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Correlated preferences for facial masculinity and ideal or actual partner's masculinity.

DeBruine, L.M.; Jones, B.C.; Little, A.C.; Boothroyd, L.G.; Perrett, D.I.; Penton-Voak, I.S.; Cooper, P.A.; Penke, L.; Feinberg, D.R.; Tiddeman, B.P.

Authors

L.M. DeBruine

B.C. Jones

A.C. Little

D.I. Perrett

I.S. Penton-Voak

P.A. Cooper

L. Penke

D.R. Feinberg

B.P. Tiddeman



Abstract

Studies of women's preferences for male faces have variously reported preferences for mas- culine faces, preferences for feminine faces, and no effect of masculinity-femininity on male facial attractiveness. It has been suggested that these apparently inconsistent findings are, at least partly, due to differences in the methods used to manipulate masculinity of face images or individual differences in attraction to facial cues associated with youth. Here, however, we show that women's preferences for masculinity manipulated in male faces using techniques similar to the 3 most widely used methods are positively inter-related. We also show that women's preferences for masculine male faces are positively related to ratings of the masculinity of their actual partner and their ideal partner. Correlations with partner masculinity were independent of real and ideal partner age, which were not associated with facial masculinity preference. Collectively, these findings suggest that variability among studies in their findings for women's masculinity preferences reflects individual differences in attraction to masculinity, rather than differences in the methods used to manufacture stimuli, and are important for the interpretation of previous and future studies of facial masculinity.

Citation

DeBruine, L., Jones, B., Little, A., Boothroyd, L., Perrett, D., Penton-Voak, I., …Tiddeman, B. (2006). Correlated preferences for facial masculinity and ideal or actual partner's masculinity. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 273(1592), 1355-1360. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3445

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2006-06
Journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Print ISSN 0962-8452
Electronic ISSN 1471-2954
Publisher The Royal Society
Volume 273
Issue 1592
Pages 1355-1360
DOI https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3445
Keywords Masculinity, Femininity, Sexual dimorphism, Faces, Computer graphics.
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1578234