Sex-differences in preference for looking at the face or body in short-term and long-term mating contexts

Danielle L Wagstaff,Darren Burke,Danielle Sulikowski

doi:10.1556/2050.2015.0003

Danielle L Wagstaff, Darren Burke + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1556/2050.2015.0003

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Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that while women prefer to look at the face of men regardless of relationship context, men preferentially look at women's bodies for short-term (over long-term) relationship judgments. The current study examined how self-rated mate value and 'mating intelligence' correlate with the subjective importance of information from the face or body. In addition, given the apparent sex differences in these judgments, we investigated whether either sex is aware of how the opposite-sex prioritizes this. Participants were 266 undergraduate students/volunteers who completed an online survey, measuring preferences for information from the face or body in short-term or long-term contexts, and a range of self-rated mate value meas- ures. Information from the body was more important in short-term contexts for men (but not women), and correlated positively with mating strategy measures. While both sexes overestimated the opposite-sex's preference for looking at the body, women accurately perceived men's differ- ential investment in face or body across contexts, whereas men assumed that women make deci- sions similarly to themselves. Women might benefit more than men from awareness of opposite- sex preferences as this could afford the enhancement or reduction of cues to sexual availability.

Highlights

Attention allocation between the sexesIn humans, both sexes make mate-choice decisions that rely on multiple physical cues of different components of mate quality
As previous research has shown, men show an increase in their preference for looking at the body of women, rather than the face, when prompted for a shortterm relationship judgment over a long-term relationship, whereas women do not show this difference and generally prefer to look at the face
We aimed to replicate this trend, and to determine to what extent self-rated mate value factors are correlated with this decision, given that mate-value and mating-intelligence are factors which predict men’s willingness to pursue a short-term relationship strategy

Summary

Introduction

Attention allocation between the sexesIn humans, both sexes make mate-choice decisions that rely on multiple physical cues of different components of mate quality. The same physical region might provide signals relating to different components of mate quality. WAGSTAFF, DANIELLE SULIKOWSKI, DARREN BURKE example of alternative viewpoints on this argument) and competitive advantage (Li et al, 2014) for males, and fertility (Rhodes et al, 2005) for females. Other cues, such as symmetry (thought to be an indicator of genetic resistance to developmental stressors, Gangestad et al, 1994), are simultaneously displayed by both the face and body (Pfluger et al, 2012). Some cues are likely to be more readily perceived, or more strongly signaled, from one region compared to another. Kramer et al (2012) showed that people more accurately judge physical health from women’s bodies, but more accurately estimate agreeableness (which relates to parental care investment, Bradley et al, 1997) from women’s faces

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