It is certainly not true that there is in the
mind of Man any universal standard of beauty
with respect to the human body
The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (p. 584) by Charles
Darwin, 1871
Examples of Arbitrary Cultural
Standards
Arbitrary Cultural Standards
Arbitrary Cultural Standards
Beauty is in the eye of the
beholder, or is it?
The standard claim is that conceptions of
beauty are culturally determined and
therefore arbitrary.
Research over the last dozen years or so
reveals that how we evaluate beauty in the
human body appears to be based on a
universal set of standards. Therefore, some
conceptions of beauty are not culturally
determined.
What is
Beautiful?
Relative and Absolute Standards in
Attractiveness
Universal model: holds that there are absolute
standards that people use to assess attractiveness
Assortative model (like attracted to like): holds
that standards are relative to the viewer. That is,
we are attracted to those who are similar to us.
Also known as positive assortative mating.
We will begin with the universal (or absolute) and
follow with the assortative (or relative)
Finally, most of the research has focused on
female attractiveness
Universal bases for female physical
attractiveness
General
Symmetry: low fluctuating asymmetry (applies to
males also)
Body form
Waist to hip ratio of approximately 0.7 (?)
Face
Average (applies to males also)
small lower jaw (nasion to chin)
high upper and lower lips
small mouth (width)
large eyes
light skin
homogenous skin texture
Symmetry
How symmetry is
measured
Symmetry measures: 1
Symmetry measures: 2
Symmetry measures: 3
Symmetry measures: 4
Symmetry measures: What? Me
Worry?
Physical development and symmetry are
regulated by:
growth rates
hormone levels
nutrition
disease
9The level of symmetry is a measure of developmental stability.
9Developmental stability is an indication of an individual's ability to
withstand genetic and environmental stress during growth.
9High FA is very weakly and perhaps inconclusively associated
with increased morbidity and decreased heterozygosity
9It may be the case that modern medicine has broken the relationship
between symmetry and health. Research needs to be done on
populations with poor access to health care to evaluate the utility of
symmetry as a sign of fitness.
Symmetry is positively associated
with
Stature
Tall males less asymmetrical (positive association)
Small females less asymmetrical (negative association)
IQ
Number of lifetime partners and RS (males &
females)
Running speed
Aggression
Depression
Source: JT Manning et al., 2002, Evolution and Human
Behavior
Facial Averageness
Attractive faces are only average.
Langlois & Roggman. Psychological
Science (1990)
Computing Averageness
Source: The
Evolutionary
Psychology
of Facial
Beauty.
Annual
Review of
Psychology
(2006)
Gillian
Rhodes
Examples: creating an average face
(Asian)
Creating an average face (N. Amer.)
Average plus reduce jaw and peaked lips leads to an
even more attractive face
Length of nasion
to chin in red to
indicate smaller
lower face.
Averageness is associated with
high levels of heterozygosity which, in
turn, is associated with enhanced
pathogen resistance. That is, average
looking people tend to be healthier. But
the effect is very moderate and needs
further study.
Other Factors Associated with
Attractiveness
Facial Smoothness
Skin coloration
Specific facial features
Facial smoothness: absence of blemishes and
lines indicative of youth. In addition, skin
darkens with age.
Subject on left retouched to enhance facial homogeneity
Male and Female Differences in
Skin Color
Men are darker than women
Result of heavier concentration of hemoglobin
in blood and melanin in skin and thicker
subcutaneous fat layer in women
Universally, men prefer women who are lighter
than average (relative to local population) and
women prefer men who are darker than
average (relative to local population).
But one can be too dark or too light in local
population
Skin Color and Attractiveness
Frostreports that out of 51 different
cultures in the HRAF, 44 cultures favored
lighter complexions on either only women
(30) or on both sexes (14). In only 3
cultures was fair skin preferred on men
only, and in just 4 cultures was darker skin
desired in women.
Male Attractiveness, Masculinity, and
Specific Facial Features
Prominent cheek bones and longer lower faces are
both judged as attractive in males.
When these two factors are combined a
masculinity index is created, and this index is
more strongly correlated with attractiveness than
cheekbone or longer lower face alone.
Finally, male facial symmetry and the masculinity
index were correlated.
