title: Adult age and gender differences in perceptions of facial attractiveness: beauty is in the eye of the older beholder.
abstract: The authors examined ratings of facial attractiveness, rankings of faces and reasons given by young, middle-aged, and older men and women for young, middle-aged, and older male and female face attractiveness. No support for predictions derived from similarity, interest, and cohort hypotheses was obtained. In support of the expertise hypothesis, young and middle-aged adults rated younger faces as more attractive than old faces, whereas older adults rated all aged faces equally. In support of the crone hypothesis, older female faces were rated the lowest of all faces. Theoretical implications and real-world applications are discussed.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Department of Psychology, 9201 University City Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 29223, USA. pwfoos@uncc.edu
authors.forename: Paul W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Foos
authors.forename: M Cherie
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Clark
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001504:Beauty; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011287:Prejudice; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D055815:Young Adult