprinting effects on partner preferences for personality traits in gay men. We tested whether parent-child relationship in childhood (before 12 years old) and/or adolescence (12–18 years old) moderated the sexual imprinting effects. Participants (N = 311) were asked to assess their parents' and ideal partner's Big Five personality traits and gender roles, respectively. The parent-child relationships in childhood and adolescence were also assessed. The results revealed that gay men's ideal partner's traits were similar to their fathers' traits for emotional stability, similar to their mothers' traits for agreeableness and openness, and similar to both their fathers' and mothers' traits for conscientiousness. The ideal partners' gender roles were similar to both mothers' and fathers' instrumentality and expressiveness. The relationship quality with the mother in childhood modulated the mating effects in conscientiousness and expressiveness. The relationship quality with the father in adolescence modulated the mating effects in masculine instrumentality. The findings indicated the sexual imprinting effects on partner preference for personality traits in gay men and both father's and mother's personality traits in shaping gay's partner preference.
42 American participants which included heterosexual Indian American men, Pakistani American men, and one biracial American man as well as heterosexual women and LGBTQI+ individuals who are romantically attracted to men, with the exception of one lesbian American woman, were interviewed in order to answer two major questions. Participants were asked how Indian American and Pakistani American men are portrayed in American television shows, films, news outlets, and politics. In order to answer that question, the participants were asked what Indian American and Pakistani American characters from television shows and films they remember from their childhood up until now. Then the participants were asked to discuss their in-depth perceptions of each character. Participants were also asked how Indian American and Pakistani American men are discussed in American politics and in news outlets. After answering those questions, participants were asked to reveal if these media portrayals have affected their general perceptions of Indian American and Pakistani American men in real-life.
Asking participants about their general perception of Indian American and Pakistani American men tied into the second major question of this thesis which was whether or not Indian American and Pakistani American male representation in American television shows, films, news, and politics affects heterosexual females and people from LGBTQI+ community’s romantic attraction toward Indian American and Pakistani American men. Based on participant’s responses, this thesis argues that the oversimplification or even gross misrepresentation of Indian American and Pakistani American men in television shows, films, news, and politics does make it more difficult for Indian American and Pakistani American men to obtain romantic relationships with heterosexual women and LGBTQI+ individuals.
The strength and direction of sexual selection via female choice on masculine facial traits in men is a paradox in human mate choice research. While masculinity may communicate benefits to women and offspring directly (i.e. resources) or indirectly (i.e. health), masculine men may be costly as long-term partners owing to lower paternal investment. Mating strategy theory suggests women's preferences for masculine traits are strongest when the costs associated with masculinity are reduced. This study takes a multivariate approach to testing whether women's mate preferences are context-dependent. Women (n = 919) rated attractiveness when considering long-term and short-term relationships for male faces varying in beardedness (clean-shaven and full beards) and facial masculinity (30% and 60% feminized, unmanipulated, 30% and 60% masculinized). Participants then completed scales measuring pathogen, sexual and moral disgust, disgust towards ectoparasites, reproductive ambition, self-perceived mate value and the facial hair in partners and fathers. In contrast to past research, we found no associations between pathogen disgust, self-perceived mate value or reproductive ambition and facial masculinity preferences. However, we found a significant positive association between moral disgust and preferences for masculine faces and bearded faces. Preferences for beards were lower among women with higher ectoparasite disgust, providing evidence for ectoparasite avoidance hypothesis. However, women reporting higher pathogen disgust gave higher attractiveness ratings for bearded faces than women reporting lower pathogen disgust, providing support for parasite-stress theories of sexual selection and mate choice. Preferences for beards were also highest among single and married women with the strongest reproductive ambition. Overall, our results reflect mixed associations between individual differences in mating strategies and women's mate preferences for masculine facial traits.
Desirable characteristics of “opposite sex others,” such as physical attractiveness and economic status, can influence how individuals are judged, and this is different for men and women. However, under various social contexts where cues of higher or lower economic status is suggested, sex differences in judgments related to mate choice have not been fully explored. In two studies, ratings of economic status and attractiveness were quantified for male and female targets that were presented under various social contexts. Study 1 assessed judgments (n = 1,359) of images of nine male and nine female targets in different sized groups containing only opposite-sex others (i.e., group size). While we found no significant effects of group size on male and female attractiveness, target female economic status increased when surrounded by two or more men. An ad hoc analysis controlling for the attire of the targets (business or casual) found that the association between target female economic status and group size occurred when females were in business attire. Study 2 investigates this effect further by presenting images of 12 males and 12 females, in higher and lower status attire (i.e., business and casual clothing) and measured judgments of attractiveness and economic status among women and men (n = 1,038). Consistent with the results of Study 1, female economic status was only affected when women were in business attire. However, female economic status decreased when in the presence of other men in business attire. There were no sex differences in judgments of economic status when judging stimuli in casual attire. Additionally, negative associations between attractiveness and economic status were found for males presented in casual attire. We discuss these results in the light of evolutionary sexual conflict theory by demonstrating how the asymmetrical importance of status between men and women can influence mate choice judgments.
