Comments on: The sexiness of facial symmetry across cultures and species http://anthropology.net/2008/05/07/the-sexiness-of-facial-symmetry-across-cultures-and-species/ Beyond bones & stones Sun, 27 May 2012 23:21:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Xxavier http://anthropology.net/2008/05/07/the-sexiness-of-facial-symmetry-across-cultures-and-species/#comment-21932 Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:35:45 +0000 http://anthropologynet.wordpress.com/?p=839#comment-21932 I think it is a lop sided study!! :-)

]]> By: The Nutcracker’s Eats – and More Recent PLoS ONE News Coverage | The Official PLoS Blog http://anthropology.net/2008/05/07/the-sexiness-of-facial-symmetry-across-cultures-and-species/#comment-18143 Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:53:45 +0000 http://anthropologynet.wordpress.com/?p=839#comment-18143 [...] perception), The Times of India (‘Beautiful people are healthier’), Anthropology.net (The sexiness of facial symmetry across cultures and species) and on Mind Hacks (Male body symmetry, more female orgasms), although the female orgasms to which [...]

]]> By: Objectification of women - Page 5 - PersonalityCafe http://anthropology.net/2008/05/07/the-sexiness-of-facial-symmetry-across-cultures-and-species/#comment-15252 Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:21:43 +0000 http://anthropologynet.wordpress.com/?p=839#comment-15252 [...] [...]

]]> By: THR http://anthropology.net/2008/05/07/the-sexiness-of-facial-symmetry-across-cultures-and-species/#comment-10827 Tue, 13 May 2008 20:30:58 +0000 http://anthropologynet.wordpress.com/?p=839#comment-10827 Would it be UN-PC to re-order the the faces with the “white” faces being towards the bottom with the black ones between the white and the monkey? :-)

]]> By: agnostic http://anthropology.net/2008/05/07/the-sexiness-of-facial-symmetry-across-cultures-and-species/#comment-10769 Sat, 10 May 2008 08:48:26 +0000 http://anthropologynet.wordpress.com/?p=839#comment-10769 Nature could not select for more symmetrical features because the type of symmetry discussed here — small deviations from perfect symmetry — is not heritable at all. Selection probably wants to increase the frequency of this phenotype, but there is just no genetic variance in the gas tank.

The must-read edited volume on this topic is Polak, *Developmental Instability*:

Lots of good discussion on the heritability across all species studied (lots in the case of asymmetry). The 95% confidence interval of heritability always includes 0, and the mean is typically under 1%.

]]> By: Victor http://anthropology.net/2008/05/07/the-sexiness-of-facial-symmetry-across-cultures-and-species/#comment-10763 Fri, 09 May 2008 17:37:37 +0000 http://anthropologynet.wordpress.com/?p=839#comment-10763 Well, I can’t imagine a face more symmetrical than my own. So maybe I need to get “out there” more, head for the nearest dating bar, waddya say?
(Actually, that would explain . . . ahhh forget it.)

Anyhow, thanks Kambiz for filling me in on the extent of these studies. I stand corrected. It’s just that there is so much research out there based exclusively on western norms that pretends to represent “humanity” as a whole. It’s good to learn that there’ve been SOME efforts, at least, to broaden the base.

]]> By: Kambiz http://anthropology.net/2008/05/07/the-sexiness-of-facial-symmetry-across-cultures-and-species/#comment-10759 Fri, 09 May 2008 05:14:19 +0000 http://anthropologynet.wordpress.com/?p=839#comment-10759 Hey Victor,

Thanks for your comment. I spoke with Razib, one of the main bloggers at Gene Expression, and someone more well read in this research — he’s indicated that there have been other studies done with different ethnicities with similar results, such as the Papuans in the South Pacific and Ache Indians in Brazil. I haven’t bothered to do literature search to validate, but I trust what he’s saying.

Basically, it seems pretty ubiquitous that people — regardless of their ethnicity, can pick out the hotties and they are most often ones with symmetrical faces.

Kambiz

]]> By: Victor http://anthropology.net/2008/05/07/the-sexiness-of-facial-symmetry-across-cultures-and-species/#comment-10753 Thu, 08 May 2008 19:50:50 +0000 http://anthropologynet.wordpress.com/?p=839#comment-10753 I love it when psychologists make sweeping generalizations about humans as a species based on assessments by “the usual subjects.” I.e., whomever they’ve been able to drum up in the local area, most probably students with middle class American or European backgrounds. With no controls for ethnic, regional, or class bias, such “tests” are pointless.

]]> By: Melissa http://anthropology.net/2008/05/07/the-sexiness-of-facial-symmetry-across-cultures-and-species/#comment-10748 Thu, 08 May 2008 05:50:52 +0000 http://anthropologynet.wordpress.com/?p=839#comment-10748 I want to think that nature has selected for attraction to mates with symmetrical faces because perhaps that trait is indicative of a symmetrical physique in general…and, though I don’t know if there’s any biological evidence of this, maybe a symmetrical body simply functions better, making the mate more fit for successful reproduction? I found this interesting passage to back up my ideas:
“While studying the sexual shenanigans of the common Japanese scorpion fly, Thornhill (Randy Thornhill, a behavioural ecologist at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque) discovered that males with the most symmetrical wings won the most mates. Similar biases were turning up in other animal studies. Anders Møller, now at the University of Copenhagen, found he could ruin male swallows’ chances of finding mates merely by making their tails less symmetric. One by one, the peafowl, zebra finch and earwig revealed a secret passion for symmetry. Even bumblebees came out of the closet, revealing a preference for flowers with even arrays of petals (see New Scientist, Science, 18 March).
That’s some evidence for mate preference based on symmetry (albeit admittedly far from the hominid line,) but I would be interested to hear more about the biological function of physical symmetry.It seems to make sense to me in an overly simplistic way: I, and probably most people, would rather drive over a bridge that seems symmetrical rather than the opposite…could a similar phenomenon be at work with mate preference, that the symmetrical are simply better suited for survival? The above poster has argued for the fact that someone with a symmetrical face may still harbor undesirable genetic traits; I would like to know the correlation between physical symmetry and genetic “health.” If anyone can point me to a source, I’d love to hear about it.

]]> By: Josephine http://anthropology.net/2008/05/07/the-sexiness-of-facial-symmetry-across-cultures-and-species/#comment-10745 Thu, 08 May 2008 00:29:25 +0000 http://anthropologynet.wordpress.com/?p=839#comment-10745 It would be interesting to know if there ever has been a study conducted which focused upon the attractiveness of faces whose features have been affected by a deviant genetic makeup.

To explain my interest in such a study would be to further deepen the investigation of the claim mentioned in the above post:

“people associate symmetry and dimorphic faces as attractive”

For, I am sure that there are people carrying genetic defects who have highly symmetric faces, even if I do admit that some severe genetic defects do produce assymmetric faces. Further, I believe that there are people with healthy genes who suffer from assymmetrical facial features. (It may also be a vain claim of mine as the low-ranked white female face very well could be my own.)

But, to further add to these aspects which would be interesting to see more of, I wonder if there ever has been a study where the test subjects’ attractiveness have been assessed before the study (or perhaps after). It would be interesting because I have a theory about how low-ranking (masculine) female faces and the associated persons psychologically may try to compensate for their own gentic “flaws” and through that deem the unattractive feminine male face more attractive.

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