Sex differences in ability to recognize family resemblance

Abstract In order to test the different expectations of evolutionary psychologists and "folk" psychologists about whether men or women are better at judging family resemblance, we created a test consisting of pairs of photographs, some of a parent and that parent's child, and some of an unrelated parent and child. Two hundred subjects judged the relatedness of 24 pairs of photos. The results show women and men to be equal in ability to judge family resemblance (mean number correct 14.99 versus 14.53, F = 1.7, p = 0.19). Both sexes were better able to judge resemblance for mothers than fathers ( F = 11.25, p F = 3.99, p F = 4.14, p

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