Social transmission of face preferences among humans

Previous studies demonstrating mate choice copying effects among females in non-human species have led many researchers to propose that social transmission of mate preferences may influence sexual selection for male traits. Although it has been suggested that social transmission may also influence mate preferences in humans, there is little empirical support for such effects. Here, we show that observing other women with smiling (i.e. positive) expressions looking at male faces increased women's preferences for those men to a greater extent than did observing women with neutral (i.e. relatively negative) expressions looking at male faces. By contrast, the reverse was true for male participants (i.e. observing women with neutral expressions looking at male faces increased male participant's preferences for those men to a greater extent than did observing women smiling at male faces). This latter finding suggests that within-sex competition promotes negative attitudes among men towards other men who are the target of positive social interest from women. Our findings demonstrate that social transmission of face preferences influences judgments of men's attractiveness, potentially demonstrating a mechanism for social transmission of mate preferences.

[1]  D. Perrett,et al.  Self-perceived attractiveness influences human female preferences for sexual dimorphism and symmetry in male faces , 2001, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[2]  Lee Alan Dugatkin,et al.  Sexual Selection and Imitation: Females Copy the Mate Choice of Others , 1992, The American Naturalist.

[3]  R. Montgomerie,et al.  Facial attractiveness signals different aspects of "quality" in women and men. , 2001, Evolution and human behavior : official journal of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society.

[4]  D. Perrett,et al.  Perceptual asymmetries in judgements of facial attractiveness, age, gender, speech and expression , 1997, Neuropsychologia.

[5]  David I. Perrett,et al.  MHC-heterozygosity and human facial attractiveness , 2005 .

[6]  D. White,et al.  Mate-choice copying in Japanese quail, Coturnix coturnix japonica , 1998, Animal Behaviour.

[7]  D. Perrett,et al.  Menstrual cycle, pregnancy and oral contraceptive use alter attraction to apparent health in faces , 2005, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[8]  K. Laland,et al.  Social Learning in Animals: Empirical Studies and Theoretical Models , 2005 .

[9]  R. Meldola.  Sexual Selection , 1871, Nature.

[10]  D. Perrett,et al.  Partnership status and the temporal context of relationships influence human female preferences for sexual dimorphism in male face shape , 2002, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[11]  A. Little,et al.  Visual adaptation to masculine and feminine faces influences generalized preferences and perceptions of trustworthiness , 2006 .

[12]  A. Little,et al.  Sex-contingent face after-effects suggest distinct neural populations code male and female faces , 2005, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[13]  David J. White,et al.  ‘Culture’ in quail: social influences on mate choices of female Coturnix japonica , 2000, Animal Behaviour.

[14]  Tobias Uller,et al.  Human mate choice and the wedding ring effect , 2003, Human nature.

[15]  M. Fisher,et al.  Female intrasexual competition decreases female facial attractiveness , 2004, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[16]  Lee Alan Dugatkin.  The Imitation Factor: Evolution Beyond the Gene , 2000 .

[17]  M J Wade,et al.  Female copying increases the variance in male mating success. , 1990, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[18]  Mark Kirkpatrick,et al.  Sexual selection and the evolutionary effects of copying mate choice , 1994, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[19]  K. Laland,et al.  Sexual selection with a culturally transmitted mating preference. , 1994, Theoretical population biology.

[20]  D. Maestripieri,et al.  Reading men's faces: women's mate attractiveness judgments track men's testosterone and interest in infants , 2006, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[21]  Lee Alan Dugatkin,et al.  Female mate copying in the guppy {Poecilia reticulata): age-dependent effects , 1993 .

[22]  A. Little,et al.  Integrating Gaze Direction and Expression in Preferences for Attractive Faces , 2006, Psychological science.

[23]  D. White.  Influences of social learning on mate-choice decisions , 2004, Learning & behavior.

[24]  Rudolf Hoehn-Saric,et al.  Effects of perceived physical attractiveness on females' facial displays and affect , 2000 .

[25]  R. Kleck,et al.  Perceived Gaze Direction and the Processing of Facial Displays of Emotion , 2003, Psychological science.

[26]  D. Perrett,et al.  Menstrual cycle alters face preference , 1999, Nature.

[27]  L. Dugatkin,et al.  Social influences on female mate choice in the guppy, Poecilia reticulata: generalized and repeatable trait-copying behaviour , 2005, Animal Behaviour.

[28]  Tim W. Fawcett,et al.  Sexual Selection: Copycat Mating in Birds , 2005, Current Biology.

[29]  B. Uttl,et al.  Letter Cancellation Performance Across the Adult Life Span , 2001, The Clinical neuropsychologist.

[30]  D. Buss,et al.  On the Evolution of desire. , 1994 .

[31]  Nordell,et al.  Mate choice copying as public information , 1998 .

[32]  Female Japanese quail affiliate with live males that they have seen mate on video , 2003, Animal Behaviour.

[33]  M. Correll,et al.  Socially transmitted mate preferences in a monogamous bird: a non-genetic mechanism of sexual selection , 2005, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.