Male facial masculinity influences attributions of personality and reproductive strategy

Facial masculinity may be used as a cue in female mate choice, as it reflects the success of the male genotype in its developmental environment. Women may maximize reproductive success by using a conditional strategy favoring highly masculine facial features for short-term relationships and feminized facial features in men for long-term relationships. Three studies examine reactions to masculinized and feminized male facial composites. Properties of the original composite image affect ratings of critical attributes and the magnitude of the differences in ratings between versions undergoing identical processes of geometric manipulation (Study 1). Both men and women attribute personality, behavior, and mating strategies consistent with predictions derived from the good genes and mating trade-off hypotheses (Study 2). Participants accurately grouped behavioral tendencies related to high mating effort/risky strategies and high parenting effort/risk adverse strategies and associated mating effort more so with masculinized faces and parenting effort more so with feminized faces (Study 3). These results indicate that male facial masculinity serves as a visual cue for inferring personality and reproductive strategy. Male facial masculinity may be used as a cue in female mate choice, as it reflects the success of the male genotype in the developmental environment. Men exhibiting these features may have a greater rate of return from mating effort compared to other men and thus may allocate more effort toward mating and less to parental investment. Women may maximize their reproductive success by showing stronger preferences for partners with highly masculine faces for short-term sexual relationships but favor less masculinized faces in prospective long-term relationship partners. Three studies examine whether facial masculinity is related to attributions of male reproductive strategy and contingent female mating strategies. Facial masculinity as a costly signal Zahavi’s (1975) handicap principle holds that costly behaviors or physical features such as a peacock’s large and ornate tail are a signal of physical condition and genetic quality to prospective mates. The immunocompetence handicap model of attractiveness, one variant of the ‘‘good gene’’ model, holds that masculine facial traits in human males, such as prominent brow ridges and large jaws, are honest signals of genetic quality because development of these characteristics is dependent on testosterone. High testosterone levels interfere with proper immune system functioning (Folstad & Karter, 1992), and thus such signals are difficult to fake due to their high cost. Men who are able to display exaggerated secondary sexual characteristics demonstrate that they have high genetic quality in their developmental environment and having these features is related to reproductive success across species (see Andersson, 1994). Kokko, Brooks, Jennions, andMorley (2003) caution that a display such as hypermasculinity The author thanks X. T. Wang for his assistance in procuring participants for Study 1. Correspondence should be addressed to Daniel J. Kruger, University of Michigan, Prevention Research Center and Institute for Social Research, 1420 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, e-mail: [email protected]. Personal Relationships, 13 (2006), 451–463. Printed in the United States of America. Copyright 2006 IARR. 1350-4126=06