Do they know what they like? Intra-individual variation of female facial preferences

Abstract

Abstract Although patterns of facial preferences have been examined in many studies, the intra-individual variation in assessments of facial attractiveness has been addressed far less frequently. Here we investigated the stability of women's evaluations of real and digitally manipulated male faces at monthly and yearly intervals, and we sought determinants of the stability. The following results were obtained: (1) The stability of attractiveness assessments over a year was not lower than over a month. This suggests that between-session disparity is predominantly from factors fluctuating over time with no directional trends. (2) The breakdown of a relationship resulted in an increase in the preference for friendly looking faces. (3) The change of mood positively correlated with the change of preference for good-genes facial cues, but only in paired women. This suggests the influence of mood changes on women's readiness to cheat their long-term partner in order to “gain” good genes. (4) Women that were rela...