Hand attractiveness—its determinants and associations with facial attractiveness

Abstract

Abstract Although attractiveness of the human hand seems to be of some importance in the social and mating context, it has attracted little scientific interest thus far. Here, we investigated physical determinants of hand attractiveness and its associations with facial appeal. Photographs of faces and the dorsal and ventral side of hands of young women and men were measured and assessed for attractiveness and several other features. Typicality and femininity of shape, perceived fattiness and skin healthiness, the appearance of nail vicinity, and grooming influenced hand attractiveness in men and women. Hand and facial attractiveness were correlated with each other for each sex. This relationship was mediated by shape typicality and fattiness in men and by grooming and, possibly, fattiness in women. Results are discussed from an evolutionary psychology perspective with special reference to biological signaling and mate selection.