The ovulatory shift hypothesis proposes that women's preferences for masculine physical and behavioral traits are greater at the peri-ovulatory period than at other points of the menstrual cycle. However, many previous studies used self-reported menstrual cycle data to estimate fecundability rather than confirming the peri-ovulatory phase hormonally. Here we report two studies and three analyses revisiting the ovulatory shift hypothesis with respect to both facial masculinity and beardedness. In Study 1, a large sample of female participants (N = 2,161) self-reported their cycle phase and provided ratings for faces varying in beardedness (clean-shaven, light stubble, heavy stubble, full beards) and masculinity (-50%, -25%, natural, +25% and +50%) in a between-subjects design. In Study 2, 68 women provided the same ratings data, in a within-subjects design in which fertility was confirmed via luteinising hormone (LH) tests and analysed categorically. In Study 2, we also measured salivary estradiol (E) and progesterone (P) at the low and high fertility phases of the menstrual cycle among 36 of these women and tested whether shifts in E, P or E:P ratios predicted face preferences. Preferences for facial masculinity and beardedness did not vary as predicted with fecundability in Study 1, or with respect to fertility as confirmed via LH in Study 2. However, consistent with the ovulatory shift hypothesis, increasing E (associated with cyclical increases in fecundability) predicted increases in preferences for relatively more masculine faces; while high P (associated with cyclical decreases in fecundability) predicted increases in preferences for relatively more feminine faces. We also found an interaction between E and preferences for facial masculinity and beardedness, such that stubble was more attractive on un-manipulated than more masculine faces among women with high E. We consider discrepancies between our findings and those of other recent studies and suggest that closer scrutiny of the stimuli used to measure masculinity preferences across studies may help account for the many conflicting findings that have recently appeared regarding cycle phase preference shifts for facial masculinity.
On average, gay men are somewhat feminine and lesbians somewhat masculine, but there is variation within each group. The authors examined the consequences of this variation for gay men's and lesbians’ desirability as romantic partners. In 2 studies the authors analyzed personal advertisements. Homosexual people were more likely than heterosexual people to mention traits related to sex typicality and more likely to request sex-typical than sex-atypical partners. In 2 studies the authors assessed partner preferences directly. On average, gay men preferred men who described themselves as masculine rather than feminine, but this preference was weaker among men who rated themselves as relatively feminine. Lesbians preferred women who described themselves as feminine looking but did not discriminate against women calling themselves masculine acting. The authors discuss implications of the results for theories of sexual orientation and the adjustment of sex-atypical homosexual people.
The main aims of this study were to test the similarity of masculinity-femininity in long-term, male, same-sex couples from the Czech Republic and to examine whether this similarity predicts higher relationship satisfaction. In study 1, participants (N = 30) and their partners completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) and the Childhood gender nonconformity scale (CGN). In Study 2, participants (N = 40) and their partners completed DAS and the Gender Diagnosticity scale (GD). Results showed that the partners were no more alike than individuals paired at random in their CGN, but greater similarity in CGN between partners increased Dyadic Cohesion (r = -.41 [-.71, -.02]) and Affectional Expression (r = -.38 [-.60, -.13]). Our results add to previous evidence showing that the degree of similarity in homosexual couples increased relationship satisfaction. Although, on average, homosexual men were not coupled on the basis of homogamy in gender roles, their relationship satisfaction is linked to the gender egalitarian model rather than to the gender stratified one. Thus, a widespread stereotype suggesting that same-sex partners are divided by different gender roles seems to be, at least in our sample from a Western society, rather incorrect.
