Facial attractiveness and preference of sexual dimorphism: A comparison across five populations

A pesar de las intensas investigaciones, la psicología evolutiva aún no ha llegado a un consenso sobre la asociación entre dimorfismo sexual y atractivo. Este estudio examina las asociaciones entre el dimorfismo sexual facial percibido y morfológico y el atractivo percibido en muestras de cinco países distantes (Camerún, Colombia, Chequia, Irán y Turquía). También examinamos los posibles efectos moderadores de la claridad de la piel, la promedialidad, la edad, la masa corporal y la anchura facial. Nuestros resultados sugieren que, en todas las muestras, la feminidad percibida por las mujeres estaba positivamente relacionada con su atractivo percibido. Las mujeres sólo encontraron atractiva la masculinidad percibida en los hombres en Chequia y Colombia, dos poblaciones distantes. Así pues, la asociación entre el dimorfismo sexual percibido y el atractivo es potencialmente universal sólo para las mujeres. En todas las poblaciones, el dimorfismo sexual morfológico y la promedialidad no se asocian universalmente ni con el dimorfismo sexual facial percibido ni con el atractivo. Con nuestro enfoque exploratorio, los resultados ponen de relieve la necesidad de controlar qué medida de dimorfismo sexual se utiliza (percibido o medido), ya que afectan de manera diferente al atractivo percibido. El promedio morfológico y el dimorfismo sexual no son buenos predictores del atractivo percibido. Se señala que los estudios futuros deberían utilizar más muestras de población para poder identificar los efectos específicos de las condiciones ambientales y socioeconómicas locales sobre los rasgos preferidos en estímulos faciales locales no manipulados.Despite intensive research, evolutionary psychology has not yet reached a consensus regarding the association between sexual dimorphism and attractiveness. This study examines associations between perceived and morphological facial sexual dimorphism and perceived attractiveness in samples from five distant countries (Cameroon, Colombia, Czechia, Iran, and Turkey). We also examined possible moderating effects of skin lightness, averageness, age, body mass, and facial width. Our results suggest that in all samples, women’s perceived femininity was positively related to their perceived attractiveness. Women found perceived masculinity in men attractive only in Czechia and Colombia, two distant populations. The association between perceived sexual dimorphism and attractiveness is thus potentially universal only for women. Across populations, morphological sexual dimorphism and averageness are not universally associated with either perceived facial sexual dimorphism or attractiveness. With our exploratory approach, results highlight the need for control of which measure of sexual dimorphism is used (perceived or measured) because they affect perceived attractiveness differently. Morphological averageness and sexual dimorphism are not good predictors of perceived attractiveness. It is noted that future studies should use more population samples to allow for identification of specific effects of local environmental and socioeconomic conditions on preferred traits in unmanipulated local facial stimuli

Men’s preferences for women’s breast size and shape in four cultures

The morphology of human female breasts typical for their permanent fat deposits appears to be unique among primates. It has been previously suggested that female breast morphology arose as a result of sexual selection. This is supported by evidence showing that women with larger breasts tend to have higher estrogen levels; breast size may therefore serve as an indicator of potential fertility. However, breasts become less firm with age and parity, and breast shape could thus also serve as a marker of residual fertility. Therefore, cross-culturally, males are hypothesized to prefer breast morphology that indicates both high potential and residual fertility. To test this, we performed a survey on men´s preferences for breast morphology in four different cultures (Brazil, Cameroon, the Czech Republic, Namibia). As stimuli, we used two sets of images varying in breast size (marker of potential fertility) and level of breast firmness (marker of residual fertility). Individual preferences for breast size were variable, but the majority of raters preferred medium sized, followed by large sized breasts. In contrast, we found systematic directional preferences for firm breasts across all four samples. This pattern supports the idea that breast morphology may serve as a residual fertility indicator, but offers more limited support for the potential fertility indicator hypothesis. Future studies should focus on a potential interaction between the two parameters, breast size and firmness, which, taken together, may help to explain the relatively large variation in women's breast sizes

How and why patterns of sexual dimorphism in human faces vary across the world

Sexual selection, including mate choice and intrasexual competition, is responsible for the evolution of some of the most elaborated and sexually dimorphic traits in animals. Although there is sexual dimorphism in the shape of human faces, it is not clear whether this is similarly due to mate choice, or whether mate choice affects only part of the facial shape difference between men and women. Here we explore these questions by investigating patterns of both facial shape and facial preference across a diverse set of human populations. We find evidence that human populations vary substantially and unexpectedly in both the magnitude and direction of facial sexually dimorphic traits. In particular, European and South American populations display larger levels of facial sexual dimorphism than African populations. Neither cross-cultural differences in facial shape variation, sex differences in body height, nor differing preferences for facial femininity and masculinity across countries, explain the observed patterns of facial dimorphism. Altogether, the association between sexual shape dimorphism and attractiveness is moderate for women and weak (or absent) for men. Analysis that distinguishes between allometric and non-allometric components reveals that non-allometric facial dimorphism is preferred in women’s faces but not in faces of men. This might be due to different regimes of ongoing sexual selection acting on men, such as stronger intersexual selection for body height and more intense intrasexual physical competition, compared with women

From Asceticism to a Gospel of Prosperity: The Case of Full Gospel Mission Cameroon

No Abstract Available Journal for the Study of Religion Vol.17(2) 2004: 47-6

An ethical approach to socio-economic information sources in ongoing vulnerability and resilience studies: the Mount Cameroon case

