The Scientific Basis of Attractiveness
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful discussion, the focus is on the biological underpinnings of attractiveness, particularly bilateral symmetry's role in sexual selection. The conversation delves into the development of methods to measure facial symmetry and its significance as an indicator of developmental health and quality. It also explores the broader implications of physical attractiveness as a subconscious health certification and its impact on mating success, including the intriguing concept of cryptic female choice and its various manifestations in human behavior and other species.
Takeaways
- 𧏠Bilateral symmetry is a key trait in judging physical attractiveness in both humans and animals, serving as an indicator of developmental health.
- đ The speaker and a colleague developed a method to measure facial symmetry in humans, which became a significant research topic in attractiveness studies.
- đ Bilateral symmetry is important for reducing drag in movement, which is crucial for efficiency in forward-moving organisms.
- đ€ Perfect bilateral symmetry is difficult to achieve, making it a marker of an individual's developmental quality.
- đ Physical attractiveness is fundamentally a health certification, an unconscious assessment of traits important for health and developmental health.
- đ¶ Research has shown that infants prefer to look at symmetrical faces, indicating an innate preference for symmetry in attractiveness.
- đ„ The speaker's research extended to the impact of symmetry on mating success, with more symmetric men reported to have more sexual partners.
- đ€ The study of female orgasm in relation to sexual behavior suggests it may be part of female mate choice, influencing the fertilizing capacity of male ejaculate.
- đĄ Cryptic female choice involves subtle preferences that are invisible if only measuring classical male mating success, such as adjusting mating duration or the decision to lay eggs.
- đ Female orgasm may serve as a mechanism for differential allocation of male ejaculate, favoring the sperm of certain partners over others.
- đ The concept of cryptic female choice has broadened the understanding of female mate selection beyond simply choosing a partner, to include more nuanced behaviors.
Q & A
What is the significance of bilateral symmetry in the perception of attractiveness?
-Bilateral symmetry is a marker of developmental health and quality of an individual. It indicates that the organism has developed without significant disruptions, which is seen as an attractive trait in potential mates across various species, including humans.
How does bilateral symmetry relate to movement efficiency?
-Bilateral symmetry is important for reducing drag during movement. An organism with perfect bilateral symmetry moves more efficiently, as asymmetry can create resistance and reduce the effectiveness of motion.
What was the method developed in the early 90s to measure facial symmetry?
-A method was developed to measure the symmetry of the two sides of the human face, which involved precise measurements that had not been successfully achieved in previous studies.
How does facial symmetry relate to the perception of attractiveness in different age groups and ethnicities?
-Facial symmetry is a consistent marker of attractiveness across different age groups, from infants to the elderly, and among various ethnicities, indicating a universal preference for symmetrical faces.
What role does movement symmetry play in attractiveness?
-Symmetry of movement contributes to the perception of attractiveness by indicating fluidity and grace, which are associated with good health and physical fitness.
How is physical attractiveness related to health certification?
-Physical attractiveness is fundamentally a subconscious assessment of an individual's health and developmental status, with traits like bilateral symmetry serving as indicators of good health.
What was the outcome of the research on the relationship between facial symmetry and perceived attractiveness?
-The research showed that there is a positive correlation between facial symmetry and how attractive a person's face is perceived to be by others.
How does body symmetry relate to mating success in men?
-Men with higher body symmetry, indicating better developmental health, are found to be more physically attractive and have more sexual partners, which is a measure of mating success.
What is the concept of cryptic female choice in the context of sexual behavior?
-Cryptic female choice refers to the subtle ways in which females can influence the fertilizing capacity of sperm from different males, such as through orgasm, which can pull ejaculate closer to the cervix for better fertilization chances.
What is the evolutionary purpose of female orgasm according to the script?
-Female orgasm may serve as a mechanism for cryptic female choice, where the uterine contractions during orgasm can help to pull the male's ejaculate closer to the cervix, potentially increasing the chances of fertilization.
How does the concept of cryptic female choice extend to other species, such as scorpion flies?
-In scorpion flies, cryptic female choice is observed through behaviors like adjusting mating duration to receive more sperm from larger, higher-quality males, and making decisions about egg fertilization based on the last male they mated with.
