No Compelling Evidence that Preferences for Facial Masculinity Track Changes in Women’s Hormonal Status

Although widely cited as strong evidence that sexual selection has shaped human facial-attractiveness judgments, findings suggesting that women’s preferences for masculine characteristics in men’s faces are related to women’s hormonal status are equivocal and controversial. Consequently, we conducte...

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Published in:Psychological science Vol. 29; no. 6; pp. 996 - 1005
Main Authors: Jones, Benedict C., Hahn, Amanda C., Fisher, Claire I., Wang, Hongyi, Kandrik, Michal, Han, Chengyang, Fasolt, Vanessa, Morrison, Danielle, Lee, Anthony J., Holzleitner, Iris J., O’Shea, Kieran J., Roberts, S. Craig, Little, Anthony C., DeBruine, Lisa M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.06.2018
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects:
Between-subjects design
Birth control
Contraceptives
Facial expressions
Feminism
Hormone levels
Longitudinal studies
Masculinity
Men
Physical attractiveness
Preferences
Sexual behavior
Women
attractiveness
oral contraceptives
mate preferences
menstrual cycle
sexual selection
open materials
open data
ISSN:0956-7976, 1467-9280, 1467-9280
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Although widely cited as strong evidence that sexual selection has shaped human facial-attractiveness judgments, findings suggesting that women’s preferences for masculine characteristics in men’s faces are related to women’s hormonal status are equivocal and controversial. Consequently, we conducted the largest-ever longitudinal study of the hormonal correlates of women’s preferences for facial masculinity (N = 584). Analyses showed no compelling evidence that preferences for facial masculinity were related to changes in women’s salivary steroid hormone levels. Furthermore, both within-subjects and between-subjects comparisons showed no evidence that oral contraceptive use decreased masculinity preferences. However, women generally preferred masculinized over feminized versions of men’s faces, particularly when assessing men’s attractiveness for short-term, rather than long-term, relationships. Our results do not support the hypothesized link between women’s preferences for facial masculinity and their hormonal status.
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ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
1467-9280
DOI:10.1177/0956797618760197