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A Cross‐Cultural Comparison of Population‐Specific Face Shape Preferences ( H omo s apiens )
Author(s) -
Danel Dariusz P.,
Fedurek Paweł,
Coetzee Vinet,
Stephen Ian D.,
Nowak Natalia,
Stirrat Michael,
Perrett David I.,
Saxton Tamsin K.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
ethology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.739
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-0310
pISSN - 0179-1613
DOI - 10.1111/eth.12022
Subject(s) - face (sociological concept) , portrait , psychology , population , social psychology , adaptation (eye) , cognitive psychology , art , demography , sociology , linguistics , visual arts , philosophy , neuroscience
A substantial number of studies indicate that human facial features such as symmetry and averageness are preferred in human mate choice. Little is known, however, about face preferences in intrapopulation or between‐cultural settings as only a few studies have addressed this topic. One hypothesis is that people prefer faces that resemble faces from their own population as a result of visual adaptation. Here, we present results of an internet‐based experiment in which male and female participants from two E uropean nations, P oland and S cotland, were asked to choose between ‘ P olish‐modified’ and ‘ S cottish‐modified’ faces (i.e. face portraits modified along one of ten different dimensions to resemble faces of the respective populations) of both sexes while being unaware of the origins of the portraits. The results show that the preferences of P olish judges for P olish‐shaped faces were significantly stronger than the preferences of S cottish judges for the S cottish‐shaped faces. Moreover, both P olish and S cottish judges preferred P olish‐shaped faces to S cottish‐shaped faces. These results suggest that natural visual experience acquired in everyday interpersonal interactions may have limited influence on aesthetic preferences in these particular intrapopulation settings.