Preferences For Male Facial Masculinity Research Articles

Conducting high-quality research on the psychological impact of oral contraceptive use

Oralcontraceptivesarethemostextensivelystudiedpillsinthe history of medicine [1]. It is therefore unfortunate to seehow little of this research has been directed towards the studyof potential psychological consequences resulting from use.Scientists, health care providers and advocates who read thisjournal are privy to the latest breaking research on improvedcontraceptive technology from researchers in the fields ofchemistry, biochemistry, physiology, endocrinology, demog-raphyand biology; however, rarely are readers presented withresearch testing the potential influence of oral contraceptivesonpsychologicalwell-being.Whileweobviouslyconcedethatit is of extreme importance to identify physical health risksassociatedwithoralcontraceptivepilluse,itisunfortunatethatsuch research is often carried out entirely independently ofresearch examining the potential for psychological conse-quences. To date, systematically controlled studies investigat-ing the psychological effects of oral contraceptives tend to belimitedtoresearchongeneralizedmood,depressionandlibido.Whilegreat workhas beendoneinthese areas (e.g., Refs.[2–4]), research has not yet adequately addressed the psycholog-ical impact of contraceptive use within a wider context,namely, interpersonal relationships. Accordingly, a number ofinteresting questions remain unanswered, for example: Arechanges in female mood reported in contraceptive usersnoticeabletomalepartners,friendsorcolleagues?Dochangesin libido affect the durability of romantic relationships?In a stimulating article, Alvergne and Lummaa [5]reviewed evidence which suggests that use of oralcontraceptive pills may disrupt human mating preferences.That is, they review studies which support the conclusionthatuseoforalcontraceptive pillsmayleadtothechoiceofapartner which is otherwise less preferred, therefore callinginto question the satisfaction of these relationships. Considerthis: a plethora of studies exist which clearly show that, inwomen who are regularly cycling, mating preferences andbehavior shift with conception risk. For example, prefer-ences for male facial masculinity [6], low-pitch masculinevoices [7,8] and the scent of dominant men [9] have beenshown to increase during periods of female fertility.Increased preference for non-physical traits, includingpreferences for dominant male behavior [10], creativity[11] and intelligent appearance [12], has also beendocumented during fertility. These features are thought tosignal underlying genetic quality in the possessor. Re-searchers have also shown that a woman's stage within hermenstrual cycle contributes to changes in her motivation toseek out men [13] and to appear attractive [14,15].Furthermore, female faces [16], voices [17,18] and scent[19–21] are rated as more attractive when fertile than whennon-fertile. Since hormonal contraceptives suppress cyclicalvariation in hormones, not surprisingly, women who chooseto use oral contraceptives show no variation in many of theabovementioned traits with respect to cycle stage [17,22,23].What may be the consequence of this? If cyclicalvariations in mating preferences and behavior influenceeither mate choice or satisfaction within existing relation-ships, then the use of hormonal contraceptives may bedisrupting these processes. Recent research by Roberts et al.[24] supports this possibility. They showed that women whomet their partner while using oral contraceptives reported tobe more satisfied with their partner's paternal provisions;however, these women reported lower sexual satisfactionwith their partner (controlling for current pill use) thanwomen who met their partner off the pill. These authors also

Further evidence for regional variation in women's masculinity preferences

In our original paper [[1][1]], we demonstrated a relationship between a measure of national variation in health and women's preferences for male facial masculinity, but we also suggested that income inequality, among other variables, might be an important predictor of regional variation in women's

The health of a nation predicts their mate preferences: cross-cultural variation in women's preferences for masculinized male faces

Recent formulations of sexual selection theory emphasize how mate choice can be affected by environmental factors, such as predation risk and resource quality. Women vary greatly in the extent to which they prefer male masculinity and this variation is hypothesized to reflect differences in how women resolve the trade-off between the costs (e.g. low investment) and benefits (e.g. healthy offspring) associated with choosing a masculine partner. A strong prediction of this trade-off theory is that women's masculinity preferences will be stronger in cultures where poor health is particularly harmful to survival. We investigated the relationship between women's preferences for male facial masculinity and a health index derived from World Health Organization statistics for mortality rates, life expectancies and the impact of communicable disease. Across 30 countries, masculinity preference increased as health decreased. This relationship was independent of cross-cultural differences in wealth or women's mating strategies. These findings show non-arbitrary cross-cultural differences in facial attractiveness judgements and demonstrate the use of trade-off theory for investigating cross-cultural variation in women's mate preferences.

