scholarly journals Exposure to visual cues of pathogen contagion changes preferences for masculinity and symmetry in opposite-sex faces

2010 ◽  
Vol 278 (1714) ◽  
pp. 2032-2039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony C. Little ◽  
Lisa M. DeBruine ◽  
Benedict C. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Visual Experience ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Recent Experience ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Gene Markers ◽  
Visual Preferences ◽  
Opposite Sex ◽  
Environmental Pathogens

Evolutionary approaches to human attractiveness have documented several traits that are proposed to be attractive across individuals and cultures, although both cross-individual and cross-cultural variations are also often found. Previous studies show that parasite prevalence and mortality/health are related to cultural variation in preferences for attractive traits. Visual experience of pathogen cues may mediate such variable preferences. Here we showed individuals slideshows of images with cues to low and high pathogen prevalence and measured their visual preferences for face traits. We found that both men and women moderated their preferences for facial masculinity and symmetry according to recent experience of visual cues to environmental pathogens. Change in preferences was seen mainly for opposite-sex faces, with women preferring more masculine and more symmetric male faces and men preferring more feminine and more symmetric female faces after exposure to pathogen cues than when not exposed to such cues. Cues to environmental pathogens had no significant effects on preferences for same-sex faces. These data complement studies of cross-cultural differences in preferences by suggesting a mechanism for variation in mate preferences. Similar visual experience could lead to within-cultural agreement and differing visual experience could lead to cross-cultural variation. Overall, our data demonstrate that preferences can be strategically flexible according to recent visual experience with pathogen cues. Given that cues to pathogens may signal an increase in contagion/mortality risk, it may be adaptive to shift visual preferences in favour of proposed good-gene markers in environments where such cues are more evident.

scholarly journals Cross-cultural variation in men's preference for sexual dimorphism in women's faces

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 20130850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urszula M. Marcinkowska ◽  
Mikhail V. Kozlov ◽  
Huajian Cai ◽  
Jorge Contreras-Garduño ◽  
Barnaby J. Dixson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Resource Holding Potential ◽  
High Fecundity ◽  
Competition For Resources

Both attractiveness judgements and mate preferences vary considerably cross-culturally. We investigated whether men's preference for femininity in women's faces varies between 28 countries with diverse health conditions by analysing responses of 1972 heterosexual participants. Although men in all countries preferred feminized over masculinized female faces, we found substantial differences between countries in the magnitude of men's preferences. Using an average femininity preference for each country, we found men's facial femininity preferences correlated positively with the health of the nation, which explained 50.4% of the variation among countries. The weakest preferences for femininity were found in Nepal and strongest in Japan. As high femininity in women is associated with lower success in competition for resources and lower dominance, it is possible that in harsher environments, men prefer cues to resource holding potential over high fecundity.

scholarly journals The health of a nation predicts their mate preferences: cross-cultural variation in women's preferences for masculinized male faces

2010 ◽  
Vol 277 (1692) ◽  
pp. 2405-2410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M. DeBruine ◽  
Benedict C. Jones ◽  
John R. Crawford ◽  
Lisa L. M. Welling ◽  
Anthony C. Little
Keyword(s):  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Women’S Preferences

scholarly journals The Life History of Learning Subsistence Skills among Hadza and BaYaka Foragers from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo

Human Nature ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheina Lew-Levy ◽  
Erik J. Ringen ◽  
Alyssa N. Crittenden ◽  
Ibrahim A. Mabulla ◽  
Tanya Broesch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic

AbstractAspects of human life history and cognition, such as our long childhoods and extensive use of teaching, theoretically evolved to facilitate the acquisition of complex tasks. The present paper empirically examines the relationship between subsistence task difficulty and age of acquisition, rates of teaching, and rates of oblique transmission among Hadza and BaYaka foragers from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo. We further examine cross-cultural variation in how and from whom learning occurred. Learning patterns and community perceptions of task difficulty were assessed through interviews. We found no relationship between task difficulty, age of acquisition, and oblique transmission, and a weak but positive relationship between task difficulty and rates of teaching. While same-sex transmission was normative in both societies, tasks ranked as more difficult were more likely to be transmitted by men among the BaYaka, but not among the Hadza, potentially reflecting cross-cultural differences in the sexual division of subsistence and teaching labor. Further, the BaYaka were more likely to report learning via teaching, and less likely to report learning via observation, than the Hadza, possibly owing to differences in socialization practices.

Affective Interpersonal Touch in Close Relationships: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 014616722098837
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Sorokowska ◽  
Supreet Saluja ◽  
Piotr Sorokowski ◽  
Tomasz Frąckowiak ◽  
Maciej Karwowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Close Relationships ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Interpersonal Distance ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Affective Touch ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Interpersonal Touch ◽  
Regional Temperature

Interpersonal touch behavior differs across cultures, yet no study to date has systematically tested for cultural variation in affective touch, nor examined the factors that might account for this variability. Here, over 14,000 individuals from 45 countries were asked whether they embraced, stroked, kissed, or hugged their partner, friends, and youngest child during the week preceding the study. We then examined a range of hypothesized individual-level factors (sex, age, parasitic history, conservatism, religiosity, and preferred interpersonal distance) and cultural-level factors (regional temperature, parasite stress, regional conservatism, collectivism, and religiosity) in predicting these affective-touching behaviors. Our results indicate that affective touch was most prevalent in relationships with partners and children, and its diversity was relatively higher in warmer, less conservative, and religious countries, and among younger, female, and liberal people. This research allows for a broad and integrated view of the bases of cross-cultural variability in affective touch.

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