Outlines
đ Perception of Attractiveness and Bilateral Symmetry
This paragraph discusses the speaker's research on the perception of attractiveness, focusing on the role of bilateral symmetry in determining physical attractiveness. The speaker explains that symmetry is a marker of developmental health and is valued by animals, including humans, as a sign of a healthy mate. The research found that facial symmetry can be measured effectively and is related to attractiveness. The speaker also touches on the broader implications of symmetry in movement and its impact on health and attractiveness.
đ¶ Infant Preference for Symmetrical Faces
In this paragraph, the speaker delves into the preferences of infants for symmetrical faces, highlighting that research has shown infants tend to look longer at symmetrical faces, indicating a natural preference. The discussion extends to the broader impact of facial symmetry on attractiveness across different age groups and the role of symmetry in everyday life, including its correlation with mating success and sexual behavior. The speaker mentions further studies on body symmetry and its connection to attractiveness and sexual partners.
đ Female Orgasm and Mate Choice
The speaker explores the evolutionary purpose of the female orgasm, suggesting it may be part of female mate choice rather than a direct adaptation for pregnancy. The paragraph explains that orgasms in females can facilitate the movement of ejaculate towards the cervix, potentially influencing the fertilizing capacity of sperm from different partners. This concept is linked to the idea of 'cryptic female choice,' where females may unconsciously prefer the sperm of certain males, thus affecting the genetic quality of their offspring.
đŠ Cryptic Female Choice in Insects
The final paragraph shifts the focus to the concept of cryptic female choice in insects, specifically scorpion flies. The speaker describes how females in these species adjust mating duration based on male body size, favoring larger, fitter males by receiving more sperm from them. Additionally, the speaker discusses how females make post-mating decisions about egg-laying, which can also influence the use of sperm from specific males, thus demonstrating a form of cryptic choice that is not immediately apparent from traditional measures of mating success.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄAttractiveness
đĄBilateral Symmetry
đĄSexual Selection
đĄDevelopmental Health
đĄMating Success
đĄCryptic Female Choice
đĄOrgasm
đĄInfidelity
đĄSire Choice
đĄEvolutionary Purpose
đĄGenetic Quality
Highlights
Research on the perception of attractiveness, focusing on bilateral symmetry and averageness in relation to sexual selection.
Development of a method to measure facial symmetry in humans as an indicator of developmental health and attractiveness.
Bilateral symmetry's role in reducing drag for forward-moving organisms, contributing to its importance in mate selection.
The difficulty in achieving perfect bilateral symmetry as a marker of an individual's developmental quality.
The preference for bilaterally symmetrical designs in human-made objects like cars and airplanes.
The correlation between facial symmetry and perceived attractiveness in various studies.
Infants' preference for symmetrical faces as demonstrated through attention span in research.
The extension of symmetry research to include movement and its fluidity as an aspect of attractiveness.
Physical attractiveness as an unconscious health certification based on evolutionary traits.
The relationship between a man's facial and body symmetry and his reported number of sexual partners, indicating mating success.
The connection between a man's symmetry and his likelihood of engaging in infidelity.
A study on female orgasm patterns during mating and their correlation with male reports, indicating attention to female arousal.
The hypothesis that female orgasm may serve as a cryptic choice mechanism, influencing fertilization potential.
The concept of cryptic female choice, where females may prefer the sperm of certain males over others.
Examples of cryptic female choice in insects, such as scorpion flies, adjusting mating duration based on male body size.
The broader implications of cryptic female choice for understanding female mate selection and offspring quality.
