Concordant preferences for opposite-sex signals? Human pheromones and facial characteristics

R E Cornwell; L Boothroyd; D M Burt; D R Feinberg; B C Jones; A C Little; R Pitman; S Whiten; David Ian Perrett

doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2649

Concordant preferences for opposite-sex signals? Human pheromones and facial characteristics

R E Cornwell, L Boothroyd, D M Burt, D R Feinberg, B C Jones, A C Little, R Pitman, S Whiten, David Ian Perrett

School of Psychology and Neuroscience

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We have investigated whether preferences for masculine and feminine characteristics are correlated across two modalities, olfaction and vision. In study 1, subjects rated the pleasantness of putative male (4,16-androstadien-3-one; 5alpha-androst-16-en-3-one) and female (1,3,5(10),16-estratetraen-3-ol) pheromones, and chose the most attractive face shape from a masculine-feminine continuum for a long- and a short-term relationship. Study 2 replicated study 1 and further explored the effects of relationship context on pheromone ratings. For long-term relationships, women's preferences for masculine face shapes correlated with ratings of 4,16-androstadien-3-one and men's preferences for feminine face shapes correlated with ratings of 1,3,5(10),16-estratetraen-3-ol. These studies link sex-specific preferences for putative human sex pheromones and sexually dimorphic facial characteristics. Our findings suggest that putative sex pheromones and sexually dimorphic facial characteristics convey common information about the quality of potential mates.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	635-640
Number of pages	6
Journal	Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences
Volume	271
Issue number	1539
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2003.2649
Publication status	Published - 22 Mar 2004

Keywords

pheromones
mating strategies
facial attraction
male-female differences
HUMAN FEMALE PREFERENCES
PUTATIVE PHEROMONES
MENSTRUAL-CYCLE
PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS
FLUCTUATING ASYMMETRY
MALE FACES
BODY ODOR
SYMMETRY
DIMORPHISM
MEN

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title = "Concordant preferences for opposite-sex signals? Human pheromones and facial characteristics",

abstract = "We have investigated whether preferences for masculine and feminine characteristics are correlated across two modalities, olfaction and vision. In study 1, subjects rated the pleasantness of putative male (4,16-androstadien-3-one; 5alpha-androst-16-en-3-one) and female (1,3,5(10),16-estratetraen-3-ol) pheromones, and chose the most attractive face shape from a masculine-feminine continuum for a long- and a short-term relationship. Study 2 replicated study 1 and further explored the effects of relationship context on pheromone ratings. For long-term relationships, women's preferences for masculine face shapes correlated with ratings of 4,16-androstadien-3-one and men's preferences for feminine face shapes correlated with ratings of 1,3,5(10),16-estratetraen-3-ol. These studies link sex-specific preferences for putative human sex pheromones and sexually dimorphic facial characteristics. Our findings suggest that putative sex pheromones and sexually dimorphic facial characteristics convey common information about the quality of potential mates.",

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author = "Cornwell, {R E} and L Boothroyd and Burt, {D M} and Feinberg, {D R} and Jones, {B C} and Little, {A C} and R Pitman and S Whiten and Perrett, {David Ian}",

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AU - Cornwell, R E

AU - Boothroyd, L

AU - Burt, D M

AU - Feinberg, D R

AU - Jones, B C

AU - Little, A C

AU - Pitman, R

AU - Whiten, S

AU - Perrett, David Ian

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AB - We have investigated whether preferences for masculine and feminine characteristics are correlated across two modalities, olfaction and vision. In study 1, subjects rated the pleasantness of putative male (4,16-androstadien-3-one; 5alpha-androst-16-en-3-one) and female (1,3,5(10),16-estratetraen-3-ol) pheromones, and chose the most attractive face shape from a masculine-feminine continuum for a long- and a short-term relationship. Study 2 replicated study 1 and further explored the effects of relationship context on pheromone ratings. For long-term relationships, women's preferences for masculine face shapes correlated with ratings of 4,16-androstadien-3-one and men's preferences for feminine face shapes correlated with ratings of 1,3,5(10),16-estratetraen-3-ol. These studies link sex-specific preferences for putative human sex pheromones and sexually dimorphic facial characteristics. Our findings suggest that putative sex pheromones and sexually dimorphic facial characteristics convey common information about the quality of potential mates.

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Concordant preferences for opposite-sex signals? Human pheromones and facial characteristics

Abstract

Keywords

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