Quantcast
ZME Science
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
Home Health & Medicine

Women prefer more masculine male faces no matter their own fertility

Good news for macho men.

Elena Motivans by Elena Motivans
May 8, 2018
in Health & Medicine, Mind & Brain, News, Offbeat
Reading Time: 2 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

When it comes to finding potential partners attractive, most people have a “type”. It turns out that most heterosexual women have a similar type—they generally prefer men with masculine facial features. In past studies, hormones were found to influence what type of men to which women are attracted. Researchers from the University of Glasgow have debunked this theory with the largest study on female attraction to male faces.

In total, 584 heterosexual women were recruited to this study. They reported whether they were in a relationship and whether they were taking the birth control pill. The participants provided a saliva sample that was used to test hormone levels and then they took a test to rate which male faces they found the most attractive.

The more masculine face. Image credits: Jones et al., Psychological Science.

Ten pairs of male faces were created for the test. Each pair was based on the same photo but one was digitally altered to have more feminine features, while the other was altered to have more masculine features. The study participants had to choose which face they found more attractive in each pair. Other filler questions were asked in between so the participants wouldn’t catch on to the goal of the study.

ADVERTISEMENT
The more feminine face. Image credits: Jones et al., Psychological Science.

Unsurprisingly, women rated the more masculine faces as more attractive. There was no link to the women’s hormone levels at the time of the test. Neither fertility hormones nor other influential hormones (e.g. testosterone and cortisol) played any role. Additionally, taking the birth control pill did not decrease the preference for masculine faces, as had previously been shown. These results contradict the previous hypothesis that women only prefer more masculine, hence biologically fitter, mates when they are fertile. The studies that supported this hypothesis has small sample sizes, which could be how they found an effect. This current sudy, with a much larger sample size, suggests that women prefer masculine traits in general, whether they themselves are fertile or not.

Sorry to interrupt, but you should really...

...Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40,000 subscribers can't be wrong.

   

“This study is noteworthy for its scale and scope — previous studies typically examined small samples of women using limited measures,” explains lead researcher Benedict C. Jones of the University of Glasgow. “With much larger sample sizes and direct measures of hormonal status, we weren’t able to replicate effects of hormones on women’s preferences for masculine faces.”

The results are published in the journal Psychological Science.

Journal reference: Jones et al. 2018. No Compelling Evidence That Preferences for Facial Masculinity Track Changes in Women’s Hormonal Status. Psychological Science.

ADVERTISEMENT

Share7TweetShare
Elena Motivans

Elena Motivans

I've always liked the way that words can sound together. Combined with my love for nature (and biology background), I'm interested in diving deep into different topics- in the natural world even the most mundane is fascinating!

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.