Female health, attractiveness, and desirability for relationships: Role of breast asymmetry and waist-to-hip ratio

doi:10.1016/0162-3095(95)00073-9

Ethology and Sociobiology

Volume 16, Issue 6, November 1995, Pages 465-481

https://doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(95)00073-9 Get rights and content

Abstract

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of ordinarily bilaterally symmetrical traits in humans has been proposed to indicate developmental anomaly. Recent research has shown that individuals with minimal FA are judged to be attractive, and preferred as sexual partners (Thornhill and Gangestad 1993). Waist-to-hip ratios (WHR) have been also shown to reflect health and reproductive capability of woman and those with low WHRs are judged more attractive and healthy (Singh 1993a,b). The present study examines the relative roles of WHR and FA in female breasts in judgments of female attractiveness, health, and desirability for short-term and long-term relationships. Male college students were asked to judge attractiveness of female figures that differed in WHR (high and low) and breast symmetry (none, low, or high). In the first test, paired comparison method was used in which each figure was paired one at a time with all other figures. In the second test, subjects examined all figures simultaneously, estimated their age, and rated each figure for attractiveness, feminine looks, health, overall degree of body symmetry, and willingness to engage in short- and long-term relationship. Results from both tests show that figures with low WHRs were judged to be more attractive than figures with high WHRs, regardless of their degree of breast asymmetry. The figure with low WHR and symmetrical breasts was judged to be most attractive and youngest of all other figures. It appears that men use both WHR and breast asymmetry in judging attractiveness and being willing to develop romantic relationships. It is proposed that WHR and breast asymmetry may signal different aspects of overall female mate quality.

References (55)

S.W. Gangestad et al.
Facial attractiveness, developmental stability and fluctuating asymmetry
Ethology and Sociobiology
(1994)
V.S. Johnston et al.
Is beauty in the eye of the beholder?
Ethology and Sociobiology
(1993)
R.F. Leary et al.
Fluctuating asymmetry as an indicator of stress: implications for conservation biology
Trends in Ecology and Evolution
(1989)
B.S. Low et al.
Human hips, breasts, and buttocks: is fat deceptive?
Ethology and Sociobiology
(1987)
A.P. Møller et al.
Breast asymmetry, sexual selection, and human reproductive success
Ethnology and Sociobiology
(1995)
D. Singh
Is thin really beautiful and good? Relationship between waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and female attractiveness
Personality and Individual Differences
(1994)
R.W. Smuts
Fat, sex, class, adaptive flexibility, and cultural change
Ethnology and Sociobiology
(1992)
R. Thornhill
Fluctuating asymmetry and the mating system of the Japanese scorpion fly
Panorpa japonica. Animal Behavior
(1992)
P.W. Watson et al.
Fluctuating asymmetry and sexual selection
Trends in Ecology and Evolution
(1994)
J.L. Anderson et al.
Was the Duchess of Windsor right? A cross-cultural review of the socioecology of ideals of female body shape
Ethnology and Sociobiology
(1992)

P. Björntorp

Visceral fat accumulation: the missing link between psychological factors and cardiovascular disease?

Journal of Internal Medicine

(1991)

D.M. Buss

Sex differences in human mate preferences: evolutionary hypothesis tested in 37 cultures

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

(1989)

D.M. Buss

The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating

(1994)

D.M. Buss et al.

Sexual strategies theory: an evolutionary perspective on human mating

Psychological Review

(1993)

J.G.H. Cant

Hypothesis for the evolution of human breast and buttocks

American Naturalist

(1981)

H. Cronin

The Ant and the Peacock: Altruism and Sexual Selection from Darwin to Today

(1991)

M.R. Cunningham

Measuring the physical in physical attractiveness: quasi-experiments on the sociobiology of female facial beauty

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

(1986)

M. Daly et al.

Sex, Evolution, and Behavior

(1983)

G.G. Gallup

Unique features of human sexuality in the context of evolution

D.M. Garner et al.

Cultural expectation of thinness in women

Psychological Reports

(1980)

K. Grammer et al.

Human facial attractiveness and sexual selection: the role of symmetry and averageness

Journal of Comparative Psychology

(1994)

W.D. Hamilton et al.

Heritable true fitness and bright birds: a role for parasites?

Science

(1982)

A.A. Hoffman et al.

Selection for desiccation resistance in Drosophila melanogaster: additive genetic control and correlated responses for other stresses

Genetics

(1989)

S. Itakura

Recognition of line-drawing representations by a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)

Journal of General Psychology

(1994)

M. Kirkpatrick et al.

The evolution of mating preferences and the paradox of the lek

Nature

(1991)

C.M. Law et al.

