Cited by 172Evolutionary Psychology and Human BehaviorAnimal Behavior and ReproductionFace Recognition and Perception

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Exposure to visual cues of pathogen contagion changes preferences for masculinity and symmetry in opposite-sex faces

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Little, Anthony C., DeBruine, Lisa M., Jones, Benedict C.·2011·Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

DOI 10.1098/rspb.2010.1925PMC PMC3107643

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Abstract

Evolutionary approaches to human attractiveness have documented several traits that are proposed to be attractive across individuals and cultures, although both cross-individual and cross-cultural variations are also often found. Previous studies show that parasite prevalence and mortality/health are related to cultural variation in preferences for attractive traits. Visual experience of pathogen cues may mediate such variable preferences. Here we showed individuals slideshows of images with cues to low and high pathogen prevalence and measured their visual preferences for face traits. We found that both men and women moderated their preferences for facial masculinity and symmetry according to recent experience of visual cues to environmental pathogens. Change in preferences was seen mainly for opposite-sex faces, with women preferring more masculine and more symmetric male faces and men preferring more feminine and more symmetric female faces after exposure to pathogen cues than when not exposed to such cues. Cues to environmental pathogens had no significant effects on preferences for same-sex faces. These data complement studies of cross-cultural differences in preferences by suggesting a mechanism for variation in mate preferences. Similar visual experience could lead to within-cultural agreement and differing visual experience could lead to cross-cultural variation. Overall, our data demonstrate that preferences can be strategically flexible according to recent visual experience with pathogen cues. Given that cues to pathogens may signal an increase in contagion/mortality risk, it may be adaptive to shift visual preferences in favour of proposed good-gene markers in environments where such cues are more evident.

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Figure 1. (a) Feminized (left) and masculinized (right) male faces. (b) Symmetric (left) and asymmetric (right) male faces.CC BY · PubMed Central

Figure 2. Change in preference (±1 s.e.m.) for symmetry (Sym) and sexual dimorphism (SD) in male and female faces after exposure to pathogen cues (grey bars) or neutral stimuli (white bars) for (a) women and (b) men.CC BY · PubMed Central

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Authors: Little, A. C., DeBruine, L. M., & Jones, B. C.
Affiliations: University of Stirling (GB)
University of Aberdeen (GB)
Corresponding author: Little, Anthony C.
ORCID: Little, Anthony C.
DeBruine, Lisa M.
Jones, Benedict C.
Venue: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
Publisher: The Royal Society
Published: 2010-12
Volume: 278
Issue: 1714
Pages: 2032-2039
ISSN: 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
0962-8452
1471-2954
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.1925
PMC: PMC3107643
OpenAlex: W2136596950
Cited by: 172
References: 65
Citations by year: 2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 13
FWCI: 15.41
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: hybrid
doi.org
Licence: cc-by
royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ (tdm)
Locations: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Strathprints: The University of Strathclyde institutional repository (University of Strathclyde) (acceptedVersion)
Stirling Online Research Repository (University of Stirling) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (submittedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
Keywords: parasite prevalence, mate preferences, facial masculinity, facial symmetry, facial attractiveness, visual experience, cross-cultural variation, mate choice, evolutionary psychology
MeSH terms: Adolescent, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Communicable Diseases, Cues, Face, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Sexual Behavior, Sex Characteristics, Visual Perception, Young Adult, Femininity, Masculinity

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Exposure to visual cues of pathogen contagion changes preferences for masculinity and symmetry in opposite-sex faces

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