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WAIST-TO-HIP RATIO OR SHOULDERS-TO-HIP RATIO? ANATOMICAL DETERMINANTS OF MALE FIGURE ATTRACTIVENESS IN MATE SELECTION PROCESS

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Szmajke A.

Psychological Studies

2004

vol. 42

issue 3

107

Devendra Singh (1995) found that the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) was a significant factor determining a male figure attractiveness. In contrast to the female figure, the attractiveness of which turned out to be associated with the low WHR value (0,7), its male counterpart tended to be judged as more attractive if WHR reached high values (0,9 and 1,0) rather than low ones (0,7 and 0,8). Nevertheless, the way the investigation was carried out by Singh suggested that the result quoted above could have been an artefact. In a laboratory experiment a modified replication of the Singh's study was conducted. The results of the experiment left no doubt that the attractiveness of a male figure was dependent primarily on the shoulders-to-hip ratio (SHR) and not on a WHR value. No matter what weights and WHR values of the judged figures were, in the light of the women's assessments the male figures with clearly broader shoulders than hips appeared to be much more attractive compared with the ones characterized by the closeness of these two sizes. The pattern of the obtained results suggests that it is SHR and not WHR which is a phenotype sign of a men's health, the deciding factor in his attractiveness related to the sexual selection process. Some other data referred to in the discussion also indicate that the role played by WHR in the evaluation of a male/female figure is less important than it was suggested by the results of early Singh's studies.

THE PATTERNS OF ATTRACTIVENESS OF WOMEN'S AND MEN'S BODIES. WAS EVOLUTION UNFAIR TO WOMEN?

100%

Szmajke A.

Kolokwia Psychologiczne (Psychological Colloquia)

2005

vol. 13

145-167

The comparisons between psychological well-being of men and women have pointed to poorer quality of lives of the latter. At the same time females seem to be more focused on their physical attractiveness and less satisfied with it than males. Some regularities described by evolutionary psychology suggest that the lower women's level of satisfaction with their looks and negative consequences it brings for their psychological well-being might stem from evolutionary determined differences in psychological mechanisms of evaluating physical attractiveness of each gender.The experiment was carried out to test the hypothesis that a single commonly shared pattern of the attractiveness of the female's figure exists in contemporary people's minds, whereas no such a common pattern can be identified for the man's figure. As a result, women's physical attractiveness was expected to be assessed more severely than men's one. Moreover, the most attractive female figure was expected to be evaluated more positively than the most attractive male figure. The subjects assessed the attractiveness of male and female figures shown in drawings. The male and female figures varied along three anatomical parameters: the chest-to-hip ratio, the waist-to-hip ratio and massiveness.The predictions were fully confirmed by the obtained results. It was found that 70% of the participants considered the same female figure to be the most attractive, whereas no more than 30% of the subjects agreed on the most attractive male figure; different male figures were pointed to be the most attractive by relatively small percentages (27-7%) of the subjects. None of the male figures received as high evaluations as the most attractive female figure. On the other hand fewer female figures were considered to be 'attractive' compared with the male ones, and more of the female figures were labelled as 'unattractive'.The identified difference in the mechanisms of evaluating men and women's physical attractiveness make it more difficult for an average woman to be perceived as attractive than for an average man, which might - even if only partly - explain the disparity between men's and women's psychological well-being.

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1 Kolokwia Psychologiczne (Psychological Colloquia)

1 Psychological Studies

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1 2004

2 Szmajke A.

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WAIST-TO-HIP RATIO OR SHOULDERS-TO-HIP RATIO? ANATOMICAL DETERMINANTS OF MALE FIGURE ATTRACTIVENESS IN MATE SELECTION PROCESS

THE PATTERNS OF ATTRACTIVENESS OF WOMEN'S AND MEN'S BODIES. WAS EVOLUTION UNFAIR TO WOMEN?