Investigation of effect of skin tone to facial attractiveness

Abstract

Previous research has shown the perceptual importance of skin tone appearance and how it contributes to perceived facial attractiveness, yet facial-colour perceptions may vary with different ethnic groups. This research was designed to explore the cross-cultural effects of the facial skin tone on perceived attractiveness between Caucasian (CA) and Chinese (CH) observers. 80 images of real human faces were used for facial attractiveness assessment by the two groups of observers using the categorical judgment method. The results showed overall similar preference but fine-scale differences in the perception of their own-ethnic facial images and other-ethnic facial images. Both groups of observers tended to use different criteria when judging the facial tone of different ethnic groups. Our findings show the aesthetic difference of different cultures in perceptions and underline the important role of ethnic differences with respect to skin tone preference.