Source: Scheib, Gangstead, and Thornhill
Facial attractiveness, symmetry and cues of
good genes. Proc. R. Soc Lond. B (1999)
Feminine and Masculine Faces
Males favor women with feminine faces
Small chin and high cheek bones
Fuller and more peaked lips
Large eyes (relative to face)
Femalesfavor males who are slightly to
moderately facially masculine but not
extremely so
Chins broader and longer
Large brow ridge
Body Form: Waist to hip ratio
WHR is a reliable index of age, hormonal status,
parity, fecundity, and health. Before puberty boys
and girls have similar ratios. However, with
females pelvis widens and fat is deposited on hips
and thighs at puberty. Healthy women have ratios
of 0.67 to 0.80 while healthy men have 0.80 to
0.95. For attractiveness, ideal for men is 0.90 and
female ideal is 0.7 (for Western populations only).
Waist to Hip
Ratio:
standard
stimulus set
WHR and female mate value
WHR increases with each pregnancy and
increases slightly with age. However, a 17
year old will have nearly the same WHR as a
22 year woman and at menopause it reaches
the level of a male's WHR (about 1). High
WHR is strongly negatively associated with the
probability of conception and positively
associated with age.
Male and female evaluations are parallel
but males place greater emphasis on
WHR
Streeter, S.A. &
McBurney, D.H.
(2003) Waist
hip ratio and
attractiveness:
New evidence
and a critique of
"a critical test",
Evolution and
Human
Behavior, 24,
88-98.
WHR ratio and health correlates
High WHR in women is a sign of:
menstrual irregularity
hirsutism (abnormal growth & distribution of
hair)
elevated plasma triglycerides
diabetes and insulin intolerance
hypertension
stroke
gall bladder disease
reproductive cancers (endometrial, ovarian, and
breast)
WHR and Behavioral Correlates in
Women
Positively correlated with age of first
intercourse.
Negatively correlated with number of life-
time sexual partners and EPCs,
Examples: both figures have a 0.7 WHR (the
more things change, the more they stay the
same)
Further example of WHRs
WHR of 0.7 a reflection of Western
standards?
Recent research by anthropologists reveals that a WHR
ratio of about 0.8 is preferred in the following ethnic
groups:
Hadza
Shuar
Machiguenga
Greater than 0.7 WHR may be a consequence of living in a
food short environment which suggests that men are
concerned with energy status when it is relevant (i.e., not
relevant in the West but relevant in tribal populations)
BMI: additional research in the West suggests that BMI is
more important. The problem with BMI and WHR is that
they are strongly correlated with each other. Thus, it is
unclear which is the signal of reproductive potential.
BMI/WHR
Brits &
SA Zulus and
Culture
Changing perceptions of
Brit Zulu &
attractiveness as
SA Zulus
observers are
exposed to a different
cultures
B. Martin J. Tove et al.
Evolution and Human
Behavior (2006)
Brits of African Origin &
Brit Zulus
Local conditions may matter
Poverty & Hunger: People in rural South Africa are living in a
low-resource, economically deprived society. Fifty-six percent
report going hungry, and most households do not have
electricity, running water, or significant amounts of
household durable goods. In South Africa a higher female
body weight is perceived to reflect affluence, high status, and
good health. It is therefore not surprising that our results
suggest that a higher female BMI is regarded as attractive.
Health Problems: These preferences may be reinforced by the
current health problems prevalent in South Africa. There are
long-standing problems with infectious diseases, including
lower respiratory tract infections, meningitis, diarrhea,
septicemia and TB, which, when combined with low levels of
immunization, make potential infection a serious possibility.
The health consequences linked to these serious diseases
include weight loss, and this is reflected in the perception
that a lower body mass may signal potential parasitic
infection or disease
SHR: shoulder to hip ratio an
introduction to a male sign
Measurement:
hip measured as largest circumference around
the hips and buttocks.
Shoulder measured as greatest width of should
blades with arms at sides.
