Testing a postulated case of intersexual selection in humans: The role of foot size in judgments of physical attractiveness and age

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• 作者：Daniel M.T. Fessler^a ; ^{dfessler@anthro.ucla.edu} ; Stefan Stieger^b ; Salomi S. Asaridou^c ; Umeru Bahia^d ; Mark Cravalho^d ; Philip de Barros^e ; Tiara Delgado^f ; Maryanne L. Fisher^g ; David Frederick^a ; Paulina Geraldo Perezⁱ ; Cari Goetz^j ; Kevin Haley^a ; Jené ; e Jackson^e ; Geoff Kushnick^k ; Kevin Lew^a ; Elizabeth Pain^e ; Patrí ; cia Piexinho Florindo^l ; Anne Pisorⁱ ; Evi Sinaga^m ; Lasma Sinaga^h ; Lisa Smolich^e ; Dong Mei Sun^h ; Martin Voracek^b
• 关键词：Sexual selection ; Sexual dimorphism ; Attractiveness ; Foot size
• 刊名：Evolution and Human Behavior
• 出版年：2012
• 出版时间：March 2012
• 年：2012
• 卷：33
• 期：2
• 页码：147-164
• 全文大小：666 K

文摘

The constituents of attractiveness differ across the sexes. Many relevant traits are dimorphic, suggesting that they are the product of intersexual selection. However, direction of causality is generally difficult to determine, as aesthetic criteria can as readily result from, as cause, dimorphism. Women have proportionately smaller feet than men. Prior work on the role of foot size in attractiveness suggests an asymmetry across the sexes, as small feet enhance female appearance, yet average, rather than large, feet are preferred on men. Previous investigations employed crude stimuli and limited samples. Here, we report on multiple cross-cultural studies designed to overcome these limitations. With the exception of one rural society, we find that small foot size is preferred when judging women, yet no equivalent preference applies to men. Similarly, consonant with the thesis that a preference for youth underlies intersexual selection acting on women, we document an inverse relationship between foot size and perceived age. Examination of preferences regarding, and inferences from, feet viewed in isolation suggests different roles for proportionality and absolute size in judgments of female and male bodies. Although the majority of these results bolster the conclusion that pedal dimorphism is the product of intersexual selection, the picture is complicated by the reversal of the usual preference for small female feet found in one rural society. While possibly explicable in terms of greater emphasis on female economic productivity relative to beauty, the latter finding underscores the importance of employing diverse samples when exploring postulated evolved aesthetic preferences.