When choosing a partner, we largely unconsciously rely on the crude and obvious clues that evolution has come up with to make it easier for us to evaluate, says British anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar.
On the one hand, we are spiritual beings and in a partner we are looking for a kindred soul. But man is also a product of evolution and a child of nature. And in this capacity, we are guided by a number of clues to assess how a partner meets our needs. Often, this kind of «pickup» is processed automatically by the brain, giving only a short «yes» or «no» at the output.
Tall or short?
The conventional wisdom about the attractiveness of tall men is not far from the truth. Robin Dunbar and his Polish colleague analyzed the biographical data of 4419 men from Wrocław and found that tall men were more likely to be married and have more children than shorter men, when factors such as education level and place of birth remained constant. A similar relationship between height and the number of children was found in the studied group of 1950 graduates of the military academy at West Point (USA).
But men are most attracted to women of average height. After studying the statistics, scientists found that very tall or, conversely, short women were much less likely to marry or have long-term relationships with men and have fewer children than women of average height. Presumably, stabilizing selection keeps our average species growth more or less constant and prevents wild natural selection from turning us short or tall.
The face is a mirror of… genes
Men and women show a striking consistency in their preference for masculine faces in men and feminine faces in women, respectively. Moreover, such preferences know neither cultural nor national boundaries. More specifically, women prefer male faces with a massive chin, wide cheekbones, a protruding lower face, large eyes, prominent brow ridges, and darker skin. All these traits are formed under the influence of high testosterone levels.
However, testosterone is quite an expensive pleasure: it increases the burden on the immune system and thereby reduces immunity. Therefore, men with high testosterone levels are less resistant to infections. In this sense, masculine facial features are a sign of good gene quality, as they testify to the body’s ability to cope with all the stress that increased testosterone production entails.
The unconscious strategy of a woman is this: to conceive a child from a man with the best set of genes, and then find this child the most responsible and caring father.
As for women’s faces, for men, a small chin, a thin upper lip, less prominent brow ridges, narrow cheekbones, smaller eyes and lighter skin seem attractive. Compared to men’s faces, women’s faces are more neotic (that is, their features are closer to those of babies), and this is also an important element of their attractiveness. Doug Jones of the University of Utah analyzed the faces of models from fashion magazines. It turned out that the puppet faces of the beauties were extremely neotic; according to the neoteny index, they corresponded to the faces of seven-year-old children.
Neoteny is perceived as a sign of youth and may have developed as a result of the fact that men have always preferred women with more youthful faces.
Female impermanence
The most surprising finding in the course of research on facial features was how women’s assessment of male attractiveness changes during the menstrual cycle. During the ovulatory phase, women tend to prefer men with more masculine and more symmetrical facial features. And bright masculinity and symmetry testify to the good quality of genes. This is what attracts women when they are ready to conceive.
However, the rest of the time, they prefer partners with more feminine features that indicate more caring. In other words, the unconscious strategy is to conceive a child from a man with the best set of genes, and then find the most responsible and caring father for this child.
The power of symmetry
Serious research conducted at the University of Albuquerque showed that men with a more symmetrical physique had more sexual partners and extramarital affairs. Neither the financial situation, nor the prospects for their income in the future influenced the frequency of these connections. Moreover, with such men, women, it turns out, experienced an orgasm more often.
Scientists explain this by the fact that the symmetry of paired organs is considered an important sign of good gene quality. The difference between the right and left side can be almost imperceptible: say, the lobe of one ear is slightly longer or the index finger on one of the hands. And yet we seem to manage (unconsciously) to perceive these differences.