The effect of leg-to-body ratio on male attractiveness depends on the ecological validity of the figures.

Thomas M M Versluys,William J Skylark

doi:10.1098/rsos.170399

Abstract

Leg-to-body ratio (LBR) predicts evolutionary fitness, and is therefore expected to influence bodily attractiveness. Previous investigations of LBR attractiveness have used a wide variety of stimuli, including line drawings, silhouettes, and computer-generated images based on anthropometric data. In two studies, community samples of heterosexual women from the USA rated the attractiveness of male figures presented as silhouettes and as detailed computer-generated images with three different skin tones (white, black, and an artificial grey). The effects of LBR depended on the image format. In particular, a curve-fitting analysis indicated that the optimally-attractive LBR for silhouettes was fractionally below the baseline, whereas the optima for more detailed computer-generated images was approximately 0.5 s.d. above the baseline and was similar for all three skin-tones. In addition, the participants' sensitivity to changes in the LBR was lowest for the silhouettes and highest for the grey figures. Our results add to evidence that the most attractive LBR is close to, but slightly above, the population mean, and caution that the effects of limb proportions on attractiveness depend on the ecological validity of the figures.

Highlights

The role of attractiveness in shaping life outcomes and human well-being is well established
The mean attractiveness ratings for each combination of Leg-to-body ratio (LBR) and image format are plotted in figure 2, which shows the data for studies 1 and 2, and after combining the data from the two studies
For study 1, a 7 × 4 within-subject ANOVA indicated that attractiveness depended on both LBR, F4.12,300.56 = 26.62, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.267, and image format, F2.30,167.97 = 15.03, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.171, and the effects of LBR were modulated by the image format, F15.81,1153.96 = 3.48, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.05

Summary

Introduction

The role of attractiveness in shaping life outcomes and human well-being is well established. More attractive people tend to receive favourable treatment in employment [1,2], electoral [3,4], and judicial decisions [5], earn higher salaries [6,7], have longer and more stable marriages and sire more children [6,8,9,10] They are judged to be more sociable [11], intelligent [12] and healthy [13], a set of attributions known as ‘the halo effect’ [14]— there are contexts in which physical attractiveness may be disadvantageous [15,16]. Like the face and body, they can reflect underlying developmental and genetic conditions in an organism, displaying deviations from average or varying degrees of bilateral symmetry They can be subject to surplus growth, contributing to the body’s reserve tissue [22]. Above-average legs, on the other hand, have been linked to developmental stability, good nutrition, and high socioeconomic status [22]

Methods

Results

Conclusion