Early growth and abdominal fatness in adult life

Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health

(1992)

G. Livshits et al.

Fluctuating asymmetry as a possible measure of developmental homeostasis in humans: a review

Human Biology

(1991)

Cited by (105)

Breast symmetry, but not size or volume, predicts salivary immunoglobulin-A (sIgA) in women
2021, Evolution and Human Behavior
Citation Excerpt :
Much extant work linking fluctuating asymmetry to immunocompetence has focussed on relatively innocuous traits instead of overt secondary sexual characteristics that (1) draw more attention from the opposite sex, and (2) more strongly influence attractiveness. Previous research has shown that breast symmetry is an important evaluation criterion used by men to gauge female attractiveness and health (Duncan, 2010; Singh, 1995). Identifying healthy mating partners is an important adaptive challenge with implications for reproductive fitness (see Arnocky, Pearson, & Vaillancourt, 2015).
Human breasts are larger and more enduring than reproductively necessary. It is thus unclear why this costly, yet conspicuous phenotype has been selected for, or what information they might convey about the underlying quality of the female. Following previous research on fluctuating asymmetry, we postulated that breast symmetry would predict a marker of mucosal immunity (salivary immunoglobulin-A; sIgA). Anthropometric breast measurements were provided by 97 young women. Controlling for Body Mass Index (BMI), breast size, and volume, results demonstrated that breast asymmetry predicted lower sIgA, whereas size and volume did not. Results support the hypothesis that symmetrical female breasts are a cue to underlying immunocompetence.
Waist to hip ratio and breast size modulate the processing of female body silhouettes: An EEG study
2020, Evolution and Human Behavior
Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and breast size are considered important biological features defining female body attractiveness; but their neurophysiological correlates remain largely unknown. To shed light on this issue, behavioral and electroencephalographic responses were recorded while healthy heterosexual men and women completed an oddball task, which was then followed by an attractiveness judgement task. In both cases participants were presented with female body forms that combined 0.6, 0.7 or 0.8 WHRs with small or large breast sizes. Brain activity dynamics were explored using temporal principal component analysis of the event-related potentials data. Variance in the data was explained mostly by eight temporal factors for the oddball task and six for the attractiveness judgement task. Lower WHRs seemed to gather larger processing resources than higher WHRs at early perceptual-related processes during the oddball task. The less attractive WHRs and breast sizes, in contrast, seemed to boost allocation of resources later in the processing stream, which may be due to a negativity bias enhancing evaluation and decision-making processes. This inference is supported by results from the attractiveness judgement task, although the observer's gender may also play a role. Finally, LORETA analysis of the temporal factors indicate that variations in WHR may modulate activation of frontal regions, such as the anterior cingulate and orbitofrontal cortex, that are related with reward processing and decision-making; while variations in breast size may influence activity in posterior parietal regions involved in human body perception. This paper highlights the biological importance of female body physical features in defining attractiveness, and the neurophysiological correlates that are implicated.
Evidence supporting nubility and reproductive value as the key to human female physical attractiveness
2019, Evolution and Human Behavior
Citation Excerpt :
Controlling for social class and parity, age was a significant predictor of BMI in a large United Kingdom sample (Gulliford, Rona, & Chinn, 1992). In a study in which males estimated the age of female figures varying in BMI and WHR (Singh, 1995), they judged the figures with the lowest BMIs (15) to be the youngest, with an estimated age of 17-19. We will explore the relationship of WHR and BMI with age in a large American sample.
Selection should favor mating preferences that increase the chooser's reproductive success. Many previous studies have shown that the women men find most attractive in well-nourished populations have low body mass indices (BMIs) and small waist sizes combined with relatively large hips, resulting in low waist-hip ratios (WHRs). A frequently proposed explanation for these preferences is that such women may have enhanced health and fertility; but extensive evidence contradicts this health-and-fertility explanation. An alternative view is that men are attracted to signs of nubility and high reproductive value, i.e., by indicators of physical and sexual maturity in young women who have not been pregnant. Here we provide evidence in support of the view that a small waist size together with a low WHR and BMI is a strong and reliable sign of nubility. Using U.S. data from large national health surveys, we show that WHR, waist/thigh, waist/stature, and BMI are all lower in the age group (15-19) in which women reach physical and sexual maturity, after which all of these anthropometric measures increase. We also show that a smaller waist, in conjunction with relatively larger hips or thighs, is strongly associated with nulligravidity and with higher blood levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a fatty acid that is probably limiting for infant brain development. Thus, a woman with the small waist and relatively large hips that men find attractive is very likely to be nubile and nulliparous, with maximal bodily stores of key reproductive resources.
Human Mate Choice, Evolution of
2015, International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences: Second Edition
Evolutionary perspectives on human mating have generated a substantial corpus of work that reveals important sex differences in mate choice and preferences. Both men and women engage in multiple mating strategies, from long-term committed relationships to short-term sexual liaisons. This article summarizes how sex-specific adaptive problems faced by our ancestors shaped men's mate choices, including preferences for cues to fertility, sexual availability, faithfulness, and numerous partners; and women's mate choices, including preferences for cues to ambition, dependability, and investment potential. We also examine how these preferences differ in long-term compared to short-term mating contexts. Understanding the evolved nature of these differences is crucial not only in expanding understanding of human mating behaviors, but also in understanding the sexual conflict that results from sex differences in mate choice.
Personal traits, cohabitation, and marriage
2014, Social Science Research
This study examines how personal traits affect the likelihood of entering into a cohabitating or marital relationship using a competing risk survival model with cohabitation and marriage as competing outcomes. The data are from Waves 1, 3, and 4 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a rich dataset with a large sample of young adults (N = 9835). A personal traits index is constructed from interviewer-assessed scores on the respondents’ physical attractiveness, personality, and grooming. Having a higher score on the personal traits index is associated with a greater hazard of entering into a marital relationship for men and women, but the score does not have a significant influence on entering into a cohabitating relationship. Numerous sensitivity tests support the core findings.
Birds of a feather... Generalization of facial structures following massive familiarization
2013, Acta Psychologica
Citation Excerpt :
The preference for symmetry in faces appears to be present in all cultures and is a deep feature of human biology (Little, Apicella, & Marlowe, 2007; Little et al., 2008; Rhodes et al., 2001). It has been suggested that symmetry in faces and bodies signal successful adaptation to environmental pressures and genetic and reproductive fitness (Jones et al., 2001; Rhodes et al., 2001; Singh, 1995; Thornhill & Gangestad, 1999, 2006). Symmetry has been shown to be an important characteristic even for non-human species (Moller & Thornhill, 1998; Thornhill & Moller, 1998).
Three experiments examined the effects of symmetry and complexity, as facial structures, on the aesthetic judgments of faces, and how these effects are modulated by moderate or massive familiarization. Results showed that symmetrical faces were judged as more attractive than nonsymmetrical faces, and simple faces were judged as more attractive than complex faces—with complexity defined as the number of facial elements. Complexity in faces seemed to have overridden the usually positive effects of facial symmetry. Moreover, while moderate familiarization did not modulate the effects, massive familiarization to a specific face type resulted in structural generalization effects: participants provided higher aesthetic judgments to faces that were new, but similarly structured to those which they were familiarized. This latter result contrasts previous studies that have found structural contrast effects following familiarization to meaningless, abstract stimuli. Taken together, these results reflect the greater biological and social significance of faces as compared to other objects in the world. They also show that people are drawn to those with familiar characteristics.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

