Studies of human physique and sexual attractiveness: sexual preferences of men and women in China

Mental state attribution and body configuration in women

Body configuration is a sexually dimorphic trait. In humans, men tend to have high shoulder-to-hip ratios. Women in contrast, often have low waist-to-hip ratios (WHR); i.e., narrow waists and broad hips that approximate an hour-glass configuration. Women with low WHR’s are rated as more attractive, healthier, and more fertile. They also tend to have more attractive voices, lose their virginity sooner, and have more sex partners. WHR has also been linked with general cognitive performance. In the present study we expand upon previous research examining the role of WHR in cognition. We hypothesized that more feminine body types, as indexed by a low WHR, would be associated with cognitive measures of the female “brain type,” such as mental state attribution and empathy because both may depend upon the activational effects of estrogens at puberty. We found that women with low WHRs excel at identifying emotional states of other people and show a cognitive style that favors empathizing over systemizing. We suggest this relationship may be a byproduct of greater gluteofemoral fat stores which are high in the essential fatty acids needed to support brain development and cellular functioning. It is interesting to note that our findings suggest lower WHR females, who are more likely to be targeted for dishonest courtship, may be better at identifying disingenuous claims of commitment.

Who is The Fairest One of All? How Evolution Guides Peer and Media Influences on Female Body Dissatisfaction

Much attention has focused on the influence of media images of thin women on body dissatisfaction among female viewers. Disagreement exists regarding the nature of media influences, with meta-analytic results suggesting only small effect sizes. Fewer researchers have focused on the role of peer influences and peer competition on female body dissatisfaction. Furthermore, the relation between body dissatisfaction and eating disorders may be more complex than is often implied in the media effects literature. Links between body dissatisfaction and eating disorders may be overstated, and some eating disorders, primarily anorexia nervosa, may not always be motivated primarily by body dissatisfaction. The current paper discusses these issues from an evolutionary perspective, examining how sociocultural forces influence the intensity of female competition and how such competition effects body dissatisfaction.

Eye-tracking of men's preferences for waist-to-hip ratio and breast size of women

Studies of human physical traits and mate preferences often use questionnaires asking participants to rate the attractiveness of images. Female waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), breast size, and facial appearance have all been implicated in assessments by men of female attractiveness. However, very little is known about how men make fine-grained visual assessments of such images. We used eye-tracking techniques to measure the numbers of visual fixations, dwell times, and initial fixations made by men who viewed front-posed photographs of the same woman, computer-morphed so as to differ in her WHR (0.7 or 0.9) and breast size (small, medium, or large). Men also rated these images for attractiveness. Results showed that the initial visual fixation (occurring within 200 ms from the start of each 5 s test) involved either the breasts or the waist. Both these body areas received more first fixations than the face or the lower body (pubic area and legs). Men looked more often and for longer at the breasts, irrespective of the WHR of the images. However, men rated images with an hourglass shape and a slim waist (0.7 WHR) as most attractive, irrespective of breast size. These results provide quantitative data on eye movements that occur during male judgments of the attractiveness of female images, and indicate that assessments of the female hourglass figure probably occur very rapidly.

Tall men with medium body fat mass percentage display more developmental stability

A symmetrical body may signal the ability of an individual to cope with developmental perturbations and may thus be considered a 'health certificate'. It is known that symmetrical men are considered more attractive by women and that their reproductive success is higher. This study examined the associations between measures of body structure and fluctuating asymmetry in young Turkish men. Weight, height, and bioelectrical impedance were measured in a sample of 250 men residing in Ankara (mean age=18.4, SD=0.6), and body mass index was calculated. Fluctuating asymmetry was measured using hand length, hand width, elbow width, wrist width, knee width, ankle width, foot length, foot width, ear length, and ear width. According to the obtained findings, there is a negative linear relationship between composite fluctuating asymmetry (CFA) and height, and a positive quadratic relationship between CFA and fat mass. These results might indicate that the tall Turkish men with medium body fat mass percentage display more developmental stability.

Male preferences for female waist-to-hip ratio and body mass index in the highlands of Papua New Guinea

One hundred men, living in three villages in a remote region of the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea were asked to judge the attractiveness of photographs of women who had undergone micrograft surgery to reduce their waist-to-hip ratios (WHRs). Micrograft surgery involves harvesting adipose tissue from the waist and reshaping the buttocks to produce a low WHR and an "hourglass" female figure. Men consistently chose postoperative photographs as being more attractive than preoperative photographs of the same women. Some women gained, and some lost weight, postoperatively, with resultant changes in body mass index (BMI). However, changes in BMI were not related to men's judgments of attractiveness. These results show that the hourglass female figure is rated as attractive by men living in a remote, indigenous community, and that when controlling for BMI, WHR plays a crucial role in their attractiveness judgments.

Much more than a ratio: multivariate selection on female bodies

Studies of the attractiveness of female bodies have focussed strongly on the waist, hips and bust, but sexual selection operates on whole phenotypes rather than the relative proportions of just two or three body parts. Here, we use body scanners to extract computer-generated images of 96 Chinese women's bodies with all traits unrelated to body shape removed. We first show that Chinese and Australian men and women rate the attractiveness of these bodies the same. We then statistically explore the roles of age, body weight and a range of length and girth measures on ratings of attractiveness. Last, we use nonlinear selection analysis, a statistical approach developed by evolutionary biologists to explore the interacting effects of suites of traits on fitness, to study how body traits interact to determine attractiveness. Established proxies of adiposity and reproductive value, including age, body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio, were all correlated with attractiveness. Nonlinear response surface methods using the original traits consistently outperform all of these indices and ratios, suggesting that indices of youth and abdominal adiposity tell only part of the story of body attractiveness. In particular, our findings draw attention to the importance of integration between abdominal measures, including the bust, and the length and girth of limbs. Our results provide the most comprehensive analysis to date of the effect of body shape and fat deposition on female attractiveness.

Human physique and sexual attractiveness in men and women: a New Zealand-U.S. comparative study

Men and women living in New Zealand and California completed five studies regarding human physique and sexual attractiveness. In Studies 1-3, women rated images of male stimuli and, in Studies 4-5, men rated female stimuli. In Study 1, women in both countries rated mesomorphic (muscular) and average male somatotypes as most attractive, followed by ectomorphic (slim) and endomorphic (heavily built) figures. In Study 2, amount and distribution of masculine trunk hair (chest and abdominal) was altered progressively in a series of front-posed male figures. In both countries, the image lacking any trunk hair was rated as the most attractive, with a steady decline in attractiveness as hirsutism became more pronounced. Study 3 assessed attractiveness of front-posed male figures that varied only in the length of the non-erect penis. Five lengths were presented: The smallest penile size was rated as less attractive than three intermediate sizes. The largest penile size was not the most attractive, but received higher scores than the unaltered and smallest penile size. In Study 4, men rated the attractiveness of back-posed female images varying in waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) (from 0.5 to 1.0). The 0.7 WHR figure was rated more attractive in New Zealand and the 0.6 WHR in California. Study 5 measured the attractiveness of female skin color; men expressed preferences for lighter skinned female figures in New Zealand and California. Results indicate very similar preferences for sexually dimorphic physical traits among men and women of European extraction, living in two culturally and geographically different environments.

Visible skin condition and perception of human facial appearance

Evolutionary psychology suggests that certain human beauty standards have evolved to provide reliable cues of fertility and health. Hence, preferences for some physical characteristics of the face and body are thought to reflect adaptations for the promotion of mate choice. Studies that have investigated facial attractiveness have concentrated mainly on features such as symmetry, averageness and sex-typical traits, which are developed under the influence of sex steroids. Few studies, however, have addressed the effect of human skin condition on perception of facial appearance in this context, and possible implications for sexual selection. There is now accumulating evidence that skin pigmentation and skin surface topography cues, particularly in women, have a significant influence on attractiveness judgements, as they seem primarily to signal aspects of age and health. This article (i) reviews briefly some of the main determinants of visible skin condition, (ii) presents recent evidence on its signalling value in face perception and (iii) suggests areas for future research with reference to an evolutionary psychology framework.

Paleodermatology

The study of the human skin evolution, allows a new vision to ancient questions such as the significance of human skin color variation, the correlations between bipedality and loss of body hair, and the correlations among epidermal appendages and structures of the skin with the changes on environment and evolution of humans. Paleodermatology would be an appropriated term to designate the study of the human skin evolution. The etymology of this word comes from a Greek root (paleo = ancient). It is a multidisciplinary subject for researchers such as dermatologists, anthropologists, physiologists, and orthopedics. It should include the evaluations regarding physiology, thermoregulation, and the evolution of the human skin structures.