Female preferences for facial masculinity are probably not adaptations for securing good immunocompetence genes

Abstract

Scott et al. (2012) review and question the evidence that female choice for masculine human faces evolved to secure mates with good immunocompetence genes. We agree that empirical support for this hypothesis is limited, and wish to highlight additional statistical and theoretical reasons for scepticism based on the current state of evidence. Mate choice in most animal species, and certainly in humans, is a complex process. There are many interacting components that can influence a preference function, and this often forces researchers to develop impressive experimental manipulations and strategies for isolating covariates. As clever as these experiments are, they cannot completely resolve the tension between their subject’s complexity and the nature of the frequentist statistical paradigm in which most behavioral ecologists have been trained. Frequentist