ArticleEvolutionary human sciences2021
Differential effects of resource scarcity and pathogen prevalence on heterosexual women's facial masculinity preferences.
Article in Evolutionary human sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Self-reported social media use does not affect cross-cultural consensus in first impressions.Evolutionary human sciences · 2026Article
- FACEDIG automated tool for placing landmarks on facial portraits for geometric morphometrics users.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Violence exposure is associated with preference for masculine faces: evidence from Senegal.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Cross-cultural perception of strength, attractiveness, aggressiveness and helpfulness of Maasai male faces calibrated to handgrip strength.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Preference for Male Risk Takers Varies with Relationship Context and Health Status but not COVID Risk.Evolutionary psychological science · 2023Article
- Women's Preferences for Masculinity in Male Faces Are Predicted by Material Scarcity, But Not Time or Psychological Scarcity.Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behaviorArticle
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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Abstract
The present research focused on how environmental harshness may affect heterosexual women's preferences of potential male mates' facial characteristics, namely masculinity-femininity. The evidence on this issue is mixed and mostly from Western samples. We aimed to provide causal evidence using a sample of Turkish women and Turkish male faces. A video-based manipulation was developed to heighten environmental harshness perceptions. In the main experiment, participants were primed with resource scarcity, pathogen prevalence or neither (control). They then saw masculinised vs. feminised versions of the same faces and indicated the face that they would prefer for a long-term relationship and separately rated the faces on various dimensions. In general, masculinised faces were perceived as slightly more attractive, slightly healthier and much more formidable. A multilevel Bayesian model showed that pathogen prevalence lowered the preference for masculinised faces while resource scarcity weakly elevated it. The overall drop in attractiveness ratings in cases of high perceived pathogen prevalence, one of the strongest effects we observed, suggests that during epidemics, the formation of new relationships is not a favourable strategy. Implications for evolutionary theories of mate preference are discussed.
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