Self-rated attractiveness predicts preferences for sexually dimorphic facial characteristics in a culturally diverse sample

Urszula M Marcinkowska,Anthony J Lee,Benedict C Jones

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-90473-3

Urszula M Marcinkowska, Anthony J Lee + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-90473-3

Copy DOI

Abstract

Individuals who are more attractive are thought to show a greater preference for facial sexual dimorphism, potentially because individuals who perceive themselves as more physically attractive believe they will be better able to attract and/or retain sexually dimorphic partners. Evidence for this link is mixed, however, and recent research suggests the association between self-rated attractiveness and preferences for facial sexual dimorphism may not generalise to non-Western cultures. Here, we assess whether self-rated attractiveness and self-rated health predict facial sexual dimorphism preferences in a large and culturally diverse sample of 6907 women and 2851 men from 41 countries. We also investigated whether ecological factors, such as country health/development and inequality, might moderate this association. Our analyses found that men and women who rated themselves as more physically attractive reported stronger preferences for exaggerated sex-typical characteristics in other-sex faces. This finding suggests that associations between self-rated attractiveness and preferences for sexually dimorphic facial characteristics generalise to a culturally diverse sample and exist independently of country-level factors. We also found that country health/development moderated the effect of men’s self-rated attractiveness on femininity preferences, such that men from countries with high health/development showed a positive association between self-rated attractiveness and femininity preference, while men from countries with low health/development showed the opposite trend.

Highlights

Individuals who are more attractive are thought to show a greater preference for facial sexual dimorphism, potentially because individuals who perceive themselves as more physically attractive believe they will be better able to attract and/or retain sexually dimorphic partners
While questions have been raised about the putative link between sexually dimorphic facial characteristics and health, multiple lines of evidence have demonstrated that men and women with feminine characteristics are perceived to possess prosocial characteristics that would be beneficial to relationships and offspring, such as trustworthiness, emotional warmth, and being a good parent[10,11]
Some researchers have suggested that correlations between self-rated attractiveness and preferences for sexually dimorphic facial characteristics could be a by-product of regional variation in face preferences and self-rated attractiveness[14,17]

Summary

Introduction

Individuals who are more attractive are thought to show a greater preference for facial sexual dimorphism, potentially because individuals who perceive themselves as more physically attractive believe they will be better able to attract and/or retain sexually dimorphic partners. Our analyses found that men and women who rated themselves as more physically attractive reported stronger preferences for exaggerated sex-typical characteristics in other-sex faces This finding suggests that associations between self-rated attractiveness and preferences for sexually dimorphic facial characteristics generalise to a culturally diverse sample and exist independently of country-level factors. Several recent studies have reported that the extent to which men and women prefer other-sex faces displaying exaggerated sex-typical characteristics covaries with how physically attractive the perceiver believes themself to be (13–16, but see [17,18]) This association between self-rated attractiveness and face preferences is thought to occur because individuals who believe that they are physically attractive believe they will be able to attract, retain, and/or replace high-quality m ates[13,14,15,16]. Some researchers have suggested that correlations between self-rated attractiveness and preferences for sexually dimorphic facial characteristics could be a by-product of regional variation in face preferences and self-rated attractiveness[14,17]

Methods

Results

Conclusion