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== Determinants of male physical attractiveness == |
== Determinants of male physical attractiveness == |
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===Physique=== |
===Physique=== |
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[[Image:Carlsons.jpg|right|thumb|220px|The Carlson Twins are typically judged as being highly physically attractive for their slim waists, chest muscularity, and low body-fat.]] |
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Research has found that male physiques with slim waists are rated as being attractive, particularly by females.<ref name= "Archives of Sexual Behavior">Physical attractiveness: The influence of selected torso parameters" in Archives of Sexual Behavior Volume 10, No 1 1981</ref> Participants also identified physiques with relatively broad shoulders as being attractive. In addition, chest muscularity resulted in slightly higher attractiveness ratings. |
Research has found that male physiques with slim waists are rated as being attractive, particularly by females.<ref name= "Archives of Sexual Behavior">Physical attractiveness: The influence of selected torso parameters" in Archives of Sexual Behavior Volume 10, No 1 1981</ref> Participants also identified physiques with relatively broad shoulders as being attractive. In addition, chest muscularity resulted in slightly higher attractiveness ratings.<ref name= "Archives of Sexual Behavior">Physical attractiveness: The influence of selected torso parameters" in Archives of Sexual Behavior Volume 10, No 1 1981</ref> |
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<ref name= "Archives of Sexual Behavior">Physical attractiveness: The influence of selected torso parameters" in Archives of Sexual Behavior Volume 10, No 1 1981</ref> |
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Preference can also emerge for muscularity, though research performed at [[McLean Hospital]] has shown that Western men have a tendency to overestimate the amount of muscle considered ideal by women by as much as thirty pounds, whereas Asian men collectively do not exhibit such a misconception.<ref> http://www.parapundit.com/archives/002608.html </ref> |
Preference can also emerge for muscularity, though research performed at [[McLean Hospital]] has shown that Western men have a tendency to overestimate the amount of muscle considered ideal by women by as much as thirty pounds, whereas Asian men collectively do not exhibit such a misconception.<ref> http://www.parapundit.com/archives/002608.html </ref> |
Revision as of 02:12, 15 July 2007
Physical attractiveness is the perception of the physical traits of an individual human person as pleasing or beautiful. It can include various implications, such as sexual attractiveness, cuteness, and physique. Judgment of attractiveness of physical traits is partly universal to all human cultures, partly dependent on culture or society or time period, and partly a matter of individual subjective preference. Despite the existence of universally agreed upon signs of beauty in both genders, both homosexual and heterosexual men tend to place significantly higher value on physical appearance in a partner than women.[1] This can be explained by evolutionary psychology as a consequence of ancestral humans who selected partners based on secondary sexual characteristics as well as general indicators of fitness (for example, symmetrical features) enjoying greater reproductive success as a result of higher fertility in those partners, although a male's ability to provide resources for offspring was probably signaled less by physical features.[1]
Physical attractiveness can have a significant effect on how people are judged, in terms of employment or social opportunities, friendship, sexual behavior, and marriage.[2] In many cases humans attribute positive characteristics, such as intelligence and honesty, to attractive people without consciously realizing it. Physical attractiveness is distinct from, but can include, sexual attractiveness. For example, humans often regard children and young individuals — both human and animal — as being highly attractive or "cute" for various reasons, but without sexual attraction.
Universal correlates of beauty
Strong correlations between attractiveness and particular physical properties have been found across cultures. Despite significant variation, there nonetheless exists a tremendous degree of agreement among cultures as to what is perceived as attractive when it is associated with human health. Healthier looking skin is universally associated with attractiveness. Infants, who presumably have not yet been affected by culture, tend to prefer the same faces considered attractive by adults. Some experiments have been done in America that support this finding.[3] These findings are used to imply that a large part of attractiveness is determined by inborn human nature - not nurture.
