#751 - Macken Murphy - What Does Science Say Makes Someone Attractive?
Feb 29, 2024
02:05:49
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Explore the scientific aspects of attractiveness, including symmetry, average faces, muscles, waist-to-hip ratio, tattoos, beards, eye color, and more. Discover the role of evolutionary biology in understanding attraction, societal influences on beauty standards, and the complexities of mate selection. Uncover insights on stated vs. revealed preferences, mate value, societal perceptions of attractiveness, and genetic influences on social status evolution.
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Quick takeaways
Symmetry in faces is attractive due to underlying developmental quality.
Body size preferences vary based on socio-ecological contexts and cultural influences.
Waist-to-hip ratio attractiveness differs across labor-intensive and modern societies.
Beauty standards are dynamic, influenced by culture, history, and individual experiences.
Age gap preferences in mate selection differ between men and women, reflecting evolutionary and societal factors.
Deep dives
Evolutionary Perspective on Attractiveness
In the podcast, the discussion delves into the concept of attractiveness from an evolutionary viewpoint. It explores how features like symmetry and averageness play key roles in human perception of beauty. Symmetrical faces are generally deemed more attractive, reflecting underlying developmental quality. Additionally, averageness in facial traits, particularly noses, signifies historical selection and attractiveness. The podcast highlights the role of averageness, symmetry, and their signaling of evolutionary fitness in attractiveness standards.
Cultural Context and Body Size Preferences
The podcast examines how cultural and environmental contexts influence preferences for body sizes. In resource-scarce environments, heavier body sizes are often deemed attractive, signaling fertility and ability to withstand scarcity. Conversely, in affluent societies, thinner body types tend to be preferred, signaling status and youth. The conversation underscores how individual and cultural experiences shape body size preferences and how attractiveness standards evolve within different socio-ecological contexts.
Waste-to-Hip Ratio Considerations
The discussion extends to waste-to-hip ratio and its significance in attractiveness perceptions. While traditionally advocated as a universal preference for men, recent insights suggest variability in women's waste-to-hip ratios based on labor-intensive environments. In societies where physical labor is prominent, wider hips may signify fertility and endurance, contrary to the ultra-wide ratio observed in modern settings. This nuanced view challenges the universality of waste-to-hip ratio attractiveness and emphasizes how socio-ecological factors influence body shape ideals.
Reevaluating Standard Beauty Norms
The podcast provokes a reevaluation of conventional beauty norms by showcasing how attractiveness is multifaceted and context-dependent. It suggests that beauty standards vary across cultures, historical periods, and individual experiences, challenging the notion of universal attractiveness criteria. By exploring the dynamic nature of preferences for symmetry, averageness, body size, and waste-to-hip ratios, the conversation sheds light on the complex interplay between evolutionary foundations and socio-cultural influences in shaping perceptions of beauty.
Physical Attractiveness Preferences in Mate Selection
Men generally prefer lighter hair colors in women as it signifies youth and null parity, while women may prefer darker hair colors in men. Men are attracted to a wider range of women's physical traits, while women are more selective but also prioritize qualities beyond looks for mate selection.
Age Preference in Mate Selection
Men tend to seek younger partners on average but prioritize increasing age gaps as they get older. Women, in societies where they have the freedom to choose, often opt for men slightly older but not significantly so, indicating a shift towards smaller age gaps over time.
Evolutionary Perspectives on Age Gaps and Mate Preferences
Men may desire larger age gaps due to preferences shaped by evolutionary factors, seeking younger partners for reproductive potential. Women's choices in selecting partners with smaller age gaps reflect a balance between direct benefits like financial stability and indirect benefits like genetic quality and compatibility.
Preferences in Mate Selection
In cultures where women have control over their resources and mate choice, they tend to choose men who are slightly older for both direct and indirect benefits. While some argue that having a mate of the same age provides certain advantages such as shared experiences in raising children, women generally prefer men slightly older. Interestingly, despite the perception of tattoos as healthy and masculine, women do not necessarily find heavily tattooed men more attractive. Polish data suggests that women interpret tattoos as a sign of health and dominance, but not necessarily increased attractiveness.
Effect of Tattoos on Attraction
A French study conducted real-world mating behavior experiments by sending women to the beach with and without fake tattoos to observe male approaches. Surprisingly, women wearing fake tattoos received more approaches, indicating that tattoos may signal openness or sociosexual behavior. While men did not find tattooed women significantly hotter, they perceived them as more likely to say yes to a date, suggesting that tattoos could signal approachability and openness to social interactions.
Macken Murphy is an evolutionary biologist at Oxford University, a writer and a podcaster.
No one has ever said they want to be less attractive. But what does attractive actually mean? What do humans like to look at in other humans, and why? Thankfully science has some insights to help you understand why you like what you like.
Expect to learn the role of symmetry in attraction, why the most average faces are actually the most attractive ones, how important muscles, waist-to-hip ratio, tattoos, beards, eye colour, height and voice are, how to work out what is a stated and what is a revealed preference and much more...
