The pattern of facial preferences in boys at early adolescence

Krzysztof Kościński

doi:10.2478/v10044-008-0018-0

Authors

Krzysztof Kościński Institute of Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University; Umultowska 89, 61-614 Poznań, Poland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2478/v10044-008-0018-0

Keywords:

facial attractiveness, preference, development, puberty, sex hormones

Abstract

Despite numerous studies on perception of facial attractiveness in adults, preferences in adolescents remain poorly characterized. The aim of present study was to explore facial preferences in boys at early adolescence (11-13 years old) and compare them with preferences of men. All males evaluated the same 30 female faces, which were also assessed by independent judges for several perceived features. Regardless of age, boys assessed attractiveness much the same as men, and the strengths of their preferences for specific facial features were similar to those of men. The pubertal maturity (calculated on the basis of the presence of pubic hair at two sessions spaced ten months apart) correlated positively with strength of preference for several facial features (specifically: maturity, sexiness, marital appearance and friendly appearance). This remained true even after controlling for age and psychosexual development, suggesting that sex hormones are involved in the development of facial preferences in pubescent boys.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Blom G., 1958, Statistical estimates and transformed beta-variables, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, New York

Burt D. M., R. W. Kentridge, J. M. M. Good, D. I. Perrett, B. P. Tiddeman, L. G. Boothroyd, 2007, Q-cgi: new techniques to assess variation in perception applied to facial attractiveness, Proc. R. Soc. B, 274, 2779-84

Buss D., 1999, Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind, Allyn & Bacon, Boston

Buss D. M., D. P. Schmitt, 1993, Sexual strategies theory: An evolutionary perspective on human mating, Psychol. Rev., 100, 204-32

Cooper P. A., S. S. Geldart, C. J. Mondloch, D. Maurer, 2006, Developmental changes in perceptions of attractiveness: A role of experience?, Dev. Sci., 9, 530-43

Chung M. S., 1997, Face recognition: Effects of age of subjects and age of stimulus faces, Korean J. Dev. Psychol., 10, 167-76

Diamond R., S. Carey, K. J. Back, 1983, Genetic influences on the development of spatial skills during early adolescence, Cognition, 13, 167-85

Flin R. H., 1985, Development of face recognition: An encoding switch?, Br. J. Psychol., 76, 123-34

Gangestad S. W., G. J. Scheyd, 2005, The evolution of human physical attractiveness, Ann. Rev. Anthropol., 34, 523-48

Geldart S., D. Maurer, K. Carney, 1999, Effects of eye size on adults' aesthetic ratings of faces and 5-month-olds' looking times, Perception, 28, 361-74

Halpern C. T., J. R. Udry, B. Campbell, C. Suchindran, G. A. Mason, 1994, Testosterone and religiosity as predictors of sexual attitudes and activity among adolescent males: A biosocial model, J. Biosoc. Sci., 26, 217-34

Halpern C. T., J. R. Udry, C. Suchindran, 1998, Monthly measures of salivary testosterone predict sexual activity in adolescent males, Arch. Sex. Behav., 27, 445-65

Herdt G., N. McClintock, 2000, The magical age of 10, Arch. Sex. Behav., 29, 587-606

Itier R. J., M. J. Taylor, 2004, Face inversion and contrast-reversal effects across development: in contrast to the expertise theory, Dev. Sci., 7, 246-60

Janczewski Z., L. Bablok, 1985, Semen characteristics in pubertal boys. I. Semen quality after first ejaculation, Arch. Androl., 15, 199-205

Janssen D. F., 2007, First stirrings: Cultural notes on orgasm, ejaculation, and wet dreams, J. Sex Res., 44, 122-34

Jones B. C., L. M. DeBruine, D. I. Perrett, A. C. Little, D. R. Feinberg, M. J. Law Smith, 2008, Effects of menstrual cycle phase on face preferences, Arch. Sex. Behav., 37, 78-84

Jones B. C., A. C. Little, I. S. Penton-Voak, B. P. Tiddeman, D. M. Burt, D. I. Perrett, 2001, Facial symmetry and judgements of apparent health. Support for a "good genes" explanation of the attractiveness-symmetry relationship, Evol. Hum. Behav., 22, 417-29

Kissler J., K. H. Bäuml, 2000, Effects of the beholder's age on the perception of facial attractiveness. Acta Psychol, 104, 145-66

Kościński K., 2007, Facial attractiveness: General patterns of facial preferences, Anthropol. Rev., 70, 45-79

Kościński K., 2008, Facial attractiveness: Variation, adaptiveness and consequences of facial preferences, Anthropol. Rev., 71, 77-105

Kościński K., in press, Life history of female preferences for male faces: A comparison of pubescent girls, nonpregnant and pregnant young women, and middle-aged women, Hum. Nat.

