African perceptions of female attractiveness

Little is known about mate choice preferences outside Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic societies, even though these Western populations may be particularly unrepresentative of human populations. To our knowledge, this is the first study to test which facial cues contribute to A...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2012-10, Vol.7 (10), p.e48116-e48116
Main Authors: Coetzee, Vinet, Faerber, Stella J, Greeff, Jaco M, Lefevre, Carmen E, Re, Daniel E, Perrett, David I
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acne
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
Adipose tissue
Adiposity - physiology
Adolescent
African Continental Ancestry Group
Age
Age Factors
AIDS
Attraction
Beauty
Biology
Carotenoids
Color
Cues
Ethnicity
Face
Female
Femininity
Fertility
Gender differences
Homogeneity
Human populations
Humans
Infertility
Male
Mate selection
Mens health
Perception - physiology
Perceptions
Populations
Preferences
Regression Analysis
Skin
Skin care
Skin Physiological Phenomena
Skin Pigmentation - physiology
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Studies
White people
Womens health
Young Adult
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Summary:Little is known about mate choice preferences outside Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic societies, even though these Western populations may be particularly unrepresentative of human populations. To our knowledge, this is the first study to test which facial cues contribute to African perceptions of African female attractiveness and also the first study to test the combined role of facial adiposity, skin colour (lightness, yellowness and redness), skin homogeneity and youthfulness in the facial attractiveness preferences of any population. Results show that youthfulness, skin colour, skin homogeneity and facial adiposity significantly and independently predict attractiveness in female African faces. Younger, thinner women with a lighter, yellower skin colour and a more homogenous skin tone are considered more attractive. These findings provide a more global perspective on human mate choice and point to a universal role for these four facial cues in female facial attractiveness.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0048116