David Perrett: Face Perception and Human Attraction
Beauty from a biological perspective
1. Sexual selection for disease immunity and paternal support(36).A central assumption of evolutionary theory is that females are attracted to males who display signs of health and immunity to disease. Testosterone is thought to handicap the immune system and benefit attractiveness through this handicap because only males with a superb immune system can afford to display the effects of testosterone on body growth. Well that’s the theory but is there any evidence.
Perrett, D.I. (2009) In Your Face, Palgrave Macmillan, Chapter 6 THE POINT OF BEAUTY; Chapter 5 HIS AND HERS (initial pages)
2. Sex hormonal influenceson face preferences: changes within individuals(37).There are marked sex differences in attraction to faces; furthermore there are marked changes in preferences within the same individual. This topic explores the correlations between levels of sex hormones (testosterone, progesterone and oestrogen) with attraction to signs of health and masculinity/femininity in adult faces and cuteness in infant faces.
Chapter 5 HIS AND HERS
Universal and individual aesthetics.
3. Universal, individual and cultural differences in face preferences.(31)There are characteristics that are appear universally attractive; yet fortunately, we do not all fancy the same people. This topic explores the role of the environment, culture and the basis of differences in opinion about the attractiveness of particular facial characteristics.
Chapter 4 BEAUTY IN BALANCE
4. Intra-sexual competition and preferences (17). Most research on human attraction investigates female choice of male characteristics - inter-sexual selection. Competition between individuals of the same sex (intra-sexual selection) is equally important in evolution and aesthetics. Indeed, competition has a wide influences on everyday life (e.g. shopping) and romance.
Health and beauty
5. Face cues to current health(31)While a sex typical appearance and symmetry have been considered signs of health for decades, other facial characteristics may provide more reliable cues to current health? For example skin colour may provide a cue to sickness and multiple aspects of a healthy lifestyle.
Chapter 7 FIT FACE
Developmental influences on attraction
6. Early life, stress and sexual maturation. (18)Infants demonstrate reactions to faces from very early in life so some aspects of face perception appear innate. Yet early experience also shapes preferences. Indeed, the faces that infants see in the family and even in story books have a profound effect on their perceptual interests. The absence of a father in the first 5 years can mean girls develop faster and reach puberty 6 months earlier. Family relations and speed of development have equally powerful effects on appearance and on partner preferences.
Chapter 3. A BABY’S BIASChapter 10. ALL IN THE FAMILY
7. Learning from family and from peers (9)Family characteristics defined through odour or facial resemblancemay be attractive or unattractive in potential partners.Family characteristics are also important in parental attraction to offspring. Paternity for humans may be uncertain. Given this uncertainty what influences a father to invest in children that may or may not be his biological offspring? While it is clear we learn from our family, it is also becoming evident that we learn from peers and what they think is attractive.
Chapter 10. ALL IN THE FAMILY
Advanced Reading
1. Sexual selection for disease immunity and paternal support
Rantala, M.J., et al.(2012) Evidence for the stress-linked immunocompetence handicap hypothesis in humans. Nature Communication 3: 694 doi: 10.1038/ncomms1696.
Perrett, D.I., et al.(1998) Effects of sexual dimorphism on facial attractiveness. Nature 394: 884-887.
Mascaro, J. S., et al.(2013). Testicular volume is inversely correlated with nurturing-related brain activity in human fathers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 201305579.
2. Sex hormonal influenceson face preferences: changes within individuals
Jones, B.C., et al. (2005) Menstrual cycle, pregnancy and oral contraceptive use alter attraction to apparent health in faces. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biology 272: 347-354.
Penton-Voak, I.S., et al.(1999) Menstrual cycle changes face preference. Nature 399: 741-742.
Sprengelmeyer, R., et al. (2009) The cutest little baby face: Differences in adults' sensitivity to cuteness in infant faces. Psychological Science 20: 149-154.
Welling, L.L.M., et al.(2008). Men report stronger attraction to femininity in women’s faces when their testosterone levels are high. Hormones and Behavior 54: 703-708.
3. Universal, individual and cultural differences in face preferences.
Little, A.C., et al. (2001) Self-perceived attractiveness influences human female preferences for sexual dimorphism and symmetry in male faces. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biology 268: 39-44.
DeBruine, L.M.,et al. (2010) The health of a nation predicts their mate preferences: cross-cultural variation in women’s preferences for masculinized male faces. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biology 277: 2405-2410.
Little, A.C.,et al. (2011) Exposure to visual cues of pathogen contagion changes preferences for masculinity and symmetry in opposite-sex faces. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 278: 2032-2039.
4. Intra-sexual competition and preferences
Burriss R.P. & Little A.C. (2006). Effects of partner conception risk phase on male perception of dominance in faces. Evolution and Human Behaviour 27: 297-305.
Durante, K.M., et al.(2011). Ovulation, female competition, and product choice: hormonal influences on consumer behavior. Journal of Sex Research 46: 1-11.
Durante, K.M., et al. (2008). Changes in women’s choice of dress across the ovulatory cycle: Naturalistic and experimental evidence. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34: 1451-1460.
Haselton, M.G., Gangestad, S.W. (2006) Conditional expression of women's desires and men's mate guarding across the ovulatory cycle. Hormones and Behavior 49: 509-518.
5. Face cues to current health
Coetzee, V. et al. (2009) Facial adiposity: a cue to health? Perception 38: 1700-1711.
Stephen, I.D. et al. (2011) Carotenoid and melanin pigment coloration affect perceived human health. Evolution and Human Behavior 32: 216-227.
Thornhill, R. & Gangestad, S. (2006) Facial sexual dimorphism, developmental stability, and susceptibility to disease in men and women.Evolution and Human Behavior27: 131-144.
Scott, I.M., et al. (2010) Does masculinity matter? The contribution of masculine face shape to male attractiveness in humans, PLoS One 5: e13585
6. Early life, stress and sexual maturation.
Pascalis, O., et al.(2005) Plasticity of face processing in infancy.Proceedings of the National Academy of Science U.S.A. 102: 5297-5300.
Quinn, P.C., et al. (2007). Preference for attractive faces in human infants extends beyond conspecifics. Developmental Science. 11, 76–83.
Bereczkei, T., et al.(2004) Sexual imprinting in human mate choice.Proceedings of the Royal Society B 271: 1129-1134.
Sugita, Y. (2008) Face perception in monkeys reared with no exposure to faces. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 105: 394-398.
Boothroyd, L.G. & Perrett, D.I. (2008) Father absence, parent-daughter relationships and partner preferences.Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 6: 187-205.
Cornwell, R.E., et al.(2006) Reproductive strategy, sexual development and attraction to facial characteristics.Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 361: 2143-2154.
7. Learning from family and from peers
Alvergne, A., et al.(2009) Father-offspring resemblance predicts paternal investment in humans. Animal Behaviour 78: 61-69.
DeBruine, L.M., et al.(2011) Opposite-sex siblings decrease attraction, but not prosocial attributions, to self-resembling opposite-sex faces. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 108: 11710-11714.
Jones, B.C., et al.(2007) Social transmission of face preferences among humans. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 274: 899-903.