title: Do Masculine Men Smell Better? An Association Between Skin Color Masculinity and Female Preferences for Body Odor.
abstract: A recent study claimed face skin color as a sexually dimorphic variable that influences attractiveness preferences in mate choice. Thereby, skin color may assume the role of a mate quality signal influencing attractiveness preferences. As body odor is linked to attractiveness, this study aimed to explore whether the odors of men with more masculine facial skin color would be evaluated more positively than odors from less masculine men. Female raters were presented with body odors of 18 men and were asked to rate them in various characteristics. Multilevel modeling revealed that the odors of the donors with more masculine color were rated not only as more attractive, more pleasant, and sexier, but also healthier. This indicates that odor associated with men with more masculine skin color is attractive, just as other sexually dimorphic traits. Furthermore, we found a negative relation between skin color masculinity and perceived odor maleness. Regarding this last finding, a new discussion is introduced with respect to the influence of cognitive stereotypes in odor judgments. Altogether, the study supports the possibility that chemosensory signals may be communicating signs of mate quality associated with masculinity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Psychology, Centre for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.|Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Life Sciences (IBILI), Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal.|School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Mary's Quad, South Street, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP, Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: Mariana L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Carrito
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Psychology, Centre for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Isabel M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Psychology, Centre for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.|Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Life Sciences (IBILI), Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal.|Lusófona University of Humanities and Technology, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Alho
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Psychology, Centre for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.|Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Life Sciences (IBILI), Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Psychology, Centre for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.|Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division for Psychology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden and.|William James Center for Research, ISPA-Instituto Universitário, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Sandra C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Psychology, Centre for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.|Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Life Sciences (IBILI), Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bem-Haja
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Psychology, Centre for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal.
authors.forename: Carlos F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Mary's Quad, South Street, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP, Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: David I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Perrett
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005145:Face / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057228:Masculinity; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012880:Skin Pigmentation / Q000502:physiology*; D012903:Smell; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: attractiveness; male coloration; mate preferences; olfaction; scent; sexual dimorphism.