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Human preferences for sexually dimorphic faces may be evolutionarily novel

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dc.contributor.authorScott, Isabel
dc.contributor.authorClark, Andrew
dc.contributor.authorJosephson, Steven
dc.contributor.authorBoyette, Adam
dc.contributor.authorCuthill, Innes
dc.contributor.authorFried, Ruby
dc.contributor.authorGibson, Mhairi
dc.contributor.authorHewlett, Barry
dc.contributor.authorJamieson, Mark
dc.contributor.authorJankowiak, William
dc.contributor.authorHoney, P. Lynne
dc.contributor.authorHuang, Zejun
dc.contributor.authorLiebert, Melissa
dc.contributor.authorPurzycki, Benjamin
dc.contributor.authorShaver, John
dc.contributor.authorSnodgrass, Josh
dc.contributor.authorSosis, Richard
dc.contributor.authorSugiyama, Lawrence
dc.contributor.authorSwami, Viren
dc.contributor.authorYu, Douglas
dc.contributor.authorZhao, Yangke
dc.contributor.authorPenton-Voak, Ian
dc.date.accessioned2016-02-01
dc.date.accessioned2022-05-27T01:14:57Z
dc.date.available2022-05-27T01:14:57Z
dc.date.issued2014
dc.description.abstractA large literature proposes that preferences for exaggerated sex typicality in human faces (masculinity/femininity) reflect a long evolutionary history of sexual and social selection. This proposal implies that dimorphism was important to judgments of attractiveness and personality in ancestral environments. It is difficult to evaluate, however, because most available data come from large-scale, industrialized, urban populations. Here, we report the results for 12 populations with very diverse levels of economic development. Surprisingly, preferences for exaggerated sex-specific traits are only found in the novel, highly developed environments. Similarly, perceptions that masculine males look aggressive increase strongly with development and, specifically, urbanization. These data challenge the hypothesis that facial dimorphism was an important ancestral signal of heritable mate value. One possibility is that highly developed environments provide novel opportunities to discern relationships between facial traits and behavior by exposing individuals to large numbers of unfamiliar faces, revealing patterns too subtle to detect with smaller samples.
dc.format.extent994.19 KB
dc.format.mimetypePDF
dc.identifier.citationScott, I. M., Clark, A.P., Josephson, S. C., Boyette, A. H., Cuthill, I. C., Fried, R. L., Gibson, M. A., Hewlett, B. S., Jamieson, M. A., Jankowiak, W., Honey, P. L., Huang, Z., Liebert, M. A., Purzycki, B. G., Shaver, J. H., Snodgrass, J. J., Sosis, R., Sugiyama, L., Swami, V., Yu, D. W., Zhao, Y., & Penton-Voak, I. (2014). Human preferences for sexually dimorphic faces may be evolutionarily novel. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111, 14388-14393. doi:10.1073/pnas.1409643111
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1409643111
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14078/486
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen
dc.rightsAll Rights Reserved
dc.subjectfacial attractiveness
dc.subjectevolution
dc.subjectcross-cultural
dc.subjectaggression
dc.subjectstereotyping
dc.titleHuman preferences for sexually dimorphic faces may be evolutionarily novelen
dc.typeArticle
dspace.entity.type

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