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Effects of sexual dimorphism on facial attractiveness

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  • D. I. Perrett

    (School of Psychology, University of St Andrews)

  • K. J. Lee

    (School of Psychology, University of St Andrews
    University of Western Australia)

  • I. Penton-Voak

    (School of Psychology, University of St Andrews)

  • D. Rowland

    (School of Psychology, University of St Andrews)

  • S. Yoshikawa

    (Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University, Sakyo
    ATR, Human Information Processing Research Laboratories)

  • D. M. Burt

    (School of Psychology, University of St Andrews)

  • S. P. Henzi

    (University of Natal)

  • D. L. Castles

    (Hasegawa Laboratory, University of Tokyo)

  • S. Akamatsu

    (ATR, Human Information Processing Research Laboratories)

Abstract

Testosterone-dependent secondary sexual characteristics in males may signal immunological competence1 and are sexually selected for in several species2,3. In humans, oestrogen-dependent characteristics of the female body correlate with health and reproductive fitness and are found attractive4,5,6. Enhancing the sexual dimorphism of human faces should raise attractiveness by enhancing sex-hormone-related cues to youth and fertility in females5,7,8,9,10,11, and to dominance and immunocompetence in males5,12,13. Here we report the results of asking subjects to choose the most attractive faces from continua that enhanced or diminished differences between the average shape of female and male faces. As predicted, subjects preferred feminized to average shapes of a female face. This preference applied across UK and Japanese populations but was stronger for within-population judgements, which indicates that attractiveness cues are learned. Subjects preferred feminized to average or masculinized shapes of a male face. Enhancing masculine facial characteristics increased both perceived dominance and negative attributions (for example, coldness or dishonesty) relevant to relationships and paternal investment. These results indicate a selection pressure that limits sexual dimorphism and encourages neoteny in humans.

Suggested Citation

  • D. I. Perrett & K. J. Lee & I. Penton-Voak & D. Rowland & S. Yoshikawa & D. M. Burt & S. P. Henzi & D. L. Castles & S. Akamatsu, 1998. "Effects of sexual dimorphism on facial attractiveness," Nature, Nature, vol. 394(6696), pages 884-887, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:394:y:1998:i:6696:d:10.1038_29772
    DOI: 10.1038/29772
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Jin-Ying Zhuang & Sen Zhang & Jing Xu & Die Hu, 2014. "Discriminating Males and Unpredictable Females: Males Differentiate Self-Similar Facial Cues More than Females in the Judgment of Opposite-Sex Attractiveness," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-9, March.
    2. Victor Shiramizu & Ciaran Docherty & Lisa M DeBruine & Benedict C Jones, 2020. "Sexual orientation predicts men’s preferences for sexually dimorphic face-shape characteristics: A replication study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-6, November.
    3. Philipp Mitteroecker & Sonja Windhager & Gerd B Müller & Katrin Schaefer, 2015. "The Morphometrics of “Masculinity” in Human Faces," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(2), pages 1-13, February.
    4. Francisco B. Galarza & Gustavo Yamada, 2017. "Triple Penalty in Employment Access: The Role of Beauty, Race, and Sex," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 29-47, May.
    5. Mariska E Kret & Masaki Tomonaga, 2016. "Getting to the Bottom of Face Processing. Species-Specific Inversion Effects for Faces and Behinds in Humans and Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(11), pages 1-13, November.
    6. Ryuhei Ueda & Kana Kuraguchi & Hiroshi Ashida, 2016. "Asymmetric Effect of Expression Intensity on Evaluations of Facial Attractiveness," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(4), pages 21582440166, November.
    7. Borau, Sylvie & Bonnefon, Jean-François, 2020. "Gendered products act as the extended phenotype of human sexual dimorphism: They increase physical attractiveness and desirability," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 498-508.
    8. José Antonio Muñoz-Reyes & Marta Iglesias-Julios & Miguel Pita & Enrique Turiegano, 2015. "Facial Features: What Women Perceive as Attractive and What Men Consider Attractive," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(7), pages 1-17, July.
    9. Isabel M L Scott & Nicholas Pound & Ian D Stephen & Andrew P Clark & Ian S Penton-Voak, 2010. "Does Masculinity Matter? The Contribution of Masculine Face Shape to Male Attractiveness in Humans," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(10), pages 1-10, October.
    10. Rainer Voegeli & Rotraut Schoop & Elodie Prestat-Marquis & Anthony V Rawlings & Todd K Shackelford & Bernhard Fink, 2021. "Cross-cultural perception of female facial appearance: A multi-ethnic and multi-centre study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(1), pages 1-18, January.
    11. Nakahashi, Wataru, 2008. "Quantitative genetic models of sexual selection by male choice," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 167-181.
    12. Dariusz P. Danel & Kasper Kalinowski & Natalia Nowak-Szczepanska & Anna Ziomkiewicz-Wichary & Anna Apanasewicz & Krzysztof Borysławski & Sławomir Kozieł & Danuta Kornafel & Pawel Fedurek, 2020. "Shifts in Female Facial Attractiveness during Pregnancy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-10, July.
    13. Dennis Nickson & Andrew R Timming & Daniel Re & David I Perrett, 2016. "Subtle Increases in BMI within a Healthy Weight Range Still Reduce Womens Employment Chances in the Service Sector," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(9), pages 1-14, September.
    14. Erika Limoncin & Caterina Solano & Giacomo Ciocca & Daniele Mollaioli & Elena Colonnello & Andrea Sansone & Filippo Maria Nimbi & Chiara Simonelli & Renata Tambelli & Emmanuele Angelo Jannini, 2020. "Can Physical and/or Sexual Abuse Play a Role in the Female Choice of a Partner? A Cross-Sectional, Correlational Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-13, September.
    15. Leda M. Pérez & Pedro Llanos Paredes, 2015. "¿Al fondo del escalafón?: un estado de la cuestión sobre el trabajo doméstico remunerado en el Perú," Working Papers 15-01, Centro de Investigación, Universidad del Pacífico.
    16. Jeanne Bovet & Michel Raymond, 2015. "Preferred Women’s Waist-to-Hip Ratio Variation over the Last 2,500 Years," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-13, April.
    17. Francisco Galarza & Gustavo Yamada & Carlos Zelada, 2015. "Cuesta arriba para los afroperuanos: evidencia de la discriminación en el acceso al mercado laboral de Lima Metropolitana," Working Papers 15-03, Centro de Investigación, Universidad del Pacífico.
    18. Ghoshal, Gourab & Holme, Petter, 2006. "Attractiveness and activity in Internet communities," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 364(C), pages 603-609.
    19. Anthony C. Little & Vít Třebický & Jan Havlíček & S. Craig Roberts & Karel Kleisner, 2015. "Editor's choice Human perception of fighting ability: facial cues predict winners and losers in mixed martial arts fights," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 26(6), pages 1470-1475.
    20. Zaneta M Thayer & Seth D Dobson, 2013. "Geographic Variation in Chin Shape Challenges the Universal Facial Attractiveness Hypothesis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(4), pages 1-5, April.
    21. Barnaby JW Dixson & Anthony C Little & Henry GW Dixson & Robert C Brooks, 2017. "Do prevailing environmental factors influence human preferences for facial morphology?," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 28(5), pages 1217-1227.

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