title: Discriminating males and unpredictable females: males differentiate self-similar facial cues more than females in the judgment of opposite-sex attractiveness.
abstract: Attractiveness judgment in the context of mate preferences is thought to reflect an assessment of mate quality in relation to an absolute scale of genetic fitness and a relative scale of self-similarity. In this study, subjects judged the attractiveness and trustworthiness of faces in composite images that were manipulated to produce self-similar (self-resemblance) and dissimilar (other-resemblance) images. Males differentiated between self- and other-resemblance as well as among different degrees of self-resemblance in their attractiveness ratings; females did not. Specifically, in Experiment 1, using a morphing technique, we created previously unseen face images possessing different degrees (0%, 30%, 40%, or 50%) of incorporation of the subject's images (different degrees of self-resemblance) and found that males preferred images that were closer to average (0%) rather than more self-similar, whereas females showed no preference for any degree of self-similarity. In Experiment 2, we added a pro-social question about trustworthiness. We replicated the Experiment 1 attractiveness rating results and further found that males differentiated between self- and other-resemblance for the same degree of composites; women did not. Both males and females showed a similar preference for self-resemblances when judging trustworthiness. In conclusion, only males factored self-resemblance into their attractiveness ratings of opposite-sex individuals in a manner consistent with cues of reproductive fitness, although both sexes favored self-resemblance when judging trustworthiness.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (MOE & STCSM), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jin-Ying
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (MOE & STCSM), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Sen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (MOE & STCSM), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (MOE & STCSM), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Die
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001504:Beauty; D003463:Cues; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D035502:Trust / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult