Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
4-2014
Abstract
Both attractiveness judgements and mate preferences vary considerably cross-culturally. We investigated whether men's preference for femininity in women's faces varies between 28 countries with diverse health conditions by analysing responses of 1972 heterosexual participants. Although men in all countries preferred feminized over masculinized female faces, we found substantial differences between countries in the magnitude of men's preferences. Using an average femininity preference for each country, we found men's facial femininity preferences correlated positively with the health of the nation, which explained 50.4% of the variation among countries. The weakest preferences for femininity were found in Nepal and strongest in Japan. As high femininity in women is associated with lower success in competition for resources and lower dominance, it is possible that in harsher environments, men prefer cues to resource holding potential over high fecundity.
Keywords
facial preferences, femininity, national health, other-race effect
Discipline
Gender and Sexuality | Social Psychology
Research Areas
Psychology
Publication
Biology Letters
Volume
10
Issue
4
First Page
20130850: 1
Last Page
4
ISSN
1744-957X
Identifier
10.1098/rsbl.2013.0850
Publisher
Royal Society
Citation
Marcinkowska, U. M., Kozlov, M. V., Cai, H., Contreras-Garduño, J., Dixson, B. J., Gavita, O. A., Kaminski, G., LI, Norman P., Lyons, M. T., Onyishi, I. E., Prasai, K., Pazhoohi, F., Prokop, P., Cardozo, S., Sydney, N., & YONG, Jose C..(2014). Cross cultural variation in men's preference for sexual dimorphism in women's faces. Biology Letters, 10(4), 20130850: 1-4.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1615
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0850
Comments
Data available at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.32610