Abstrakti
Women's preferences for masculine versus feminine male faces are highly variable. According to a dominant theory in evolutionary psychology, this variability results from adaptations that optimize preferences by calibrating them to certain contextual factors, including women's self-perceived attractiveness, short- versus long-term relationship orientation, pathogen disgust sensitivity, and stage of the menstrual cycle. The theory does not account for the possible contribution of genetic variation on women's facial masculinity preference. Using a large sample (N = 2,160) of identical and nonidentical female Finnish twins and their siblings, we showed that the proportion of variation in women's preferences regarding male facial masculinity that was attributable to genetic variation (38%) dwarfed the variation due to the combined effect of contextual factors (< 1%). These findings cast doubt on the importance of these context-dependent effects and may suggest a need for refocusing in the field toward understanding the wide genetic variation in these preferences and how this variation relates to the evolution of sexual dimorphism in faces.
Alkuperäiskieli | Ei tiedossa |
---|---|
Sivut | 1440–1448 |
Sivumäärä | 9 |
Julkaisu | Psychological Science |
Vuosikerta | 26 |
Numero | 9 |
DOI - pysyväislinkit | |
Tila | Julkaistu - 2015 |
OKM-julkaisutyyppi | A1 Julkaistu artikkeli, soviteltu |
Keywords
- behavior genetics
- evolutionary psychology