Sexy sons and sexy daughters: the influence of parents' facial characteristics on offspring

R. Elisabeth Cornwell; David I. Perrett

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2008.07.031

Sexy sons and sexy daughters: the influence of parents' facial characteristics on offspring

R. Elisabeth Cornwell, David I. Perrett

School of Psychology and Neuroscience

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

Abstract

Choosing a mate to maximize fitness underlies all sexual selection theories. Key to understanding mate choice is the inheritance of particular traits. Using family photos, we evaluated the predictions made by sexual selection theories for human mate choice concerning the inheritance of facial characteristics and assortment in facial appearance of parents. We found that both fathers' and mothers' attractiveness predicted the facial attractiveness of daughters: 'sexy daughters'. Fathers and sons were related to each other in facial masculinity but not attractiveness, providing only partial evidence for 'sexy sons'. Mothers and sons did not relate in masculinity-femininity; neither did fathers and daughters. Parents were similar in attractiveness but masculine men were not partnered to feminine women. Our findings support some predictions of Fisherian selection processes and 'good genes' theory but are less consistent with 'correlated response theory' and the immunocompetence handicap principle. (C) 2008 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1843-1853
Number of pages	11
Journal	Animal Behaviour
Volume	76
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2008.07.031
Publication status	Published - Dec 2008

Keywords

attractiveness
masculinity
parent
offspring
sexual selection
MALE MATE CHOICE
IMMUNOCOMPETENCE HANDICAP HYPOTHESIS
FEMALE NORTHERN CARDINALS
SEXUAL-DIMORPHISM
FLUCTUATING ASYMMETRY
EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY
SALIVARY TESTOSTERONE
COLORFUL FEMALES
APPARENT HEALTH
MENSTRUAL-CYCLE

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10.1016/j.anbehav.2008.07.031

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title = "Sexy sons and sexy daughters: the influence of parents' facial characteristics on offspring",

abstract = "Choosing a mate to maximize fitness underlies all sexual selection theories. Key to understanding mate choice is the inheritance of particular traits. Using family photos, we evaluated the predictions made by sexual selection theories for human mate choice concerning the inheritance of facial characteristics and assortment in facial appearance of parents. We found that both fathers' and mothers' attractiveness predicted the facial attractiveness of daughters: 'sexy daughters'. Fathers and sons were related to each other in facial masculinity but not attractiveness, providing only partial evidence for 'sexy sons'. Mothers and sons did not relate in masculinity-femininity; neither did fathers and daughters. Parents were similar in attractiveness but masculine men were not partnered to feminine women. Our findings support some predictions of Fisherian selection processes and 'good genes' theory but are less consistent with 'correlated response theory' and the immunocompetence handicap principle. (C) 2008 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.",

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KW - attractiveness

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KW - FEMALE NORTHERN CARDINALS

KW - SEXUAL-DIMORPHISM

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KW - SALIVARY TESTOSTERONE

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KW - APPARENT HEALTH

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JO - Animal Behaviour

JF - Animal Behaviour

ER -

Sexy sons and sexy daughters: the influence of parents' facial characteristics on offspring

Abstract

Keywords

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