Original Article
Cultural differences in preferences for facial coloration

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2017.11.005Get rights and content

Abstract

Effects of facial coloration on facial attractiveness judgments are hypothesized to be “universal” (i.e., similar across cultures). Cross-cultural similarity in facial color preferences is a critical piece of evidence for this hypothesis. However, only two studies have directly compared facial color preferences in two cultures. Both of those studies reported that White UK and Black African participants showed similar preferences for facial coloration. By contrast with the cross-cultural similarity reported in those studies, here we show cultural differences in the effects of facial coloration on Chinese and White UK participants' facial attractiveness judgments. While Chinese participants preferred faces with decreased yellowness to faces with increased yellowness, White UK participants preferred faces with increased yellowness to faces with decreased yellowness. Chinese participants also demonstrated weaker preferences for facial redness and stronger preferences for facial lightness than did White UK participants. These results suggest that preferences for facial coloration are not universal.

Introduction

Facial attractiveness judgments predict important social outcomes, such as decisions about who we choose to date, mate with, hire, and vote for (Langlois et al., 2000, Little et al., 2011, Rhodes, 2006). Consequently, identifying factors that influence facial attractiveness judgments can provide insight into the mechanisms and processes that underpin a potentially important driver of social behavior and outcomes (Langlois et al., 2000, Little et al., 2011, Rhodes, 2006). A first step in investigating this issue is testing whether facial characteristics have similar effects on attractiveness judgments in different cultures (Langlois et al., 2000, Little et al., 2011, Rhodes, 2006). Indeed, many researchers have reported “universal” preferences for aspects of face shape (see Little et al., 2011 and Rhodes, 2006 for reviews).

Effects of skin characteristics on facial attractiveness judgments are at least as large as (if not larger than) those of shape characteristics (Said and Todorov, 2011, Scott et al., 2010, Stephen et al., 2012, Torrance et al., 2014). Studies have reported that independently increasing yellowness, lightness, or redness in face images increases both their attractiveness and perceived health (Fisher et al., 2014, Kandrik et al., 2017, Stephen et al., 2009, Stephen et al., 2009, Stephen et al., 2011; see also Lefevre, Ewbank, Calder, von dem Hagen, & Perrett, 2013). These preferences for facial coloration are independent of possible effects of facial cues to ethnicity. Moreover, because facial coloration is linked to both oxygenated blood and diet (Stephen et al., 2009, Whitehead et al., 2012), preferences for facial coloration are hypothesized to reflect adaptations that function to identify individuals in good physical health (Stephen et al., 2011, Stephen et al., 2012). However, evidence that facial coloration is associated with measures of susceptibility to infectious diseases is equivocal (Foo et al., 2017, Foo et al., 2017, Henderson et al., 2017, Phalane et al., 2017).

Because facial coloration is hypothesized to be a valid health cue (Stephen et al., 2011, Stephen et al., 2012) and aversions to cues of poor health are hypothesized to occur across cultures (Langlois et al., 2000), some researchers have predicted that the effects of facial coloration on attractiveness judgments and health perceptions will be universal (Stephen et al., 2011, Stephen et al., 2012). However, only two studies have directly compared facial color preferences in two cultures (Coetzee et al., 2014, Stephen et al., 2012). Coetzee et al. (2014) and Stephen et al. (2012) reported similar correlations between facial coloration and attractiveness in White UK and Black African participants. Studies investigating relationships between facial coloration and attractiveness judgments in either White UK or Black African samples have also reported similar preferences (e.g., Coetzee et al., 2012).

If preferences for facial coloration are similar across cultures, as has been claimed, then, cross-cultural similarity in facial color preferences should be evident in cross-cultural comparisons other than those reported by Coetzee et al. (2014) and Stephen et al. (2012). To investigate this issue, we compared Chinese and White UK participants' attractiveness judgments of faces that had been independently manipulated in global yellowness, lightness, and redness.

Section snippets

Participants

In total, 196 participants took part in the study. These included 52 White UK men (Mage = 22.83 years, SD = 5.55 years) and 49 White UK women (Mage = 21.82 years, SD = 3.64 years), all of whom were born and resided in the UK. They also included 48 Chinese men (Mage = 24.47 years, SD = 3.64 years) and 47 Chinese women (Mage = 24.00 years, SD = 2.75 years), all of whom were born in China, but currently resided in the UK (mean number of years in the UK = 1.06 years, SD = 0.95 years).

Stimuli

First, full-face photographs of 5 young

Results

Responses on the attractiveness-judgment task were analyzed using mixed binary logistic regression analyses in R v3.3.2 (R Core Team, 2016) with lme4 v1.1-12 (Bates, Maechler, Bolker, & Walker, 2015). Preferences for facial yellowness, lightness, and redness were analyzed in separate models. In each model, the dependent variable was binary choice (0 = chose version of face with decreased color values, 1 = chose version of face with increased color values). Independent variables were sex of face

Discussion

We compared Chinese and White UK participants' attractiveness judgments of faces that had been independently manipulated in global coloration. We show, for the first time, that Chinese participants preferred faces with decreased yellowness to faces with increased yellowness. By contrast, White UK participants preferred faces with increased yellowness to faces with decreased yellowness. These opposite preferences for facial yellowness in Chinese and White UK participants show that preferences

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    This research was supported by European Research Council Grants to BCJ (OCMATE) and LMD (KINSHIP). We thank Rachael Jack for helpful comments and discussion.

    1

    Amanda C. Hahn is now at Department of Psychology, Humboldt State University, Arcate, CA, United States.

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