Male facial cues to physical strength in Europe: Medium‐strength preference and higher aggressiveness attribution to the weakest.
More On Article
- HEAS Member Pere Gelabert receives a ERC Starting Grant for studying human-carnivore interactions through the Paleolithic
- HEAS Member Katerina Douka featured in ‘Die Presse’
- Why Anthropologists and Dentists Should Work in Synergy to Improve Oral Health (in Latin America)
- The Late Middle and Early Upper Palaeolithic in Crimea (Ukraine)—A Review of the Neanderthal Refugium Hypothesis
- HEAS members publish new study on how mammals with distant evolutionary ties but similar ecological roles evolved comparable inner ear shapes.
Schaefer, K., Seiser, V.M., Prucha, S., Kerschbaumer, V., Fink, B., Windhager, S., 2024. Male facial cues to physical strength in Europe: Medium‐strength preference and higher aggressiveness attribution to the weakest. American journal of human biology, e24040.
Abstract
Objectives
The capacity to assess male physical strength from facial cues may be adaptive given health and fitness-related associations with muscular strength. Our study complements recent research on strength-related face perceptions of male Maasai by applying the protocol to male European faces and assessors.
Methods
Five distinct facial morphs calibrated for handgrip strength (HGS) were manufactured with geometric morphometrics performing regressions of the Procrustes shape coordinates on HGS in a sample of 26 European men (18–32 years). Young adult men and women (n = 445) rated these morphs on physical strength, attractiveness, and aggressiveness.
Results
Facial morphs calibrated to lower HGS were rated as less strong, less attractive, and more aggressive than those calibrated to higher HGS. Medium levels of HGS were associated with the highest attractiveness ratings.
Conclusions
The rating patterns of physical strength, attractiveness, and aggressiveness for European male facial morphs exhibit similarity to previous ratings of Maasai male faces. Therefore, the current findings corroborate the suggestion of a common mechanism for social attributions based on facial cues to physical strength, modulated by local ecology and societal context.