In many species, male secondary sexual traits have evolved via female choice as they confer indirect (i.e. genetic) benefits or direct benefits such as enhanced fertility or survival. In humans, the role of men's characteristically masculine androgen-dependent facial traits in determining men's attractiveness has presented an enduring paradox in studies of human mate preferences. Male-typical facial features such as a pronounced brow ridge, a more robust jawline may signal underlying health while beards may signal men's age and masculine social dominance. However, masculine faces are judged as more attractive for short-term relationships over less masculine faces, while beards are judged as more attractive than clean-shaven faces for long-term relationships. Why such divergent effects occur between preferences for two sexually dimorphic traits remains unresolved. In the present study, we used computer graphic manipulation to morph male faces varying in facial hair from clean-shaven, light stubble, heavy stubble and full beards to appear more (+25% and +50%) or less (-25% and -50%) masculine. Women (N=8520) were assigned to treatments wherein they rated these stimuli for physical attractiveness in general, for a short-term liaison or a long-term relationship. Results showed a significant interaction between beardedness and masculinity on attractiveness ratings. Masculinized and, to an even greater extent, feminized faces were less attractive than unmanipulated faces when all were clean-shaven, and stubble and beards dampened the polarising effects of extreme masculinity and femininity. Relationship context also had effects on ratings, with facial hair enhancing long-term, and not short-term, attractiveness. Effects of facial masculinisation appears to have been due to small differences in the relative attractiveness of each masculinity level under the three treatment conditions and not to any change in the order of their attractiveness. Our findings suggest that beardedness may be attractive when judging long-term relationships as a signal of intra-sexual formidability and the potential to provide direct benefits to females. More generally, our results hint at a divergence of signalling function, which may result in a subtle trade-off in women's preferences, for two highly sexually dimorphic androgen-dependent facial traits. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Sexual dimorphism in facial shape and beardedness are salient human secondary sexual traits that enhance perceptions of men’s social dominance. The majority of this evidence, however, comes from studies measuring explicit ratings. To our knowledge, few studies have tested whether facial masculinity and beardedness are implicitly associated with dominance. In the current study, we use a within-subjects design to test whether facial masculinity and beardedness drive implicit reactions and overt ratings of male dominance. Participants viewed stimuli depicting the same men when clean-shaven, with heavy stubble, and fully bearded that were morphed to be either more masculine or less masculine using computer graphic software. Participants completed an affective priming word categorisation task as well as explicit ratings of social dominance. No facilitation effects were observed for masculinised or bearded faces on implicit judgements relating to dominance. In contrast, results revealed that masculinized versions of clean-shaven, stubbled and fully bearded faces received higher explicit dominance ratings than feminized versions. However, the effects of facial masculinity were largest within clean-shaven stimuli and decreased as faces became more hirsute, suggesting that facial masculinity had diminishing returns on dominance ratings. Our results support a role for masculine facial shape and beardedness in explicit, but not implicit, judgments of dominance among men.
In many non Western cultures, same-sex attracted males are markedly feminine in terms of their gender role presentation and are recognized as members of a “third” gender. These third gender males engage in sexual activity with masculine males who are recognized as men. The sexual orientation of these masculine men remains an open question. Using a Samoan sample (N = 100), the current study employed measures of self-report and viewing time (a measure that assesses sexual interest based on the length of time individuals attend to stimuli images presented on a computer screen) to examine differences in patterns of sexual attraction among: (a) men who only engage in sexual interactions with women, (b) men who engage in sexual activity with third gender males (known locally as fa’afafine) but only receive fellatio, (c) men who both perform and receive fellatio with their fa’afafine sexual partner(s), and (d) fa’afafine, themselves. Inferential statistical analyses were used to compare groups. Our results indicate that these groups are distributed on a scale of sexual attraction ranging from primarily attracted to women to primarily attracted to men, respectively. These results suggest that male sexual orientation is a continuous trait, is tied to sexual activity role, and its expression is influenced by culture. Moreover, the present study highlights the importance of conducting quantitative, experimental research in non-Western cultures so as to garner a more comprehensive understanding of those aspects of sexuality that are universal and those that are cross-culturally variable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
The traditional assumption within the research literature on human sexually dimorphic traits has been that many sex differences
have arisen from intersexual selection. More recently, however, there has been a shift toward the idea that many male features,
including male lower-pitched voices and male beard growth, might have arisen predominantly through intrasexual selection:
that is, to serve the purpose of male–male competition instead of mate attraction. In this study, using a unique set of video
stimuli, we measured people’s perceptions of the dominance and attractiveness of men who differ both in terms of voice pitch
(4 levels from lower to higher pitched) and beard growth (4 levels from clean shaven to a month’s hair growth). We found a
nonlinear relationship between lower pitch and increased attractiveness; men’s vocal attractiveness peaked at around 96 Hz.
Beard growth had equivocal effects on attractiveness judgments. In contrast, perceptions of men’s dominance simply increased
with increasing masculinity (i.e., with lower-pitched voices and greater beard growth). Together, these results suggest that
the optimal level of physical masculinity might differ depending on whether the outcome is social dominance or mate attraction.
