Further Evidence on Components of Facial Attractiveness

Previous research has attempted to assess the relative influence of various facial components on over-all facial beauty by correlating attractiveness ratings of components with ratings of general attractiveness. Based on 45 females' self-ratings, Terry and Brady ( 1 ) reported that the mouth ( r = .54) was the most important determinant, followed by the eyes ( r = .51), hair ( r = .49), and nose ( r = .47). As self-ratings might be affected by each other, Terry and Davis ( 2 ) had 25 males and 25 females rate isolated components, created by dissecting photographs of other persons. An identical order of importance was obtained: mouth ( r = .53), eyes ( r = .44), hair ( T = .34), and nose ( r = .31). As a logical extension the present study had judges make ratings of intact photographs of other persons. Individually 25 male and 25 female Caucasian undergraduates were presented with a shuffled deck of black and white pictures from a college yearbook; 4 male and 10 female Caucasians were shown. The stimulus persons' eyes, noses, mouths, eyebrows, complexions, chins, hair, expressions, and over-all attractiveness were rated in this order on a 10-point scale of attractiveness (1, 2) . Inclusion of all of these facial components provided a context within which the ratings of mouth, eyes, hair, nose, and over-all could be made. Product-moment correlations between each judge's ratings of over-all attractiveness and the individual components were assumed to measure the influence the separate components had on the over-all ratings. The absolute values of these coefficients were transformed to zs, and an analysis of variance of sex of judge x facial component was computed. The only significant F ratio was for the main effect of component ( P = 4.22, d f = 7/336, p < .01). Averaging across all judges, the ratings of attractiveness of the components were correlated with over-all attractiveness as follows: eyes .68, nose .61, mouth .72, eyebrows .69, complexion .69, chin .64, and expression .76. It is not surprising that the most important component was expression. Not only does this involve additional components, particularly the eyes and mouth, which are related to over-all attractiveness but it also conveys affect. Although the coefficients are larger than have been reported previously, the order of importance of the mouth, eyes, hair, and nose in determining facial attractiveness remained constant. This order has emerged from selfratings ( I ) , from ratings of dissected photographs of other persons ( 2 ) , and now from ratings of intact photographs of others. The eye region has generally been assumed to be the most influential component of the face, and yet it has been consistently shown to be secondary to the oral region in determining over-all attractiveness. This discrepancy might be due to the real possibility that some of the judges wore eye correctives, which have been shown to be detrimental to self-ratings ( 4 ) and to ratings of others (3 ) . The eye region apparently is the most influential component when it is not modified by correctives ( 1 ) .