Olfactory factors
Determinants of male physical attractiveness
Physique
Research has found that male physiques with slim waists are rated as being attractive, particularly by females.[4] Participants also identified physiques with relatively broad shoulders as being attractive. In addition, chest muscularity resulted in slightly higher attractiveness ratings.[4]
Preference can also emerge for muscularity, though research performed at McLean Hospital has shown that Western men have a tendency to overestimate the amount of muscle considered ideal by women by as much as thirty pounds, whereas Asian men collectively do not exhibit such a misconception.[5]
A normal level of the hormone testosterone is a possible indicator of good sexual health. In the absence of normal testosterone levels, a man may exhibit physical symptoms of less muscle development and physical height reduction.
For heterosexual females, homosexual males and bisexuals of both genders across the world, the one near-universal sexually attractive feature of a man is a v-shaped torso: a relatively narrow waist offset with broad shoulders. While some cultures prefer their males huskier and others leaner, the rule of a v-shaped torso generally holds true.[6]
Facial features
It has been shown that women prefer more masculine men during the fertile period of the menstrual cycle and more feminine men during other parts of the cycle.[7] This distinction supports the sexy son hypothesis, which posits that it is evolutionarily advantageous for women to select potential fathers who are traditionally masculine rather than the best caregivers.[8] Masculine facial features are characterized by a strong brow and a broad jaw whereas feminine features are less pronounced. Likewise, tall men might more frequently be considered more sexually attractive than men of shorter stature.
Height
Female's sexual attraction towards a male can be partly determined by the height of the man.[9] Women seem more receptive to an erect posture than men, though both prefer it as an element of beauty; this fact appears correlated to the preference for males who demonstrate confidence, physical strength, and a powerful bearing. This preference can be explained by evolutionary psychology as the fact that ancestral women who were attracted to tall, physically powerful men benefited from better protection and therefore gained evolutionary fitness[10]. Additionally height in men is associated with status in nearly all cultures, which is beneficial to women romantically involved with them.Cite error: A <ref>
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(see the help page). Cosmopolitan Magazine has also published an article stating that women are most attracted to men who are 1.1 times her own height. In addition it was found that women have these different preferences for height depending on the phase of their menstrual cycle at the time. While women usually desire men that are at least the same height as themselves or taller, other factors also determine male attractiveness.[11]
Determinants of female physical attractiveness
The determinants of female physical attractiveness include those aspects that display health and fitness for reproduction and sustenance. These include correlates of fertility such as youth[12], waist-hip ratio,[13] mid upper arm circumference[14][15], body mass proportion[16] and facial symmetry.[17][18]
Signals of youth
Since a woman's reproductive value declines steadily with age after twenty, evolutionary selection has favored men who are attracted to youth in a mate. One study across 37 cultures showed men desire, on average, a woman 2.5 years younger than themselves for a wife with men in Nigeria and Zambia at the far extreme, desiring their wives to be 6.5 to 7.5 years younger[12]. As men age, they also desire a larger age gap from their mates.
This preference for youth has also lead to a preference of neotonic and youthful-appearing features. Full lips, clear, smooth skin, clear eyes, lustrous hair, and good muscle tone are all viewed as attractive in women.[12]
Proportion of body mass to body structure
The Body Mass Index (BMI) is another important universal determinant to the perception of beauty.[16] The BMI refers to the proportion of the body mass to the body structure. However, the optimal body proportion is interpreted differently in various cultures. The Western ideal considers a slim and slender body mass as optimal while many historic cultures consider an embonpoint or plump body-mass as appealing. [19] [20] Men don't seem to have evolved to hold a particular build as more attractive, but rather to be drawn to whichever build associates with social status.[20]
However, it should be noted that, in the United States, women overestimate men's preferences for thinness in a mate. In a study conducted by Paul Rozin, American women were asked to choose what their ideal build was and what they thought the build most attractive to men was. Women chose slimmer than average figures for both choices, though when American men were independently asked to chose the female build most attractive to them, they (the men) chose figures of average build, indicating that women are misled as to how thin men prefer women to be.[20]