These dual selection pressures might maintain some of the documented variability in male physical and behavioral masculinity
that we see today.
Facial and body hair are some of the most visually conspicuous and sexually dimorphic of all men's secondary sexual traits. Both are androgen dependent, requiring the conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone via the enzyme 5α reductase 2 for their expression. While previous studies on the attractiveness of facial and body hair are equivocal, none have accounted as to how natural variation in their distribution may influence male sexual attractiveness. In the present study, we quantified men's facial and body hair distribution as either very light, light, medium, or heavy using natural photographs. We also tested whether women's fertility influenced their preferences for beards and body hair by comparing preferences among heterosexual women grouped according their fertility (high fertility, low fertility, and contraceptive use). Results showed that men with more evenly and continuously distributed facial hair from the lower jaw connecting to the mustache and covering the cheeks were judged as more sexually attractive than individuals with more patchy facial hair. Men with body hair were less attractive than when clean shaven, with the exception of images depicting some hair around the areolae, pectoral region, and the sternum that were significantly more attractive than clean-shaven bodies. However, there was no effect of fertility on women's preferences for men's beard or body hair distribution. These results suggest that the distribution of facial and body hair influences male attractiveness to women, possibly as an indication of masculine development and the synthesis of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone via 5α reductase.
Women's preferences for masculine versus feminine male faces are highly variable. According to a dominant theory in evolutionary psychology, this variability results from adaptations that optimize preferences by calibrating them to certain contextual factors, including women's self-perceived attractiveness, short- versus long-term relationship orientation, pathogen disgust sensitivity, and stage of the menstrual cycle. The theory does not account for the possible contribution of genetic variation on women's facial masculinity preference. Using a large sample (N = 2,160) of identical and nonidentical female Finnish twins and their siblings, we showed that the proportion of variation in women's preferences regarding male facial masculinity that was attributable to genetic variation (38%) dwarfed the variation due to the combined effect of contextual factors (< 1%). These findings cast doubt on the importance of these context-dependent effects and may suggest a need for refocusing in the field toward understanding the wide genetic variation in these preferences and how this variation relates to the evolution of sexual dimorphism in faces.
This study examined preferences for masculinity across faces, bodies, and personality traits in 462 homosexual and bisexual men in China. The impact of sexual self-labels (tops, bottoms, and versatiles) and attitude toward male masculinity on preferences for masculinity were also examined. Participants were asked to select the seven most desirable personality traits for a romantic partner from a list of 32 traits of gender roles. A series of 10 masculinized and feminized dimorphic images of male faces and bodies were then presented to participants, who were required to identify their preferred image. The results indicated that participants preferred more masculine faces, bodies, and personality traits. Significant differences in preferences for masculinity were found between tops, bottoms, and versatiles, with both bottoms and versatiles preferring more masculine faces, bodies, and personality traits than did tops. In addition, preferences for masculinity across faces, bodies, and traits showed a significant positive correlation with each other for all sexual self-labels, indicating a consistent preference for masculinity. Attitude toward male masculinity was significantly correlated with facial, body, and trait preferences; individuals with more rigid attitudes toward male masculinity (low acceptance of femininity in males) preferred more masculine characters. These results indicate a consistent preference for masculinity between both physical features (faces and bodies) and personality traits (instrumentality) that may be affected by observer perception.
The beard is a strikingly sexually dimorphic androgen-dependent secondary sexual trait in humans. Darwin posited that beards
evolved in human ancestors via female choice as a highly attractive masculine adornment. Others have since proposed that beards
evolved as a signal of male status and dominance. Here, we show that women from two very different ethnic groups, Europeans
from New Zealand and Polynesians from Samoa, do not rate bearded male faces as more attractive than clean-shaven faces. Women
and men from both cultures judge bearded faces to be older and ascribe them higher social status than the same men when clean-shaven.
Images of bearded men displaying an aggressive facial expression were also rated as significantly more aggressive than the
same men when clean-shaven. Thus, the beard appears to augment the effectiveness of human aggressive facial displays. These
results are consistent with the hypothesis that the human beard evolved primarily via intrasexual selection between males
and as part of complex facial communication signaling status and aggressiveness.
