The evolutionary psychology of physical attractiveness: Sexual selection and human morphology

doi:10.1016/0162-3095(95)00068-2

Ethology and Sociobiology

Volume 16, Issue 5, September 1995, Pages 395-424

https://doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(95)00068-2 Get rights and content

Abstract

Psychological evidence suggests that sex differences in morphology have been modified by sexual selection so as to attract mates (intersexual selection) or intimidate rivals (intrasexual selection). Women compete with each other for high quality husbands by advertising reproductive value in terms of the distribution of fat reserves and by exaggerating morphological indicators of youthfulness such as a small nose and small feet and pale, hairless skin. Men's physical appearance tends to communicate social dominance, which has the combined effects of intimidating reproductive rivals and attracting mates. In addition to their attractiveness and intimidatory effects, human secondary sexual characters also provide cues to hormonal status and phenotypic quality consistent with the good genes model of sexual selection (which includes parasite resistance). Low waist-hip ratio is sexually attractive in women and indicates a high estrogen/testosterone ratio (which favors reproductive function). Facial attractiveness provides honest cues to health and mate value. The permanently enlarged female breast appears to have evolved under the influence of both the good genes and the runaway selection mechanisms. The male beard is not obviously related to phenotypic quality and may have evolved through a process of runaway intersexual selection.

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Original articleThe evolutionary psychology of physical attractiveness: Sexual selection and human morphology

Abstract

Ethology and Sociobiology

Ethology and Sociobiology

Ethology and Sociobiology

Journal of Human Evolution

Ethology and Sociobiology

Ethology and Sociobiology

Theoretical Population Biology

Ethology and Sociobiology

Ethology and Sociobiology

Journal of Human Evolution

Ethology and Sociobiology

Tree

Journal of Theoretical Biology

Sexual dimorphisms and breeding systems in pinnipeds, ungulates, primates, and humans

Judgments of physical attractiveness: the role of faces and bodies

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Average faces are attractive, but very attractive faces are not average

Psychological Science

Intrasexual selection

Drosophila. Heredity

Variables related to women's somatic preferences of the male and female body

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

The impact of age-related changes on social perception

Redistribution: equity or exploitation

Adipose tissue distribution and function

International Journal of Obesity

Intimate Relationships

Sexual selection and human evolution: all or none adaptation?

American Anthropologist

Sex differences in human mate selection criteria: an evolutionary perspective

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

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Sexual strategies theory: an evolutionary perspective on human mating

Psychological Review

The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating

Hypothesis for the evolution of human breasts and buttocks

American Naturalist

The Living Races of Man

From evolution to behavior: evolutionary psychology as the missing link

Sexual selection, dimorphism, and social organization in the primates

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

Age, sex, race, and the perception of facial beauty

Developmental Psychology

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

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

What do women want? Facialmetric assessment of multiple motives in the perception of male facial physical attractiveness

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Sex, Evolution, and Behavior

The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex

The Selfish Gene

Appearance and education in marriage mobility

American Sociological Review

Sex differences in perceptions of body shape

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

Females' responses to males' beardedness

Perceptual and Motor Skills

The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection

Patterns of Sexual Behavior

Human skin color: a possible relationship between its sexual dimorphism and its social perception

Perspectives in Biology and Medicine

Sexual selection and physical attractiveness: implications for mating dynamics

Human Nature

The male-taller norm in mate selection

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Factors affecting perceived attractiveness of male physiques by American and Israeli students

The Journal of Social Psychology

Perceptions of female physique characteristics by American and Israeli students

The Journal of Social Psychology

Sexual Selection

Human courtship behaviour: biological basis and cognitive processing

Original article
The evolutionary psychology of physical attractiveness: Sexual selection and human morphology