Transcripts
you so I've come across your research a
number of times in my career struck by
its uh its originality and and its
impact I I'd like to ask you first about
something I I probably ran into maybe
it's 20 years ago maybe it's 15
something like that you did some work on
the perception of attractiveness
bilateral symmetry averageness and
sexual selection can you outline what
you found and
why yes um I did work um some years ago
now in uh uh human uh attractiveness and
um that turned out to to be very uh
productive about attractiveness in
general in animals and one of the key uh
traits that animals look at in judging
uh physical
attractiveness of of Partners of Mates
is a bilateral symmetry and uh a
colleague and I in the early 90s uh came
up with a way to measure uh facial
symmetry in humans it had been U worked
on before and but the measurements that
they used were uh didn't work uh so we
came up with a with a method that did
work measuring bilateral symmetry in the
face so that is a symmetry of the two
sides of the face why is that important
and why is it a marker for
attractiveness it turns out that that
bilateral symm is a measure of
Developmental health and so the the
organism uh when it starts developing
it's designed by evolution by selection
to to uh achieve a bilaterally symmetric
form you can think of that this is the
case when I say organisms I mean all
forward moving organisms all forward
moving
organisms uh have uh have have
adaptations developmental adaptations to
achieve a bilaterally symmetric body
because first of all that reduces drag
so if you're moving
forward and you're bilaterally symmetric
you don't have any drag in your movement
you can think about a person with a a
leg uh a bit shorter than the other and
there's drag in the move in the forward
movement the more of that asymmetry the
more drag so you lose efficiency in
movement
that's fundamental to what bilateral
symmetry is about but next bilateral
symmetry is very hard perfect bilateral
symmetry is very hard to achieve by
development so it's a marker of quality
of the individual pertaining to its
developmental Health we see in many
things that human beings design to move
forward bilateral symmetry cars are
automobiles are bilaterally symmetrical
airplanes are bilaterally symmetrical so
we like our world to be that way yeah we
like to be that way actually it turns
out and you're associating it with
principle if you had if you had one side
of the car uh asymmetric compared to the
other side of the car then there'd be
more drag you know it's not an offish
you you'd use more gas think about it
that way uh in driving down the road
with an asymmetric car um but so this
this is one component of physical
attractiveness bilateral symmetry and we
looked first when we developed this uh
way to measure facial symmetry uh that
became a a a very hot research topic we
did the first and then others followed
very quickly and lots and lots of
research has been done now but there's
you know symmetry of movement that's
important in in how fluid one's movement
is and how attractive therefore for one
this movement is you're not dragging
your foot or whatever and um all that is
really a a
component of the importance of Health in
physical attractiveness So Physical
attractiveness fundamentally is a health
certification that's how we judge uh
people's attractiveness we don't think
about it consciously it's an unconscious
calculation of the traits important in
uh health and developmental Health as
bilateral symmetry is one of these so
you measure the symmetry of the two
sides of the face and we showed in our
first study of this way back now that um
that measurement uh relates to how
attractive faces are perceived faces of
the same sex or opposite sex and then
that research went on to look at uh kids
looking at faces and uh different ethnic
groups looking at faces it works like a
charm wherever you do it lots and lots
of research and so does it mean that if
you show people symmetrical or
asymmetrical faces that they obviously
have a preference for the symmetrical
faces will they look longer at the
symmetrical faces will infants look
longer at symmetrical faces yes they do
yeah that's the way the infant infant
Beauty research is done you just look at
whether the whether the bab and they got
it down now to almost newborns you know
looking at
faces and um judging these faces
basically on the basis of how long they
look at the face versus getting
distracted to something else and
symmetry is one compart part of the uh
Beauty whether you're talking about
babies or kids or old people or young
people or whatever facial symmetry is is
very important it's not the only Beauty
marker in the face we look at we can
talk about that in a moment too because
that gets us into uh some other research
we've done but symmetry is a very
important one now that research went on
to look at how symmetry plays out in the
everyday lives of people and we did uh
the initial studies on that but again
that that research bloomed and uh lots
of people have have done it and still
it's an active part of research but the
first thing we did not just
attractiveness we did a bunch of that in
relation to symmetry but we looked at U
sex lives of uh people romantically
paired people uh studies of uh couples
and um looked at uh looked at uh uh
reports by men and women of sex partner
number that they've had in their
lifetime that was one component of
because that's that's a that's a measure
in Men in particular of uh what
biologists call mating success so number
of number of uh sexual partners one has
and uh that that research showed that
for in the more symmetric the man uh the
more sex partners he had and a technical
detail there after we we you know
initially started with facial symmetry
but then we moved to the body of people
we came up with a metric for body
symmetry measuring 11 traits on both
sides of the body these traits are um
ear length and ear
width um and
and then we measure elbow there's some
elbow anatomy there that we measure some
bones wrists fingers all those then
measure of course on both sides measure
foot width ankle width Trace like that