Sexual dimorphism in ornamentation in primates may have been sexually selected as signals of rank and dominance to males or by augmenting attractiveness to females. While male primates display tremendous variation in secondary sexual traits, such as sexual skin, capes of hair, and beards, which are often attributed to sexual selection, their phylogenetic distribution remains to be fully understood. Here we investigate the hypothesis that sexual dimorphism in ornaments is more pronounced in larger more ‘anonymous’ social organizations where quick reliable assessment of male quality, social status, dominance, and aggressiveness are selective pressures. Multiple regression analyses, including phylogenetic correction, were performed on 154 species representing 45 genera of simian primates. We found a positive relationship between degree of ornamental dimorphism and group size, even after controlling for other independent variables such as habitat type (i.e. openness of terrain) and fission-fusion dynamics. Dimorphism was also significantly associated with social organization, so that males from species with multilevel social organizations had the highest ratings for ornamentation. In sum, our analysis suggests that among primates with larger group sizes and multilevel social organizations, males have more developed visually conspicuous secondary sexual traits. This may reflect selection for amplified signals of individual identity, rank, dominance, or attractiveness in large and complex social organizations wherein social and physical conflict may arise frequently and individual recognition is limited.
An individual’s fitness depends not only on their phenotype but also on the phenotypes of their competitors and contemporaries. Sexual attractiveness may be strongly influenced by an individual’s familiarity to potential mates or the rarity of the individual’s phenotype. Such effects can cause negative frequency-dependent selection, maintaining striking polymorphisms in ornamentation. Here we test whether preferences for women’s hair color, which is highly polymorphic between European populations, reflects patterns of positive or negative frequency-dependence. We assigned each participant to one of four experimental treatments in which we manipulated the frequency of hair colors in a set of 18 images presented consecutively. The four treatments were: blond hair rare, brown hair rare, red hair rare and an even distribution of the three hair colors. Following immediately on from this experimental phase, participants rated the same set of 9 faces, 3 with each hair color. Results showed that the experimental manipulation of hair color frequency did not significantly influence hair-color attractiveness. However, there were sex differences in ratings: men rated blond hair as most sexually attractive and women rated both blond and brown hair equally as attractive as red hair. Self-reported natural hair color had weak but significant effects on hair color preferences, but these effects disappeared when we restricted analyses to participants of European descent only. Our findings do not support the hypothesis that men’s preferences for women’s hair color are negative frequency-dependent, favoring rare hair colors.
Androphilia refers to attraction to adult males, whereas gynephilia refers to attraction to adult females. The current study employed self-report and viewing time (response time latency) measures of sexual attraction to determine the sexual orientation of Samoan cisgender men (i.e., males whose gender presentation and identity is concordant with their biological sex) who engage in sexual interactions with transgender male androphiles (known locally as fa’afafine) compared to: (1) Samoan cisgender men who only engage in sexual interactions with women, and (2) fa’afafine. As expected, both measures indicated that cisgender men who only engaged in sexual interactions with women exhibited a gynephilic pattern of sexual attraction, whereas fa’afafine exhibited an androphilic one. In contrast, both measures indicated that cisgender men who engaged in sexual interactions with fa’afafine demonstrated a bisexual pattern of sexual attraction. Most of the cisgender men who exhibited bisexual viewing times did not engage in sexual activity with both men and women indicating that the manner in which bisexual patterns of sexual attraction manifest behaviorally vary from one culture to the next.
Women's preferences for masculine traits are reported to be greater among young reproductively capable women, particularly just prior to ovulation, than among pregnant and postmenopausal women. This study is the first to investigate whether women's preferences for men's facial hair follow this pattern. We conducted surveys quantifying reproductive status and attractiveness ratings for facial hair (clean-shaven, light stubble, heavy stubble, and full beards) among 426 women from Wellington City, New Zealand Results showed that pregnant, pre- and postmenopausal women rated faces that were clean-shaven, or with light and heavy stubble, as more attractive than full beards. Postmenopausal women gave higher scores for all degrees of facial hair, including full beards, than premenopausal and pregnant women. Premenopausal women at the high fertility phases of the menstrual cycle gave higher ratings for heavy stubble than participants at the low fertility phase or who were using contraceptives. However, these differences were not statistically significant, and the main effects were driven primarily by the low ratings ascribed to full beards. Women with partners that were clean-shaven judged clean-shaven faces as most attractive, whereas women with partners with heavy stubble or full beards judged heavy stubble as most attractive. Although women's current partner and father's degree of beardedness were positively correlated, their fathers' beardedness showed little relationship to attractiveness judgments of facial hair. These results demonstrate that all women by no means consider beards unattractive. However, preferences vary only subtly with respect to hormonal, reproductive, and relationship status.