The attraction for a proportionate body also influences an appeal for erect posture.[21]
Waist-hip ratio
Notwithstanding wide cultural differences in preferences for female build, scientists have discovered that the waist-hip ratio (WHR) of any build is very strongly correlated to attractiveness across all cultures.[20] Women with a 0.7 WHR (waist circumference that is 70% of the hip circumference) are invariably rated as more attractive by men, regardless of their culture.[13] The ratio is shown to have a very high correlation to female fertility, thereby unknowingly guiding men's evolutionary choices[22]. Such diverse beauty icons as Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, Beyoncé Knowles, Adriana Lima and the Venus de Milo all have ratios around 0.7.[23]
Height
Most males exhibit a preference for females of shorter physical stature than themselves, and studies indicate that women of below average height have greater reproductive success.[24] An advantage to smaller size may be that smaller size may be seen as more youthful, and males find pedomorphic characteristics in females attractive.[25] Yet another possible explanation is that shorter females usually reach sexual maturity earlier than their taller counterparts.[24]
Prototypicality as beauty
Besides biology and culture, there are other factors determining physical attractiveness. The more familiar a face seems, the more highly it is usually judged to be attractive, an example of the mere exposure effect. Also, when many faces are combined into a composite image (through computer morphing), people usually view the resulting image as more familiar, attractive, and beautiful than the faces that were combined to make the composite[26]. One interpretation is that this shows an inherent human preference for prototypicality. That is, the resultant face emerges with the salient features shared by most faces, and hence becomes the prototype. The prototypical face and features is therefore perceived as symmetrical and familiar. This reveals an "underlying preference for the familiar and safe over the unfamiliar and potentially dangerous".[17] However, critics of this interpretation point out that compositing computer images also has the effect of removing skin blemishes such as scars, and generally softens sharp facial features.
Classical conceptions of beauty are essentially a celebration of this prototypicality. This shows the importance of prototypicality in the judgment of beauty, and also explains the emergence of similarity of the perception of attractiveness within a community or society, which shares a gene pool.
Skin tone
Another feature is skin color on the spectrum of dark to light. As with most determinants of attractiveness, there are cultural differences: lighter tones are preferred by some cultures, while in others, tanned or darker skin is preferred.
In the 20th and 21st century Western world, tanned skin has often been considered highly attractive for both men and women. Here, the tan has come to carry with it connotations of having an active lifestyle, thus better (implied) physical health.
For some time after the Victorian era, lighter skin was preferred, as it was considered a marker of a more "cultured" individual or "gentlewoman" who did not have to engage in outdoor labor.
In eastern parts of Asia, including Southeast Asia, this preference for lighter skin remains prevalent. In East Asia in particular, fair skin is associated with youth, since skin darkens with exposure to the sun and aging. This conflation of youth and beauty is not exclusive to East Asia, and can be linked to the phenomenon of neoteny. Thus, it is hardly surprising that sales of skin whitening cosmetic products are popular in East Asia. This liking for fair skin however is not a recent development, and in China, for example, can be traced back to ancient drawings depicting women and goddesses with fair skin tones. In those periods, Chinese brides were often described and praised to suitors as being fair-skinned, a trait usually only associated with girls from royalty or nobility who could afford to stay indoors most of the time.
Social effects of attractiveness
When a person is seen as attractive or unattractive, assumptions are brought into play. Across cultures, what is beautiful is assumed to be good. Attractive people are assumed to be more extroverted, popular, and happy, and attractive people do tend to have these characteristics. However, this is probably due to self-fulfilling prophecy; from a young age, attractive people receive more attention that helps them develop these characteristics.[27][28]
Physical attractiveness can have real effects. A survey conducted by London Guildhall University of 11,000 people showed that those who subjectively describe themselves as physically attractive earn more than others who would describe themselves as less attractive[29]. Less attractive people earned, on average, 13% less than more attractive people, while the penalty for being overweight was around 5%. It is thought that these figures are similar around most of Europe, including France, Germany and Spain.
The discrimination against or prejudice towards others based on their appearance is referred to as Lookism.
