Mere visual experience impacts preference for body shape: evidence from male competitive swimmers
Correspondence information about the author Krzysztof Kościński
Email the author Krzysztof Kościński
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Fig. 1
Female silhouettes varying in intensity of possessed swimmer-specific features (A, color series; B, black series) or in WHR (C, color series; D, black series).
Figure S1
Preparation of a silhouette for shape modification: locations of 80 landmarks have been established and triangulation has been performed.
Figure S2
Model of female trunk and thighs. From top to bottom, ellipses indicate circumferences of chest, waist, hips, mid-thighs and knees. The model served to alter WHR in a female silhouette keeping body mass constant.
Figure S3
Preference of male swimmers (n=31) and non-swimmers (n=41) for black (A) and color (B) female swimmer-like silhouettes. Y axes=mean rank of each silhouette (±S.E.). Asterisks indicate significant differences between swimmers and non-swimmers according to M–W U test (p<.05;
p<.01).
Figure S4
Preference of male swimmers (n=31) and non-swimmers (n=41) for WHR in black (A) and color (B) female silhouettes. Y axes=mean rank of each silhouette (±SE).
Abstract
Theoretical and empirical studies suggest that phenotypic averageness is a sign of an individual's high biological quality. The averageness should therefore be preferred in mates. A condition for such preference is the knowledge of average phenotype in the population. It is envisaged that an individual develops a neural template of typical phenotype on the basis of perceptual experience with images of conspecifics, and the template is then used in attractiveness assessments of potential partners. Regrettably, studies supporting this view are lacking. In the present study, adult male competitive swimmers and men who did not partake in swimming assessed the attractiveness of female silhouettes with proportions typical for swimmers or non-swimmers. Because swimmers see other swimmers relatively frequently, we hypothesize that they prefer swimmer-like female silhouettes more strongly than non-swimmers do. The analysis supports this hypothesis, suggesting that mere visual experience shapes a neural template of a silhouette, which subsequently serves as a reference for attractiveness evaluations.
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