Significance
It is a popular assumption that certain perceptions—for example, that highly feminine women are attractive, or that masculine men are aggressive—reflect evolutionary processes operating within ancestral human populations. However, observations of these perceptions have mostly come from modern, urban populations. This study presents data on cross-cultural perceptions of facial masculinity and femininity. In contrast to expectations, we find that in less developed environments, typical “Western” perceptions are attenuated or even reversed, suggesting that Western perceptions may be relatively novel. We speculate that novel environments, which expose individuals to large numbers of unfamiliar faces, may provide novel opportunities—and motives—to discern subtle relationships between facial appearance and other traits.
Previous studies on face preferences have found that online and laboratory experiments yield similar results with samples from developed countries, where the majority of the population has internet access. No study has yet explored whether the same holds true in developing countries, where the majority of the population does not have internet access. This gap in the literature has become increasingly important given that several online studies are now using cross-country comparisons. We therefore sought to determine if an online sample is representative of the population in the developing country of El Salvador. In studies of Hispanic men and women aged 18-25, we tested facial masculinity and adiposity preferences by collecting data in person as well as online. Our results showed that there were no differences in preferences between people who reported having internet access, whether they were tested online or in person. This provides evidence that testing style does not bias preferences among the same population. On the other hand, our results showed multiple differences in preferences between people who reported having internet access and people who reported not having internet access. More specifically, we found that people without internet access preferred more feminine men, more masculine women, and women with higher adiposity than people with internet access. We also found that people without internet access had fewer resources (e.g. running water) than people with internet access, suggesting that harshness in the environment may be influencing face preferences. These findings suggest that online studies may provide a distorted perspective of the populations in developing countries.
Negative frequency-dependent sexual selection maintains striking polymorphisms in secondary sexual traits in several animal species. Here, we test whether frequency of beardedness modulates perceived attractiveness of men's facial hair, a secondary sexual trait subject to considerable cultural variation. We first showed participants a suite of faces, within which we manipulated the frequency of beard thicknesses and then measured preferences for four standard levels of beardedness. Women and men judged heavy stubble and full beards more attractive when presented in treatments where beards were rare than when they were common, with intermediate preferences when intermediate frequencies of beardedness were presented. Likewise, clean-shaven faces were least attractive when clean-shaven faces were most common and more attractive when rare. This pattern in preferences is consistent with negative frequency-dependent selection.
Scientific interest in whether women experience changes across the ovulatory cycle in mating-related motivations, preferences, cognitions, and behaviors has surged in the past 2 decades. A prominent hypothesis in this area, the ovulatory shift hypothesis, posits that women experience elevated immediate sexual attraction on high- relative to low-fertility days of the cycle to men with characteristics that reflected genetic quality ancestrally. Dozens of published studies have aimed to test this hypothesis, with some reporting null effects. We conducted a meta-analysis to quantitatively evaluate support for the pattern of cycle shifts predicted by the ovulatory shift hypothesis in a total sample of 134 effects from 38 published and 12 unpublished studies. Consistent with the hypothesis, analyses revealed robust cycle shifts that were specific to women's preferences for hypothesized cues of (ancestral) genetic quality (96 effects in 50 studies). Cycle shifts were present when women evaluated men's "short-term" attractiveness and absent when women evaluated men's "long-term" attractiveness. More focused analyses identified specific characteristics for which cycle shifts were or were not robust and revealed areas in need of more research. Finally, we used several methods to assess potential bias due to an underrepresentation of small effects in the meta-analysis sample or to "researcher degrees of freedom" in definitions of high- and low-fertility cycle phases. Neither type of bias appeared to account for the observed cycle shifts. The existence of robust relationship context-dependent cycle shifts in women's mate preferences has implications for understanding the role of evolved psychological mechanisms and the ovulatory cycle in women's attractions and social behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
Previous research has shown repeatedly that human stature influences mate preferences and mate choice in heterosexuals. In general, it has been shown that tall men and average height women are most preferred by the opposite sex, and that both sexes prefer to be in a relationship where the man is taller than the woman. However, little is known about such partner preferences in homosexual individuals. Based on an online survey of a large sample of non-heterosexual men (N = 541), we found that the majority of men prefer a partner slightly taller than themselves. However, these preferences were dependent on the participant's own height, such that taller men preferred shorter partners, whereas shorter men preferred taller partners. We also examined whether height preferences predicted the preference for dominance and the adoption of particular sexual roles within a couple. Although a large proportion of men preferred to be in an egalitarian relationship with respect to preferred dominance (although not with respect to preferred sexual role), men that preferred a more dominant and more "active" sexual role preferred shorter partners, whereas those that preferred a more submissive and more "passive" sexual role preferred taller partners. Our results indicate that preferences for relative height in homosexual men are modulated by own height, preferred dominance and sex role, and do not simply resemble those of heterosexual women or men.