Langlois J. H., L. Kalakanis, A. J. Rubenstein, A. Larson, M. Hallam, M. Smoot, 2000, Maxims or myths of beauty, Psychol. Bull., 126, 390-423

Langlois J. H., L. A. Roggman, R. J. Casey, J. M. Ritter, L. A. Rieser-Danner, V. Y. Jenkins, 1987, Infant preferences for attractive face: Rudiments of a stereotype?, Dev. Psychol., 23, 363-69

Lebrun C. E. I., Y. T. van der Schouw, F. H. De Jong, H. A. P. Pols, D. E. Grobbee, S. W. J. Lamberts, 2005, Endogenous oestrogens are related to cognition in healthy elderly women, Clin. Endocrinol., 63, 50-55

Little A. C., T. K. Saxton, S. C. Roberts, B. C. Jones, L. M. DeBruine, et al., 2010, Women's preferences for masculinity in male faces are highest during reproductive age range and lower around puberty and postmenopause, Psychoneuroendocrinology, 35, 912-920

Marshall W. A., 1978, Puberty, [in:] Human growth, vol. 1, F. Falkner, J. M. Tanner (eds.), Plenum Press, New York, pp. 141-181

McGivern R. F., J. Andersen, D. Byrd, K. L. Mutter, J. Reilly, 2002, Cognitive efficiency on a match to sample task decreases at the onset of puberty in children, Brain Cogn., 50, 73-89

Mehu M., A. C. Little, R. I. M. Dunbar, 2007, Duchenne smiles and the perception of generosity and sociability in faces, J. Evol. Psychol., 5, 183-96

Mondloch C. J., R. Le Grand, D. Maurer, 2002, Configural face processing develops more slowly than featural face processing, Perception, 31, 553-66

Nottelmann E. D., E. J. Susman, L. D. Dorn, G. Inoff-Germain, D. L. Loriaux, et al., 1987, Developmental processes in early adolescence. Relations among chronologic age, pubertal stage, height, weight, and serum levels of gonadotropins, sex steroids, and adrenal androgens, J. Adolesc. Health Care, 8, 246-60

Ogasawara H., 2007, Asymptotic expansion and asymptotic robustness of the normal-theory estimators in the random regression model, J. Stat. Comp. Simul., 77, 821-38

Penton-Voak I. S., A. C. Little, B. C. Jones, D. M. Burt, B. P. Tiddeman, D. I. Perrett, 2003, Female condition influences preferences for sexual dimorphism in faces of male humans (Homo sapiens), J. Comp. Psychol., 117, 264-71

Regan P. C., 1999, Hormonal correlates and causes of sexual desire: A review, Can. J. Hum. Sex., 8, 1-16

Rhodes G., 2006, The evolutionary psychology of facial beauty, Ann. Rev. Psychol., 57, 199-226

Roney J. R., K. N. Hanson, K. M. Durante, D. Maestripieri, 2006, Reading men's faces: Women's mate attractiveness judgments track men's testosterone and interest in infants, Proc. R. Soc. B, 273, 2169-75

Roney J. R., Z. L. Simmons, 2008, Women's estradiol predicts preference for facial cues of men's testosterone, Horm. Behav., 53, 14-19

Rubenstein A. J., L. Kalakanis, J. H. Langlois, 1999, Infant preferences for attractive faces: A cognitive explanation, Dev. Psychol., 35, 848-55

Saxton T. K., P. G. Cary, S. C. Roberts, 2006, Vocal and facial attractiveness judgments of children, adolescents and adults: The ontogeny of mate choice, Ethology, 112, 1179-85

Saxton T. K., L. M. DeBruine, B. C. Jones, A. C. Little, S. C. Roberts, 2009a, Face and voice attractiveness judgments change during adolescence, Evol. Hum. Behav., 30, 398-408

Saxton T. K., D. Kohoutova, S. C. Roberts, B. C. Jones, L. M. DeBruine, J. Havlicek, 2010, Age, puberty and attractiveness judgments in adolescents, Pers. Indiv. Differ., 49, 857-62

Saxton T. K., A. C. Little, L. M. DeBruine, B. C. Jones, S. C. Roberts, 2009b, Adolescents' preferences for sexual dimorphism are influenced by relative exposure to male and female faces, Pers. Indiv. Differ., 47, 864-68

Scarbrough P. S., V. S. Johnston, 2005, Individual differences in women's facial preferences as a function of digit ratio and mental rotation ability, Evol. Hum. Behav., 26, 509-26

Silver N. C., W. P. Dunlap, 1987, Averaging correlation coefficients: Should Fisher's z transformation be used?, J. Appl. Psychol., 72, 146-48

Sisk C. L., J. L. Zehr, 2005, Pubertal hormones organize the adolescent brain and behavior, Front. Neuroendocrinol., 26, 163-74

Slater A., C. von der Schulenburg, E. Brown, M. Badenoch, G. Butterworth, et al., 1998, Newborn infants prefer attractive faces, Infant Behav. Dev., 21, 345-54

Symons D., 1995, Beauty is in the adaptation of the beholder: The evolutionary psychology of human female sexual attractiveness, [in:] Sexual nature/Sexual culture, P. R. Abramson, S. D. Pinkerton (eds.), University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 80-118

Tanner J. M., 1962, Growth at adolescence, Blackwell, Oxford

Walton G. E., T. G. R. Bower, 1993, Newborns form "prototypes" in less than 1 minute, Psychol. Sci., 4, 203-5

Welling L. L. M., B. C. Jones, L. M. DeBruine, C. A. Conway, M. J. Law Smith, et al., 2007, Raised salivary testosterone in women is associated with increased attraction to masculine faces, Horm. Behav., 52, 156-61

Welling L. L. M., B. C. Jones, L. M. DeBruine, F. G. Smith, D. R. Feinberg, et al., 2008, Men report stronger attraction to femininity in women's faces when their testosterone levels are high, Horm. Behav., 54, 703-8

Williams C. L., 1998, Estrogen effects on cognition across the lifespan, Horm. Behav., 34, 80-84

Winter J. S. D., 1978, Prepubertal and pubertal endocrinology, [in:] Human growth, vol. 1, F. Falkner, J. M. Tanner (eds.), Plenum Press, New York, pp. 183-213

Zajonc R. B., 2001, Mere exposure: A gateway to the subliminal, Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci., 10, 224-28