Cargando…

Effect of Partnership Status on Preferences for Facial Self-Resemblance

Self-resemblance has been found to have a context-dependent effect when expressing preferences for faces. Whereas dissimilarity preference during mate choice in animals is often explained as an evolutionary adaptation to increase heterozygosity of offspring, self-resemblance can be also favored in h...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lindová, Jitka, Little, Anthony C., Havlíček, Jan, Roberts, S. Craig, Rubešová, Anna, Flegr, Jaroslav
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4906020/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27378970
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00869
_version_ 1782437342692245504
author Lindová, Jitka
Little, Anthony C.
Havlíček, Jan
Roberts, S. Craig
Rubešová, Anna
Flegr, Jaroslav
author_facet Lindová, Jitka
Little, Anthony C.
Havlíček, Jan
Roberts, S. Craig
Rubešová, Anna
Flegr, Jaroslav
author_sort Lindová, Jitka
collection PubMed
description Self-resemblance has been found to have a context-dependent effect when expressing preferences for faces. Whereas dissimilarity preference during mate choice in animals is often explained as an evolutionary adaptation to increase heterozygosity of offspring, self-resemblance can be also favored in humans, reflecting, e.g., preference for kinship cues. We performed two studies, using transformations of facial photographs to manipulate levels of resemblance with the rater, to examine the influence of self-resemblance in single vs. coupled individuals. Raters assessed facial attractiveness of other-sex and same-sex photographs according to both short-term and long-term relationship contexts. We found a preference for dissimilarity of other-sex and same-sex faces in single individuals, but no effect of self-resemblance in coupled raters. No effect of sex of participant or short-term vs. long-term attractiveness rating was observed. The results support the evolutionary interpretation that dissimilarity of other-sex faces is preferred by uncoupled individuals as an adaptive mechanism to avoid inbreeding. In contrast, lower dissimilarity preference of other-sex faces in coupled individuals may reflect suppressed attention to attractiveness cues in potential alternative partners as a relationship maintenance mechanism, and its substitution by attention to cues of kinship and psychological similarity connected with greater likelihood of prosocial behavior acquisition from such persons.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4906020
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-49060202016-07-04 Effect of Partnership Status on Preferences for Facial Self-Resemblance Lindová, Jitka Little, Anthony C. Havlíček, Jan Roberts, S. Craig Rubešová, Anna Flegr, Jaroslav Front Psychol Psychology Self-resemblance has been found to have a context-dependent effect when expressing preferences for faces. Whereas dissimilarity preference during mate choice in animals is often explained as an evolutionary adaptation to increase heterozygosity of offspring, self-resemblance can be also favored in humans, reflecting, e.g., preference for kinship cues. We performed two studies, using transformations of facial photographs to manipulate levels of resemblance with the rater, to examine the influence of self-resemblance in single vs. coupled individuals. Raters assessed facial attractiveness of other-sex and same-sex photographs according to both short-term and long-term relationship contexts. We found a preference for dissimilarity of other-sex and same-sex faces in single individuals, but no effect of self-resemblance in coupled raters. No effect of sex of participant or short-term vs. long-term attractiveness rating was observed. The results support the evolutionary interpretation that dissimilarity of other-sex faces is preferred by uncoupled individuals as an adaptive mechanism to avoid inbreeding. In contrast, lower dissimilarity preference of other-sex faces in coupled individuals may reflect suppressed attention to attractiveness cues in potential alternative partners as a relationship maintenance mechanism, and its substitution by attention to cues of kinship and psychological similarity connected with greater likelihood of prosocial behavior acquisition from such persons. Frontiers Media S.A. 2016-06-14 /pmc/articles/PMC4906020/ /pubmed/27378970 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00869 Text en Copyright © 2016 Lindová, Little, Havlíček, Roberts, Rubešová and Flegr. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Lindová, Jitka
Little, Anthony C.
Havlíček, Jan
Roberts, S. Craig
Rubešová, Anna
Flegr, Jaroslav
Effect of Partnership Status on Preferences for Facial Self-Resemblance
title Effect of Partnership Status on Preferences for Facial Self-Resemblance
title_full Effect of Partnership Status on Preferences for Facial Self-Resemblance
title_fullStr Effect of Partnership Status on Preferences for Facial Self-Resemblance
title_full_unstemmed Effect of Partnership Status on Preferences for Facial Self-Resemblance
title_short Effect of Partnership Status on Preferences for Facial Self-Resemblance
title_sort effect of partnership status on preferences for facial self-resemblance
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4906020/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27378970
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00869
work_keys_str_mv AT lindovajitka effectofpartnershipstatusonpreferencesforfacialselfresemblance
AT littleanthonyc effectofpartnershipstatusonpreferencesforfacialselfresemblance
AT havlicekjan effectofpartnershipstatusonpreferencesforfacialselfresemblance
AT robertsscraig effectofpartnershipstatusonpreferencesforfacialselfresemblance
AT rubesovaanna effectofpartnershipstatusonpreferencesforfacialselfresemblance
AT flegrjaroslav effectofpartnershipstatusonpreferencesforfacialselfresemblance