Mate value at a glance: Facial attractiveness reveals women's waist-to-hip ratio and men's household income

Mate value at a glance: Facial attractiveness reveals women's waist-to-hip ratio and men's household income. Ji-eun Shin, Eunkook M.Suh, DaykJang. Personality and Individual Differences. Volume 135, 1 December 2018, Pages 128-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.07.014

Abstract: Can people make valid inferences about the person's mate value by a glance of his/her face? Eighty-seven independent coders rated how attractive neutral facial pictures of 297 (152 males) undergraduate students were, after viewing each image for 3 s. The facial attractiveness rating significantly correlated with important sex-specific mate qualities. In case of female targets, facial attractiveness predicted their body shape (waist-to-hip ratio; WHR), whereas among males, it correlated with their household income. The results remained after controlling for the positive affectivity reflected in the facial image. It appears that sex-specific markers of mate value are implicitly ingrained in attractive facial features.