Original articleFemale health, attractiveness, and desirability for relationships: Role of breast asymmetry and waist-to-hip ratio

Abstract

Ethology and Sociobiology

Ethology and Sociobiology

Trends in Ecology and Evolution

Ethology and Sociobiology

Ethnology and Sociobiology

Personality and Individual Differences

Ethnology and Sociobiology

Panorpa japonica. Animal Behavior

Trends in Ecology and Evolution

Was the Duchess of Windsor right? A cross-cultural review of the socioecology of ideals of female body shape

Ethnology and Sociobiology

Visceral fat accumulation: the missing link between psychological factors and cardiovascular disease?

Journal of Internal Medicine

Sex differences in human mate preferences: evolutionary hypothesis tested in 37 cultures

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating

Sexual strategies theory: an evolutionary perspective on human mating

Psychological Review

Hypothesis for the evolution of human breast and buttocks

American Naturalist

The Ant and the Peacock: Altruism and Sexual Selection from Darwin to Today

Measuring the physical in physical attractiveness: quasi-experiments on the sociobiology of female facial beauty

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Sex, Evolution, and Behavior

Unique features of human sexuality in the context of evolution

Cultural expectation of thinness in women

Psychological Reports

Human facial attractiveness and sexual selection: the role of symmetry and averageness

Journal of Comparative Psychology

Heritable true fitness and bright birds: a role for parasites?

Science

Selection for desiccation resistance in Drosophila melanogaster: additive genetic control and correlated responses for other stresses

Genetics

Recognition of line-drawing representations by a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)

Journal of General Psychology

The evolution of mating preferences and the paradox of the lek

Nature

Early growth and abdominal fatness in adult life

Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health

Fluctuating asymmetry as a possible measure of developmental homeostasis in humans: a review

Human Biology

Original article
Female health, attractiveness, and desirability for relationships: Role of breast asymmetry and waist-to-hip ratio