The shape of beauty: determinants of female physical attractiveness

Rarely has one research area gained as much attention as that which is observed for female physical attractiveness. The past decade has resulted in numerous, exciting developments, particularly with respect to three proposed determinants of beauty: waist to hip ratio (WHR), body mass index (BMI), and curvaceousness. The goal of our paper is to provide a highly necessary review of contemporary research on the female attractiveness, including an in‐depth examination of these factors.

[1]  Devendra Singh,et al.  Mating strategies of young women: Role of physical attractiveness , 2004, Journal of sex research.

[2]  J. Townsend,et al.  Effects of potential partners' physical attractiveness and socioeconomic status on sexuality and partner selection , 1990, Archives of sexual behavior.

[3]  A. Furnham,et al.  The influence of age of the face and the waist to hip ratio on judgements of female attractiveness and traits , 2004 .

[4]  M. Tovée,et al.  Visual cues to female physical attractiveness , 1999, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[5]  Judith L. Anderson,et al.  Was the Duchess of Windsor right? A cross-cultural review of the socioecology of ideals of female body shape. , 1992 .

[6]  C. Pond,et al.  Morphological Aspects and the Ecological and Mechanical Consequences of Fat Deposition in Wild Vertebrates , 1978 .

[7]  L. Tassinary,et al.  A Critical Test of the Waist-to-Hip-Ratio Hypothesis of Female Physical Attractiveness , 1998 .

[8]  K. Grammer,et al.  The Body and Face of Woman: One Ornament that Signals Quality? , 1999 .

[9]  N. Barber The evolutionary psychology of physical attractiveness: Sexual selection and human morphology , 1995 .

[10]  N. Barber Secular changes in standards of bodily attractiveness in American women: different masculine and feminine ideals. , 1998, The Journal of psychology.

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

[12]  R. K. Young,et al.  Body weight, waist-to-hip ratio, breasts, and hips: Role in judgments of female attractiveness and desirability for relationships , 1995 .

[13]  D. Symons Evolution of human sexuality , 1979 .

[14]  R. Puhl,et al.  Predicting female physical attractiveness: Waist-to-hip ratio versus thinness , 2001 .

[15]  D. Singh,et al.  Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: role of waist-to-hip ratio. , 1993, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[16]  J. Rodin,et al.  Fat distribution as a risk factor for weight and eating concerns. , 1990 .

[17]  Douglas T. Kenrick,et al.  Integrating evolutionary and social exchange perspectives on relationships: Effects of gender, self-appraisal, and involvement level on mate selection criteria. , 1993 .

[18]  Douglas W. Yu,et al.  Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder , 2010, Phunny Stuph.

[19]  A. Fallon,et al.  Sex differences in perceptions of desirable body shape. , 1985, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[20]  V. Slaughter,et al.  The development of preferences for specific body shapes , 2004, Journal of sex research.

[21]  F. Marlowe,et al.  Preferred waist-to-hip ratio and ecology , 2001 .

[22]  D. Buss,et al.  Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures , 1989, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[23]  C. Forestell,et al.  Involvement of body weight and shape factors in ratings of attractiveness by women: a replication and extension of Tassinary and Hansen (1998) § , 2004 .

[24]  Leif D. Nelson,et al.  The Symptoms of Resource Scarcity , 2005, Psychological science.

[25]  T. Pettijohn,et al.  Playboy Playmate Curves: Changes in Facial and Body Feature Preferences Across Social and Economic Conditions , 2004, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[26]  M. Voracek,et al.  Success Is All in the Measures: Androgenousness, Curvaceousness, and Starring Frequencies in Adult Media Actresses , 2006, Archives of sexual behavior.

[27]  B. A. Gladue,et al.  Gender Differences in Perception of Attractiveness of Men and Women in Bars , 1990 .

[28]  David Sloan Wilson,et al.  The Effect of Nonphysical Traits on the Perception of Physical Attractiveness: Three Naturalistic Studies , 2004 .

[29]  J. Emery,et al.  Optimum body-mass index and maximum sexual attractiveness , 1998, The Lancet.

[30]  B. Silverstein,et al.  Some correlates of the thin standard of bodily attractiveness for women. , 1986 .

[31]  E. Berscheid,et al.  What is beautiful is good. , 1972, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[32]  B. Pawłowski,et al.  Men’s ratings of female attractiveness are influenced more by changes in female waist size compared with changes in hip size , 2005, Biological Psychology.

[33]  Martin Voracek,et al.  Shapely centrefolds? Temporal change in body measures: trend analysis , 2002, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[34]  F. Rafferty Evolutionary psychology. , 1999, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[35]  A. Stunkard,et al.  Socioeconomic status and obesity: a review of the literature. , 1989, Psychological bulletin.

[36]  Jack Demarest,et al.  Body Image: Gender, Ethnic, and Age Differences , 2000, The Journal of social psychology.

[37]  Alan Feingold,et al.  Gender differences in effects of physical attractiveness on romantic attraction: A comparison across five research paradigms. , 1990 .

[38]  C. Forestell,et al.  Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Effects of weight and shape on attractiveness ratings of female line drawings by restrained and nonrestrained eaters. , 2004, Eating behaviors.