and we put that together in a composite
as a measure of body bilateral symmetry
that correlates highly with facial
symmetry because the Symmetry is a
developmental Health measure throughout
the body and um that Cor relates with
mating success of men more more
symmetric men are physically more
attractive and they have more sex
partners uh we also got into um looking
at Men's infidelities in Mar
relationships and found that more
symmetric men uh engage in more uh
meetings outside the parabond as well so
that's that's part of their mating
success we did uh the first study of um
uh kind of modern study we would call it
of female
orgasm uh in Rel in in in uh copulatory
orgasm uh so in part looking at women uh
200 romantically paired couples and
asking the women about their orgasm
patterns during mating with their
partner and separately asking the men
and we found that the men's reports and
the women's reports a frequency of
ulatory orgasm by the women were very
highly correlated so men are paying
attention to this phenomenon of whether
the female is sexually aroused to the
Zenith level of orgasm of course and
more symmetric men were firing uh more
copulatory orgasms too that was a very
classic study in human I have a specific
question about that I've always wanted
to ask a biologist interest in sexual
behavior but I know that there's been a
lot of discussion about the hypothetical
evolutionary purpose of female orgasm
and I was wondering if female orgasm is
disproportionately likely to trigger
trigger male
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orgasm because it could be it could be
an adaptation that's used to elicit
pregnancy essentially yeah I don't think
it is it's there's no there's there's no
evidence that
females that orgasm very
infrequently have fewer babies
and actually women who don't ever orgasm
can be quite fertile so I don't think
it's fundamentally that I think what it
is is it's part of female mate choice
and more and more basically sire choice
of the female let me
explain so when a female uh has an
orgasm uh she has uterine contraction of
course and that pull it works like a
suction it pulls the uh content
of the vagina up to the cervix so it
puts the puts the content of the vagina
in a good place and if that content
includes the male's ejaculate and she's
pulling the male's ejaculate up to the
cervix where it's easier for him to get
you know either for the Jack ejaculate
to get into the right place to conceive
so if she imagine a female who has two
mating Partners she orgasms with one
pulling his Ed it up to the cervix and
she skips orgasm with the other partner
so she in effect is mated with both men
so that is you know same mating success
of the two men if you just look at
mating success but she's doing something
more
subtle that is differentially affecting
the fertilizing capacity of the
ejaculate of the two men the men the
jacket she pulls up has more potential
for fertilization and that's a component
of cryptic female choice so uh in the
80s I discovered uh what I labeled as
cryptic female Choice first in insects
and then uh it it applied to uh female
orgasm uh too in in humans as cryptic
female choices is just the the kind of
female choice that is invisible if
you're only measuring mating success so
in the example we talked about the two
guys mating with this female had the
same mating success they both mated with
her but one had was was preferred over
the other by the female's orgasmic
capacity with him that pulled his e
jacket it up and so females by showing
this differential uh um orgasm pattern
that I described with symmetry are
favoring symmetric Partners over other
men
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partners and and hypothetically
providing their kids with with an
advantage that's right higher genetic
quality and then that's that's an issue
behind all this discussion so far is
that uh female organisms uh are
after um High gen Quality Partners when
when they're you know to be fathers of
their offspring so it's a sire Choice
more the a cryptic female choice is more
of a sire Choice than just a mate choice
and darwinian dar Darwin Charles Darwin
discovered female choice and did a lot
with it for sure and biologists had
viewed um female choice in a darwinian
framework up until very recently until
cryptic female Choice came along but
female are far more sophisticated than
just choosing one male over another as a
mate they do they do these subtle things
and involved in cryptic choice to prefer
some the uh sperm of some mates over the
sperm of others whole site of now that's
a big area of well what other elements
are what other elements make up cryptic
choice you you describe the orgasm what
else what else first discovery was was
in some insects called scorpion flies
and what the females do there is they
adjust mating
duration and hence the amount of
ejaculate that the male transfers
there's no orgasm in these insects but
the longer the male can mate the long
the bigger his the the more sperm he
transfers to the female so females are
adjusting ejaculate duration on the base
of body size of the male so and but
bigger males are more fit males and so
forth better growth and more resource is
growing up they're higher quality males
the females are receiving more sperm
from bigger males that's one thing I did
with these insects another was the
female after she mates with a male makes
a choice of whether to lay eggs or not
if she chooses to lay eggs then she will
fertilize we know from other research
I've done she will fertilize those eggs
with the last male sperm she made it
with so if she makes the decision leg
egg she's going to use that M last male
sperm sheet and and large males again um
are preferred in that component of
cryptic female choice so cryptically
these female scorpion files are
preferring large-bodied males by both uh
receiving more sperm from them and
making decisions to lay eggs uh with
them and not other males so those kind
of subtle things that uh females do that
aren't apparent if you're just measuring
classical
male mating success you know
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