The kin selection hypothesis posits that male androphilia (male sexual attraction to adult males) evolved because androphilic males invest more in kin, thereby enhancing inclusive fitness. Increased kin-directed altruism has been repeatedly documented among a population of transgendered androphilic males, but never among androphilic males in other cultures who adopt gender identities as men. Thus, the kin selection hypothesis may be viable if male androphilia was expressed in the transgendered form in the ancestral past. Using the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS), we examined 46 societies in which male androphilia was expressed in the transgendered form (transgendered societies) and 146 comparison societies (non-transgendered societies). We analyzed SCCS variables pertaining to ancestral sociocultural conditions, access to kin, and societal reactions to homosexuality. Our results show that ancestral sociocultural conditions and bilateral and double descent systems were more common in transgendered than in non-transgendered societies. Across the entire sample, descent systems and residence patterns that would presumably facilitate increased access to kin were associated with the presence of ancestral sociocultural conditions. Among transgendered societies, negative societal attitudes toward homosexuality were unlikely. We conclude that the ancestral human sociocultural environment was likely conducive to the expression of the transgendered form of male androphilia. Descent systems, residence patterns, and societal reactions to homosexuality likely facilitated investments in kin by transgendered males. Given that contemporary transgendered male androphiles appear to exhibit elevated kin-directed altruism, these findings further indicate the viability of the kin selection hypothesis.
Facial hair strongly influences people's judgments of men's socio-sexual attributes. However, the nature of these judgments is often contradictory. The levels of intermediate facial hair growth presented to raters and the stage of female raters' menstrual cycles might have influenced past findings. We quantified men's and women's judgments of attractiveness, health, masculinity and parenting abilities for photographs of men who were clean-shaven, lightly or heavily stubbled and fully bearded. We also tested the effect of the menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptive use on women's ratings. Women judged faces with heavy stubble as most attractive and heavy beards, light stubble and clean-shaven faces as similarly less attractive. In contrast, men rated full beards and heavy stubble as most attractive, followed closely by clean-shaven and light stubble as least attractive. Men and women rated full beards highest for parenting ability and healthiness. Masculinity ratings increased linearly as facial hair increased, and this effect was more pronounced in women in the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle, although attractiveness ratings did not differ according to fertility. Our findings confirm that beardedness affects judgments of male socio-sexual attributes and suggest that an intermediate level of beardedness is most attractive while full-bearded men may be perceived as better fathers who could protect and invest in offspring.
Humans are unique among primates due to a lack of typical thermally insulating fur. The ectoparasite avoidance mediated by the mate choice hypothesis suggests that the loss of body hair reduces the risk of infection by ectoparasites and that the movement toward nudity may have been enforced by parasite-mediated sexual selection. In this study, we investigated two possible predictions of this hypothesis: (1) that preferences for hairless bodies increase with exposure to environmental pathogens and (2) that disgust sensitivity to the pathogens’ threat predicts the degree to which a woman will prefer hairless bodies. Using an experiment comparing the preferences of 88 women for shaved vs. hairy pictured versions of 20 male torsos, we found that exposure to the visual cues of pathogens does not predict preferences for a male chest nor does the individual disgust sensitivity to disease-related invertebrates. Overall, the results suggest that female perception of male trunk hair is not associated with a risk of contamination, which questions the salience of the ectoparasite avoidance hypothesis in explaining the loss of body hair in humans.
Humans are unusual among mammals in appearing hairless. Several hypotheses propose explanations for this phenotype, but few data are available to test these hypotheses. To elucidate the evolutionary history of human "hairlessness," a comparative approach is needed. One previous study on primate hair density concluded that great apes have systematically less dense hair than smaller primates. While there is a negative correlation between body size and hair density, it remains unclear whether great apes have less dense hair than is expected for their body size. To revisit the scaling relationship between hair density and body size in mammals, I compiled data from the literature on 23 primates and 29 nonprimate mammals and conducted Phylogenetic Generalized Least Squares regressions. Among anthropoids, there is a significant negative correlation between hair density and body mass. Chimpanzees display the largest residuals, exhibiting less dense hair than is expected for their body size. There is a negative correlation between hair density and body mass among the broader mammalian sample, although the functional significance of this scaling relationship remains to be tested. Results indicate that all primates, and chimpanzees in particular, are relatively hairless compared to other mammals. This suggests that there may have been selective pressures acting on the ancestor of humans and chimpanzees that led to an initial reduction in hair density. To further understand the evolution of human hairlessness, a systematic study of hair density and physiology in a wide range of species is necessary. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
There are two basic theories explaining possible principles on which people are attracted to each other
and how individuals create sexual and romantic relationships. The theory of homogamy states that in their potential or
actual partners individuals prefer characteristics that are similar to themselves ("birds of a feather flock together").
