Women's pathogen disgust predicting preference for facial masculinity may be specific to age and study design
نویسندگان
چکیده
a r t i c l e i n f o Facial masculinity in men is thought to be an indicator of good health. Consistent with this idea, previous research has found a positive association between pathogen avoidance (disgust sensitivity) and preference for facial masculinity. However, previous studies are mostly based on young adult participants and targets, using forced-choice preference measures; this begs the question whether the findings generalise to other adult age groups or other preference measures. We address this by conducting three studies assessing facial masculinity preferences of a wider age range of women for a wider age range of male faces. In studies 1 and 2, 447 and 433 women respectively made forced choices between two identical faces that were manipulated on masculinity/femininity. In study 1, face stimuli were manipulated on sexual dimorphism using age-matched templates, while in study 2 young face stimuli were manipulated with older templates and older face stimuli were manipulated using young templates. In the full sample for study 1, no association was found between women's pathogen disgust and masculinity preference, but when limiting the sample to younger women rating younger faces we replicated previous findings of significant association between pathogen disgust and preference for facial masculinity. Results for study 2 found no effect of pathogen disgust sensitivity on facial masculinity preferences regardless of participant and stimuli age. In study 3, the facial masculinity preferences of 386 women were revealed through their attractiveness ratings of natural (unmanipulated) faces. Here, we did not find a significant association of pathogen disgust on facial masculinity preferences, regardless of participant and stimuli age. These results call into question the robustness of the link between women's pathogen avoidance and facial masculinity preference, and raise questions as to why the effect is specific to younger adults and the forced-choice preference measure. Recent research has identified a link between women's pathogen avoidance and stronger preference for facial masculinity in a mate. For instance, DeBruine, Jones, Tybur, Lieberman, and Griskevicius (2010) conducted two studies investigating the link between women's pathogen disgust and their preference for facial masculinity. In study 1, 345 women were shown 20 pairs of the same face; one had been manipulated to be more masculine and the other more feminine. This study utilised a forced-choice preference measure where participants were asked which face they found more attractive. Results were that women higher in pathogen disgust (but not sexual …
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