Many have asserted that certain advantages tend to come to those that are perceived as being more attractive, including the ability to get better jobs and promotions, receiving better treatment from authorities and the legal system, having more choices in romantic partners and, therefore, more power in relationships, and marrying into families with more money.[30][27][28]
Both men and women use physical attractiveness as a measure of how 'good' another person is. However, in terms of behavior, some studies suggest little difference between men and women. Symmetrical men and women begin to have sexual intercourse earlier, have more sexual partners, engage in a wider variety of sexual activities and have more casual sex. They are also prone to infidelity and are more likely to have open marriages. (Etcoff pp.50-53,185-187)
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Buss, David (2003) [1994]. The Evolution of Desire (second ed.). New York: Basic Books. pp. 57, 58, 60–63.
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(help) - ^ Lorenz, Kate. (2005). "Do Pretty People Earn More?" CNN.com
- ^ Langlois et al, 1990.
- ^ a b Physical attractiveness: The influence of selected torso parameters" in Archives of Sexual Behavior Volume 10, No 1 1981
- ^ http://www.parapundit.com/archives/002608.html
- ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article855409.ece Women seduced by ‘V man’ with a matted chest from timesonline.com
- ^ "Women's choice of men goes in cycles". BBC News. Retrieved 30 November.
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suggested) (help) - ^ http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2003/Oct03/r102203
- ^ Pierce C. A. 1996; Cunningham, M.R. 1990; Pawlowski B, Dunbar RI, Lipowicz A 2000
- ^ Buss, David (2003) [1994]. The Evolution of Desire (second ed.). New York: Basic Books. pp. 38–40.
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(help) - ^ Sohn, E. Health, Nov2005, Vol. 19 Issue 9,
- ^ a b c Buss, David (2003) [1994]. The Evolution of Desire (second ed.). New York: Basic Books. pp. 51–54.
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(help) - ^ a b Singh, D 1993
- ^ http://www.unsystem.org/SCN/archives/adults/ch06.htm
- ^ Girl power; Human evolution.(Mothers, malnutrition and daughters) Economist (US), The, May, 22, 2003
- ^ a b Tovee MJ, Reinhardt S, Emery JL, Cornelissen PL. 1998
- ^ a b Berscheid and Reis, 1998
- ^ Fink, B. & Penton-Voak, I.S. (2002)
- ^ Cunningham, M.R., Roberts, A.R., Barbee, A.P., Druen, P.B., & Wu, C.H. 1995
- ^ a b c d Buss, David (2003) [1994]. The Evolution of Desire (second ed.). New York: Basic Books. pp. 55, 56.
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(help) - ^ Furnham, Adrian, Melanie Dias, and Alastair McClelland 1998
- ^ Buss, David (2003) [1994]. The Evolution of Desire (second ed.). New York: Basic Books. p. 56.
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(help) - ^ http://www.focused-on-fitness.com/health/bmi-waist-hip-ratio.php
- ^ a b BBC News: “Tall men ‘top husband stakes’”
- ^ [1]
- ^ Buss, David (2003) [1994]. The Evolution of Desire (second ed.). New York: Basic Books. pp. 54, 55.
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(help) - ^ a b Cash, T.F; Gillen, B; & Burns, D.S; 1977
- ^ a b Clark, M.S; & Mills, J. (1979)
- ^ http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/Careers/07/08/looks/ Do Pretty People Earn More from cnn.com
- ^ De Santis, A; and Kayson, W. A; 1999
References and bibliography
- Buss, David (2003) [1994]. The Evolution of Desire (second ed.). New York: Basic Books.
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(help) - Feinberg DR, Jones BC, Law Smith MJ, Moore FR, DeBruine LM, Cornwell RE, Hillier SG, Perrett DI. Horm Behav. 2006 Feb;49(2):215-22. Epub 2005 Aug 1.
- Ellen Berscheid and Harry T. Reis. "Attraction and Close Relationships". In Daniel T. Gilbert, Susan T. Fiske, and Gardner Lindzey, editors, Handbook of Social Psychology, pages 193-281. New York: McGrawHill, 1998.