The study of the vulnerability of facing natural and man-made hazards, with the related resilient answers belong to the complex and articulate field of social sciences called ‘Disaster Anthropology’. Vulnerability is generally defined as a weak point in facing an aggressive event that is difficult to manage. Resilience is the subsequent capacity for self-repair after a sustained natural or anthropogenic stress. Consequently, the theoretical model of economic resilience is the ability to restore an economic background that can support the gradual recovery of social benefits following a disaster. Moreover, the presence in the territory of different systems of production (natural eco-systems and/or technical systems) should allow multi-resilient communities. The mathematical structure of these economic theorems makes their practical application difficult inside an ethno-anthropological context, as it conflicts with cultural variables of the socio-structural fabric. An example can be given by some urban and rural family structures that are settled around the Mount Cameroon volcano (southwest Cameroon), in which the general psychological pressure increases because of both the constant exposure to natural hazards and the vulnerability arising from its social environment (e.g. castes, forced housing allocation, cultural estrangement to local chiefdom). Therefore, the rational heuristic model to be adopted in this social vulnerability study is performed by several combined analyses that have many interpretive obstacles. In 2009, within FP7-MIA-VITA, the first fieldwork mission for the study of socio-economic development of communities living around Mount Cameroon was launched. This completed 108 interviews across several social groups of different ethnicities and religions. The resulting information is being re-tested and verified from the second fieldwork mission in 2011, for completion of the study area.<br /

Data on Cameroonian and Namibian faces

Supplementary data to atricle entitled "African and European perception of African female attractiveness

Cues for facial attractiveness and preference of sexual dimorphism: A comparison across five cultures

It has been hypothesised that the strength of association between sex typicality and attractiveness follows an adaptive pattern across cultures. Such pattern allows for adjustment of individual preferences for facial cues associated with direct (parenting) and indirect (biological quality) benefits from mating with a potential mate according to environmental conditions. To test this hypothesis, we examined associations among intra-culturally perceived sex typicality, attractiveness, measured skin lightness, measured averageness, and sexual dimorphism of shape from facial images, while controlling for age, body mass, and facial width, in five distinct cultures with different environmental and socioeconomic conditions (Cameroon, N of facial stimuli = 200, 100 women; Colombia, N = 138, 66 women; Czechia, N = 100, 50 women; Iran, N = 87, 43 women; and Turkey, N = 185, 93 women). Our results suggest that measured sexual shape dimorphism and averageness are not significantly associated with neither perceived sex typicality nor attractiveness across the cultures. In all samples of female faces, however, perceived sex typicality was positively related to facial attractiveness. Women found perceived sex typicality in men as more attractive only in the Czech environment, with its relatively abundant resources, and in Colombia, which is a highly socioeconomically heterogeneous and competitive culture. Lighter skin raised the ratings of both attractiveness and sex typicality only in Cameroonian women. Darker men were perceived significantly more sex-typical but not more attractive in Cameroonian, Colombian, and Iranian samples. Altogether, our results highlight the need to control for which measure of sexual dimorphism is used (perceived or measured) and make a detailed description of the local environment. It is the perceived, rather than measured, sexual dimorphism that is associated with perceived attractiveness, and wealth distribution, rather than public, health that seems to affect masculinity preferences

Data and code from: Predicting strength from aggressive vocalizations versus speech in African bushland and urban communities

Supplementary material, data and code

Predicting strength from aggressive vocalizations versus speech in African bushland and urban communities

International audienceThe human voice carries information about a vocalizer's physical strength that listeners can perceive and that may influence mate choice and intrasexual competition. Yet, reliable acoustic correlates of strength in human speech remain unclear. Compared to speech, aggressive nonverbal vocalizations (roars) may function to maximize perceived strength, suggesting that their acoustic structure has been selected to communicate formidability, similar to the vocal threat displays of other animals. Here, we test this prediction in two non-WEIRD African samples: an urban community of Cameroonians and rural nomadic Hadza hunter–gatherers in the Tanzanian bushlands. Participants produced standardized speech and volitional roars and provided handgrip strength measures. Using acoustic analysis and information-theoretic multi-model inference and averaging techniques, we show that strength can be measured from both speech and roars, and as predicted, strength is more reliably gauged from roars than vowels, words or greetings. The acoustic structure of roars explains 40–70% of the variance in actual strength within adults of either sex. However, strength is predicted by multiple acoustic parameters whose combinations vary by sex, sample and vocal type. Thus, while roars may maximally signal strength, more research is needed to uncover consistent and likely interacting acoustic correlates of strength in the human voice. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Voice modulation: from origin and mechanism to social impact (Part I)’

How and why patterns of sexual dimorphism in human faces vary across the world

Sexual selection, including mate choice and intrasexual competition, is responsible for the evolution of some of the most elaborated and sexually dimorphic traits in animals. Although there is clear sexual dimorphism in the shape of human faces, it is not clear whether this is similarly due to mate choice, or whether mate choice affects only part of the facial shape difference between men and women. Here we explore these questions by investigating patterns of both facial shape and facial preference across a diverse set of human populations. We find evidence that human populations vary substantially and unexpectedly in both the range and pattern of facial sexually dimorphic traits. In particular, European and South American populations display larger levels of facial sexual dimorphism than African populations. Neither cross-cultural differences in facial shape variation, differences in body height between sexes, nor differing preferences for facial sex-typicality across countries, explain the observed patterns of facial dimorphism. Altogether, the association between morphological sex-typicality and attractiveness is moderate for women and weak (or absent) for men. Analysis that distinguishes between allometric and non-allometric components reveals that non-allometric sex-typicality is preferred in women’s faces but not in faces of men. This might be due to different regimes of ongoing sexual selection acting on men, such as stronger intersexual selection for body height and more intense intrasexual physical competition, compared with women