One of the mechanisms that can cause homogamy in partners might be sexual imprinting. According to this theory, individuals prefer in potential partners traits that are similar to those of the opposite sex parent. In contrast, the theory of complementarity suggests that individuals are attracted to partners with traits that are opposite to their own ("opposites attract"). From an evolutionary perspective, homogamous preferences can be explained by the theory of kin selection and outbreeding depression avoidance, while pairing on the principle of complementarity is advantageous in terms of inbreeding avoidance. We will critically review these two theories – including their implications and empirical support – from the perspective of evolutionary psychology and human ethology. We will argue that principles of homogamy and complementarity are not necessarily mutually exclusive but, rather, are complementary.
Literature in evolutionary psychology suggests that mate choice has been the primary mechanism of sexual selection in humans, but this conclusion conforms neither to theoretical predictions nor available evidence. Contests override other mechanisms of sexual selection; that is, when individuals can exclude their competitors by force or threat of force, mate choice, sperm competition, and other mechanisms are impossible. Mates are easier to monopolize in two dimensional mating environments, such as land, than in three-dimensional environments, such as air, water, and trees. Thus, two-dimensional mating environments may tend to favor the evolution of contests. The two-dimensionality of the human mating environment, along with phylogeny, the spatial and temporal clustering of mates and competitors, and anatomical considerations, predict that contest competition should have been the primary mechanism of sexual selection in men. A functional analysis supports this prediction. Men's traits are better designed for contest competition than for other sexual selection mechanisms; size, muscularity, strength, aggression, and the manufacture and use of weapons probably helped ancestral males win contests directly, and deep voices and facial hair signal dominance more effectively than they increase attractiveness. However, male monopolization of females was imperfect, and female mate choice, sperm competition, and sexual coercion also likely shaped men's traits. In contrast, male mate choice was probably central in women's mating competition because ancestral females could not constrain the choices of larger and more aggressive males through force, and attractive women could obtain greater male investment. Neotenous female features and body fat deposition on the breasts and hips appear to have been shaped by male mate choice.
Studies on mate preferences usually examine heterosexual attraction; comparatively little is known about preferences of individuals whose sexuality is aimed at the same sex. We examined preferences of two groups of androphilic individuals--homosexual men and heterosexual women--for male facial and vocal level of masculinity. Facial images of 58 men and vocal recordings of 30 men were rated by 51 heterosexual women and 33 homosexual men for their attractiveness and masculinity--femininity. In both groups of raters, ratings of vocal attractiveness and masculinity were positively correlated, but there was no overall preference for facial masculinity. After splitting raters according to their relationship status, sexual restrictiveness, and self-rated masculinity, we found significant preferences for masculine voices only in single homosexual men and coupled heterosexual women, while a preference for feminine male faces was found in coupled homosexual men. Furthermore, homosexual men describing themselves as relatively masculine significantly preferred masculine voices but also more feminine male faces. Our results demonstrate that conditional mate preferences are not restricted to heterosexual interactions, and homosexual men prefer a mixture of masculine and feminine traits in their potential male partners.
Intersexual selection has been proposed as an important force in shaping a number of morphological traits that differ between human populations and/or between the sexes. Important to these accounts is the source of mate preferences for such traits, but this has not been investigated. In a large sample of twins, we assess forced-choice, dichotomous mate preferences for height, skin colour, hair colour and length, chest hair, facial hair, and breast size. Across the traits, identical twins reported more similar preferences than nonidentical twins, suggesting genetic effects. However, the relative magnitude of estimated genetic and environmental effects differed greatly and significantly between different trait preferences, with heritability estimates ranging from zero to 57%.
The psychological intersection of biological sex, personality, and sexual orientation represents a unique prospect for investigating the evolution of human mating strategies. Evolved sex differences in human psychology may encounter different mating environments within homosexual and heterosexual contexts. The personality traits of homosexuals, if different from heterosexuals, may influence human mating dynamics in revealing ways. In the current study, 5,310 men (5,083 heterosexuals, 131 homosexuals, and 96 bisexuals) and