- Harper, B. "Beauty, Statute and the Labour Market: A British Cohort Study", Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 62, December 2000, pp773-802. Press release and summary
- Fink, B. & Penton-Voak, I.S. (2002). Evolutionary Psychology of Facial Attractiveness. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(5). 154-158.
- Grammer, K., Fink, B., Møller, A.P. & Thornhill, R. (2003). Darwinian Aesthetics: Sexual Selection and the Biology of Beauty. Biological Reviews, 78(3), 385-407.
- Fisher, Helen. (2004) Why We Love : The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love, Henry Holt and Co.,
- Cash, T.F; Gillen, B; & Burns, D.S; (1977) "Sexism and 'beautyism' in personnel consultant decision making." Journal of Applied Psychology, 62, 301-310.
- Clark, M.S; & Mills, J. (1979) "Interpersonal attraction in exchange and communal relationships." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 12-24.
- Cunningham, M.R. (1990) "What do women want." Journal of personality & social psychology, 59, 61-72.
- Singh, D; (1993) "Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: role of waist - to - hip ratio". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 293 - 307
- Cunningham, M.R; Roberts, A.R; Barbee, A. P; Duren P.B; & Wu, C.H; (1995) "Their ideas of beauty are, on the whole, the same as ours: Consistency and Variability in the cross cultural perception of female physical attractiveness". Journal of Personality & social psychology, 68, 261 - 279.
- De Santis, A; and Kayson, W. A; (1999) "Defendants charactersitics of attractiveness, race, & sex and sentencing decisions." Psychological reports, 81. 679 - 683.
- Pierce C. A. (1996) Body Height and Romantic Attraction: A Meta-Analytic Test of the Male-Taller Norm, Social Behavior and Personality,24 (2), 143-150
- Rikowski, A., & Grammer, K. (1999). Human body odour, symmetry and attractiveness Proceedings. of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 266, 869-874.
- Barber, N. (1995). The evolutionary psychology of physical attractiveness: Sexual selection and human morphology. Ethology and Sociobiology, 16, 395-424.
- Fanzio, S. L., & Herzog, M. E. (1987). Judging physical attractiveness: What body aspects do we use? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 13, 19-33.
- Pawlowski B, Dunbar RI, Lipowicz A (2000) Evolutionary fitness: tall men have more reproductive success;Nature,13 Jan 2000, n. 403 (6766):156
- Furnham, Adrian, Melanie Dias, and Alastair McClelland (1998) The role of body weight, waist-to-hip ratio, and breast size in judgments of female attractiveness. Sex Roles 39:311-26.
- Tovee MJ, Reinhardt S, Emery JL, Cornelissen PL. (1998) Optimum body-mass index and maximum sexual attractiveness. Lancet; 352(9127):548
- Katch, F. I. (1993). The body profile analysis system (BPAS) to estimate ideal body size and shape: Application to ballet dancers and gymnasts. World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics, 71, 69-83.
- Buss, D. M. (1992). Do women have evolved preferences for men with resources? Ethology and Sociobiology, 12, 401-408.
- Kasser, T. and Sharma, Y. S. (1999). Reproductive freedom, educational equality, and females' preference for resource acquisition characteristics in mates. Psychological Science, 10: 374-377.
- Buss, D.M., & Barnes, M. (1986). Preferences in human mate selection. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 559-570.
- Hughes, S.M., & Gallup, G.G. (2003). Sex differences in morphological predictors of sexual behavior. Shoulder to hip and waist to hip ratios. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24(3), 173-178.
- Buss, D. M. (1985). Human mate selection. American Scientist, 73, 47-51.
- Singh, D. (1995). Female judgment of male attractiveness and desirability for relationships: Role of waist-to-hip ratio and financial status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(6), 1089-1101.
- Waynforth, D. (2001) Mate Choice Trade-offs and Women's Preference for Physically Attractive Men. Human Nature 12:207-219.
- Etcoff, Nancy (1996) Survival of the Prettiest:the science of beauty, New York , Anchor Books