Results:
Men ranged from 1.03 - 1.40, mean of 1.18
Women ranged from 0.9 - 1.22, mean of 1.03
SHR 1 of 2
SHR in men: behavioral correlates
Negatively correlated with age at first sexual
intercourse (narrow shoulders=later first
sex)
Positively correlated with:
reported number of sexual partners; and
EPC (extra pair copulations) or cheating on your
own partner (broad shoulders=more sex)
SHR 2 of 2
Height and Attractiveness
In the west males prefer females who are shorter
than average while females prefer males who are
taller than average.
In the west tall men have higher RS than shorter
males and shorter females have higher RS than
taller females.
But in rural Gambia this relationship seems not to
hold.
Tall women had higher fertility & higher survivorship of
their children
While taller men were only very slightly more likely to
have higher RS than shorter men
Sear Height and Reproductive Success. Human Nature 17(4) 2006.
Height in Gambia
In Gambia tall women are more reproductively
successful (higher fertility) than short women.
There is no correlation between height and fertility
among men.
However, taller men contract more marriages than
shorter men.
No correlation between height and health for
Gambian men and
for Gambian women the relationship is inverted U-
shaped.
Sear Height and reproductive success: how a Gamian population compares to the
West (2005)
Assortative or relative models: Self
seeking like
People marry those who resemble themselves
Known as positive assortative mating
Correlations for most physical traits (height,
weight, hair color, etc.) and many behavioral traits
(interests, personality, etc)
Two potential explanations for this relationship:
Optimizes outbreeding to avoid excessive genetic
variance that would interfere with coadaptive gene
complexes
Competition and matching hypotheses
Self seeking 1 of 2
Self perception and mate choice in
Western society
The standard evolutionary argument is that
men are attracted to beauty, youthfulness,
sexual fidelity, and health while
Women are attracted to men who are
ambitious, wealthy and have high social
status
But as Mick and Keith note You cant
always get what you want
Self perception and mate choice in Western society: Buston and Emlen
Potentials attract
This has led many to successfully predict
that mate choice would be based on
reproductive potential. That is
attractive women, for example, would
match up with wealthy men.
The problem with this argument is that it
ignores the problem of stability in marriage,
a key to RS
Self perception and mate choice in Western society: Buston and Emlen
Marital Stability
Ifmate choice were based on reproductive
potential then
Reproduction might be delayed waiting for an
exceptionally beautiful or wealthy mate.
Furthermore, these marriages would be
unstable if a more beautiful or more wealthy
mate came along. One would be tempted to
trade up.
Self perception and mate choice in Western society: Buston and Emlen
Relativism in mate choice
Women lower their self-assessed beauty
when exposed to beautiful women and men
lower their self-assessed attractiveness
when exposed to socially dominant males.
In addition, each sex lowers their
assessment of the other when their mates
were compared to more highly rated
members of the opposite sex
Self perception and mate choice in Western society: Buston and Emlen
The question
Potentials attract: are choices based on absolute
criteria (e.g., beauty and wealth)? or do
likes attract, a relative criteria: how similar are
they to the seeker in a number of crucial
dimensions?
Ten questions asked that can be divided into 4
evolutionary categories:
Wealth and status
Physical attractiveness
Fidelity
Family commitment
Self perception and mate choice in Western society: Buston and Emlen
Results I
If the potentials model is correct then
attractive women would have had stronger
preferences for wealthier men and vice
versa
This pattern was observed to be statistically
significant but it explained very little of the
variance (around 5%)
Self perception and mate choice in Western society: Buston and Emlen
Results II
Ifthe likes attract then there should be a
positive correlation between self perception
(e.g., fidelity or attractiveness) and
importance of that same factor in a mate.
This pattern was found and the correlations
were much stronger: ~35% for women and
~12% for men.
Self perception and mate choice in Western society: Buston and Emlen
Conclusions
Human mate choice in Western society
seems to be more strongly based on
preference for long-term partners who are
similar to ones perception of self across a
number of evolutionarily relevant categories
of traits.
Self perception and mate choice in Western society: Buston and Emlen
A Final Thought on Beauty, Similarity,
and Mate Choice
In the EEA potential mates are in short supply because
females tend to be married immediately after puberty.
Furthermore, the pool of potential mates is very small
relative to modern populations
Consequently, to maximize fitness males must marry the
first available female or face the consequence of delayed
competition.
This makes choice based on beauty or similarity difficult, or
impossible.
