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Chapter 14: Problem 11

University students were asked to judge the attractiveness of different versions of faces that had been digitally altered to change the vertical distance between the eyes and mouth as weli as the horizontal distance between the eyes. The students preferred those images in which the relevant vertical distance was about 36 percent of the face's length and the horizontal distance between the eyes was 46 percent of the face's width. These proportions are those found in average faces. 136 In evolutionary terms, why might men prefer faces with average structural features?

Short Answer

Expert verified
Men might prefer average faces as they indicate genetic health and fertility.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding the Question

The exercise asks us to explore why, in evolutionary terms, certain facial proportions are considered attractive by university students. Specifically, it focuses on the proportions of 36% for vertical distance and 46% for horizontal distance between facial features.
02

Analyzing Facial Proportions

The given proportions (36% vertical and 46% horizontal) represent average features in a face. It suggests that individuals are generally perceived as more attractive when their facial features align with these average proportions.
03

Applying Evolutionary Theory

From an evolutionary perspective, faces with average or typical structural features may be preferred because they could signal genetic diversity and health. Average features might be indicative of genetic combinations that have been successful and stable over generations.
04

Considering Biological Fitness

Average facial features may be seen as a cue for good health and reproductive fitness. In evolutionary terms, these features might suggest a lower likelihood of genetic anomalies, which could lead to higher survival and reproductive success.

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Key Concepts

These are the key concepts you need to understand to accurately answer the question.

Facial Attractiveness
Facial attractiveness often plays a significant role in social interactions and personal perceptions. It's not just about beauty standards, but involves a complex mix of factors that make certain faces appealing to us. Here are some reasons why facial attractiveness is so captivating:
  • **Symmetry**: Symmetrical faces are often perceived as more attractive. This is because symmetry is associated with good health and optimal development.
  • **Youthfulness**: Features that suggest youth, like bigger eyes or smooth skin, can increase attractiveness because they are closely linked with fertility and vitality.
  • **Characteristic Proportions**: Certain proportions of facial features are considered universally appealing, as seen in the exercise findings of 36% and 46% proportions. These are seen as typical and balanced, creating a more attractive appearance.
Facial attractiveness isn't merely about aesthetics; it is deeply rooted in our biological and psychological makeup, influencing social interactions and even life outcomes.
Average Features
Understanding average features involves looking into how common or typical traits are viewed in society. Evolutionary psychology suggests that average features are often deemed more attractive. But why is that the case?
  • **Genetic Diversity and Neutrality**: Average features might hint at a balanced mix of genes, often seen as a marker of genetic health. They may not show extreme traits, which can be perceived as potential genetic anomalies.
  • **Stability**: Faces that carry average features reflect traits that have been successfully passed down through generations. This may indicate the underlying genetic stability and health of an individual.
  • **Familiarity**: People might find average features appealing because they are familiar. These faces resemble the average of faces one might see regularly, leading to a preference for familiarity over the unfamiliar.
Average features are a window into our shared human experience and genetic preferences, rooted in the desire for healthy and viable offspring.
Biological Fitness
Biological fitness in the context of evolution and attractiveness refers to the likelihood of an individual to successfully reproduce and pass on their genes. It's a substantial factor in why certain facial features are preferred.
  • **Indicator of Health**: Features that are considered attractive, often average or symmetrical, generally reflect good health. This serves as a visual "cue," suggesting an individual is more likely to have healthy offspring.
  • **Reproductive Success**: Attractiveness based on average features may suggest the ability to produce viable offspring, thus ensuring the continuation of one's genetic line.
  • **Survival of the Fittest**: In evolutionary terms, attractiveness can be seen as an indicator of one's overall fitness. The symmetry and averageness of features might demonstrate an individual's capability to withstand environmental pressures and avoid illness.
Thus, biological fitness is a core aspect of evolutionary psychology, explaining why certain traits are favoured and how they contribute to our survival and propagation of genes through generations.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Another way to explore the origins of language involves a comparison of the number of phonemes (the simplest speech sounds that are used together to make up word sounds) in modern languages. As it turns out, the languages with the greatest number of phonemes are African; languages spoken by peoples whose dispersal routes took them farthest from Africa have the fewest phonemes. This result parallels the finding that the greatest amount of genetic diversity is found in African populations, with the least in peoples whose ancestors moved the farthest from Africa. The genetic result is attributed to the fact that as humans moved farther and farther from Africa in stages, each new colonizing group was small and so did not possess all the genetic alleles found in the population from which it came. 15 If we apply this kind of argument to language diversity, where did the first language-using members of Homo sapiens live? since language evolution is culturally controlled, 126 does it make sense to apply techniques developed for genetic evolution to this case?

Considerable disagreement exists about the extent to which our brains are composed of well-defined modules, each shaped by selection to carry out specialized tasks, as opposed to a brain composed of generalized networks with much functional plasticity. In light of this argument, what do you make of the following findings? Humans are extremely good at recognizing familiar faces, thanks to various elements of the brain. \(^{69}\) Persons with certain kinds of damage to the fusiform gyrus, which is on the underside of the cerebral cortex, lose the ability to recognize familiar faces, a deficit much more likely to occur after damage to the right hemisphere of the brain. \(^{55}\) (See The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks. \(^{157}\) ) Functional magnetic resonance imaging reveals that neurons in a small part of the posterior fusiform gyrus, the facial fusiform area, fire only when a person looks at a face. This part of the brain does not respond to pictures of inanimate objects, although another nearby region of the brain does."24.

Although women seem to prefer wealthy men, in most modern cultures, high family income is not positively correlated with the number of children produced (Figure 14.11 ). Indeed, poor couples often have more surviving children than do rich ones. Does this finding invalidate an evolutionary analysis of human behavior, as some believe? to contrast aspects of the current human environment with our ancestors" environment. Can you make use of the finding that in preindustrial Finland, for women of high fecundity, the number of surviving offspring was less in resource-poor landless families than for women in landowning families. 68 Also fit the following finding into your analysis: in a survey of modern data from 145 countries, human fertility was negatively linked to population density. \(^{119}\).

Natalie Angier states that married men have the same probability of fertilizing an egg per copulation with their wives as rapists do when forcing copulation on a victim. \(^{12}\) In the past, the survival probability for an offspring of a married man was almost certainly much higher than that for a rapist's child, because married men often assist their children whereas rapists do not. Is Angier correct, therefore, in claiming that rape cannot be an adaptive tactic? (Remember that adaptive means "reproductively useful.") What do you make of the fact that low-status men are more likely to rape women unknown to them whereas high-status men dominate the category of acquaintance or partner rape?

If two blue-eyed persons marry and have children, all their offspring will have blue eyes, whereas brown-eyed individuals that reproduce may have children with various eye colors. Blue-eyed men find blue-eyed women more attractive than brown-eyed women."02 How might an evolutionary biologist interpret this finding?
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