Week 3- Beauty as a social construct Flashcards
What is the prediction of attractiveness?
Perceptions of attractiveness should be arbitrary and vary considerably between cultures.
How does beauty impact evolutionary theory
A method for choosing a healthy mate.
What are the predictions of beauty and evolutionary theory
Similar preferences across cultures
Attractiveness means health and fertility
What is variability?
There is variation in any population
What is heritability
Some part of this variation between individuals is passed from parents
What is selection?
Some individuals are more successful at surviving and reproducing.
What do the evolutionary traits link to success in competition determine?
Traits linked to success in competition increase in frequency in the population (due to differential reproduction)
What does human facial attractiveness tell about the face owner?
Good genes, good development and behaviour
What does face attractiveness indicate?
Predicts longevity, probability of reproductive success for offspring, probability for not staying single.
What is more attractive? Averageness or individual faces
Averageness
What does the mere-exposure effect tell us?
We like what we see often. We abstract the average prototype from experience.
What happens when you change face shape?
Changing face shape to average does increase attractiveness
What does symmetry demonstrate?
Coping with challenges during growth
Symmetry indicates health and should be attractive.
What does the experiment with sparrows and zebras find?
Female barn swallows prefer males with symmetric tails
Female zebra finches prefer symmetric males
Macaque gaze longer at symmetrical face
What does femininty determine?
High oestrogen is associated with health and fertility
Feminised features are attractive in women
What are the effects of hormones on the face shape
Testosterone impacts growth of jaw and brow ridge
Oestrogen suppresses jaw and brow growth
What is the aversion to masculinity
Prefer warm and honest dad over cold or dishonest
What is the sexual selection for parental care
Selection may favour preference for facial features indicating paternal investment.
High testosterone linked to marital problems
What happens when menstrual cycle is altered?
Increased attraction to masculinity. This is because masculinity shows strength and immunity, less willing to invest, women have strategies for getting the best of both worlds.
What do carotenoids mean
Antioxidants aid immune function, photoprotection and fertility, sexually selected in birds.
High dose supplementation causes skin yellowing.