Correlated preferences for men's facial and vocal masculinity

Previous studies have reported variation in women's preferences for masculinity in men's faces and voices. Women show consistent preferences for vocal masculinity, but highly variable preferences for facial masculinity. Within individuals, men with attractive voices tend to have attractive faces, suggesting common information may be conveyed by these cues. Here we tested whether men and women with particularly strong preferences for male vocal masculinity also have stronger preferences for male facial masculinity. We found that masculinity preferences were positively correlated across modalities. We also investigated potential influences on these relationships between face and voice preferences. Women using oral contraceptives showed weaker facial and vocal masculinity preferences and weaker associations between masculinity preferences across modalities than women not using oral contraceptives. Collectively, these results suggest that men's faces and voices may reveal common information about the masculinity of the sender, and that these multiple quality cues could be used in conjunction by the perceiver in order to determine the overall quality of individuals.

Symmetry and sexual dimorphism in human faces: interrelated preferences suggest both signal quality

Symmetry and masculinity in human faces have been proposed to be cues to the quality of the owner. Accordingly, symmetry is generally found attractive in male and female faces, and femininity is attractive in female faces. Women's preferences for male facial masculinity vary in ways that may maximize genetic benefits to women's offspring. Here we examine same- and opposite-sex preferences for both traits (Study 1) and intercorrelations between preferences for symmetry and sexual dimorphism in faces (Study 1 and Study 2) using computer-manipulated faces. For symmetry, we found that male and female judges preferred symmetric faces more when judging faces of the opposite-sex than when judging same-sex faces. A similar pattern was seen for sexual dimorphism (i.e., women preferred more masculine male faces than men did), but women also showed stronger preferences for femininity in female faces than men reported. This suggests that women are more concerned with female femininity than are men. We also found that in women, preferences for symmetry were positively correlated with preferences for masculinity in male faces and that in men preferences for symmetry were positively correlated with preferences for femininity in female faces. These latter findings suggest that symmetry and sexual dimorphism advertise a common quality in faces or that preferences for these facial cues are dependent on a common quality in the judges. Collectively, our findings support the view that preferences for symmetry and sexual dimorphism are related to mechanisms involved in sexual selection and mate choice rather than functionless by-products of other perceptual mechanisms.

Viewing attractive or unattractive same-sex individuals changes self-rated attractiveness and face preferences in women

Condition-dependent mate choice in females, whereby condition or attractiveness influences preferences for markers of male quality, is seen in both fish and humans. Such effects may be explained by (1) genetic linkage between trait and preference, (2) poor-condition females having energetic constraints limiting their choosiness, and (3) females of low mate value benefiting from avoiding high-quality males, based on the differential behaviour of high-quality males towards mates of low and high value. We used a contrast effect in women, showing attractive and unattractive same-sex individuals to induce a change in self-rated attractiveness as seen in previous studies, to test the validity of the last explanation. The first two explanations predict that preferences should remain constant across manipulations of self-perceptions of attractiveness, whereas the last predicts preferences should change in line with an individual's perceived mate value. Exposure to attractive same-sex images resulted in lower self-rated attractiveness and preferences for male facial masculinity, whereas exposure to unattractive images resulted in higher self-rated attractiveness and preferences for masculinity. As facial masculinity may be an attractive trait, these results imply that, at least in humans, condition-dependent mate choice may be better conceived as ‘market-value-dependent mate choice’.

Facial masculinity is related to perceived age but not perceived health

Variation in women's preferences for male facial masculinity may reflect variation in attraction to immunocompetence or to maturity. This paper reports two studies on (a) the interrelationships between women's preferences for masculinity, apparent health, and age in male faces and (b) the extent to which manipulating each of these characteristics affects women's attributions of the remaining characteristics. Both studies were carried out with a large sample of the general public (Studies 1a and 2a) and independently in a laboratory environment with smaller undergraduate samples (Studies 1b and 2b). In both samples, masculinity and age preferences were positively related, and masculinity preferences were not associated with preferences for apparent health. There was also a positive relationship between perceived age and perceived masculinity in both samples, but evidence for a link between perceptions of masculinity and health was equivocal. Collectively, these findings suggest that variation in women's preferences for masculine proportions in male faces reflect variation in attraction to male age and do not support a strict immunocompetence explanation of preferences for facial masculinity.