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Sexual unfaithfulness can be judged with some accuracy from men's but not women's faces.

ABSTRACT: We routinely make judgements of trustworthiness from the faces of others. However, the accuracy of such judgements remains contentious. An important context for trustworthiness judgements is sexual unfaithfulness. Accuracy in sexual unfaithfulness judgements may be adaptive for avoiding reproductive costs associated with having an unfaithful partner. Indeed, emerging studies suggest that women, and to a lesser degree, men, show above-chance accuracy in judging sexual unfaithfulness from opposite-sex faces. In the context of mate guarding, it is important not only to assess the likelihood of a partner defecting, but also to detect same-sex poachers. Therefore, here, we examine whether individuals can also judge sexual unfaithfulness (self-reported cheating and poaching behaviour) from same-sex faces. We found above-chance accuracy in judgements of unfaithfulness from same-sex faces in men but not women. Conversely, we found above-chance accuracy for opposite-sex faces in women but not men. Therefore, both men and women showed above-chance accuracy, but only for men's, and not women's, faces. Raters were making accurate (above-chance) judgements of unfaithfulness from men's faces using facial masculinity, a well-established signal of propensity to adopt short-term mating strategies. In summary, we found above-chance accuracy in impressions of unfaithfulness from men's faces. Although very modest, the level of accuracy could nevertheless have biological significance as an evolved adaptation for identifying potential cheaters/poachers.

SUBMITTER: Foo YZ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6502397 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Sexual unfaithfulness can be judged with some accuracy from men's but not women's faces.

Foo Yong Zhi YZ Loncarevic Antonina A Simmons Leigh W LW Sutherland Clare A M CAM Rhodes Gillian G

Royal Society open science 20190417 4

We routinely make judgements of trustworthiness from the faces of others. However, the accuracy of such judgements remains contentious. An important context for trustworthiness judgements is sexual unfaithfulness. Accuracy in sexual unfaithfulness judgements may be adaptive for avoiding reproductive costs associated with having an unfaithful partner. Indeed, emerging studies suggest that women, and to a lesser degree, men, show above-chance accuracy in judging sexual unfaithfulness from opposite ...[more]

PMID: 31183116

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Project description:The strength and direction of sexual selection via female choice on masculine facial traits in men is a paradox in human mate choice research. While masculinity may communicate benefits to women and offspring directly (i.e. resources) or indirectly (i.e. health), masculine men may be costly as long-term partners owing to lower paternal investment. Mating strategy theory suggests women's preferences for masculine traits are strongest when the costs associated with masculinity are reduced. This study takes a multivariate approach to testing whether women's mate preferences are context-dependent. Women (n = 919) rated attractiveness when considering long-term and short-term relationships for male faces varying in beardedness (clean-shaven and full beards) and facial masculinity (30% and 60% feminized, unmanipulated, 30% and 60% masculinized). Participants then completed scales measuring pathogen, sexual and moral disgust, disgust towards ectoparasites, reproductive ambition, self-perceived mate value and the facial hair in partners and fathers. In contrast to past research, we found no associations between pathogen disgust, self-perceived mate value or reproductive ambition and facial masculinity preferences. However, we found a significant positive association between moral disgust and preferences for masculine faces and bearded faces. Preferences for beards were lower among women with higher ectoparasite disgust, providing evidence for ectoparasite avoidance hypothesis. However, women reporting higher pathogen disgust gave higher attractiveness ratings for bearded faces than women reporting lower pathogen disgust, providing support for parasite-stress theories of sexual selection and mate choice. Preferences for beards were also highest among single and married women with the strongest reproductive ambition. Overall, our results reflect mixed associations between individual differences in mating strategies and women's mate preferences for masculine facial traits.

Dataset Information

Sexual unfaithfulness can be judged with some accuracy from men's but not women's faces.

Publications

Sexual unfaithfulness can be judged with some accuracy from men's but not women's faces.

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