The Biology of Facial Beauty
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International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 2005, 27,317–325 The biology of facial beauty B. Fink* and N. Neave *Department for Sociobiology/Anthropology, Institute for Zoology & Anthropology, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany and Human Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology and Sport Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K. Received 17 May 2005, Accepted 14 September 2005 Keywords: attractiveness, beauty, evolutionary psychology, face, humans, mate choice e´volue´ et jugent attrayants certains traits corporels Synopsis parce que ces traits sont ceux de personnes en It was once widely believed that standards of bonne sante´. Nous verrons dans cet article quel- beauty were arbitrarily variable. Recent research ques principes fondamentaux de la the´orie de la suggests, however, that people’s views of facial se´lection sexuelle qui s’appliquent a` la beaute´ attractiveness are remarkably consistent, regard- humaine et nous re´sumerons les principales de´cou- less of race, nationality or age. Facial characteris- vertes dans la perception de la beaute´ humaine. tics are known to influence human attractiveness judgements and evolutionary psychologists suggest Introduction that these characteristics all pertain to health, leading to the conclusion that humans have Human assessments of beauty and human beauty evolved to view certain bodily features as attract- standards have attracted considerable attention in ive because the features were displayed by healthy recent years, not least by cosmetic companies, others. Here we review some of the fundamental plastic surgeons and scientists. A beautiful human principles of sexual selection theory that apply to face provides the receiver with pleasurable feelings human beauty and summarize the major findings mediated by the brain’s dopaminergic reward sys- of human beauty perception. tem, especially when that face is staring directly at you [1]. In a seminal early study Dion et al. [2] showed that positive qualities are ascribed to Re´ sume´ attractive people and negative qualities to unat- Autrefois, l’ide´e que les standards de la beaute´ tractive people. More recently, Langlois et al. [3] varient de fac¸on arbitraire e´taient largement demonstrated that attractive children and adults re´pandue. Toutefois, de re´centes recherches sug- are judged more positively than unattractive chil- ge`rent que l’avis des gens sur l’attrait d’un visage dren and adults. A common notion however est remarquablement concordant inde´pendamment remains that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ de la race, de la nationalite´ ou de l’aˆge. Les and some feminist writers even dispute that beauty caracte´ristiques faciales sont connues pour influ- is an objective quality [4]. In contrast, evolution- encer les jugements sur l’attrait humain et les ary psychologists criticize the idea that beauty psychologues de l’e´volution sugge`rent que ces reflects some arbitrary cultural convention, such caracte`ristiques rele`vent toutes de la sante´. Ceci scientists note that while some aspects of judge- conduit a` la conclusion que les humains ont ments may reflect cultural conventions, the geo- metric features of the human face that give rise to Correspondence: Bernhard Fink, Department for Socio- perceptions of beauty may reflect universal adapta- biology/Anthropology, Institute for Zoology & Anthro- pology, University of Goettingen, Berliner Strasse 28, tions. Human beauty standards may thus reflect D-37073 Goettingen, Germany. Tel.: +49 551 39 9344; culture-independent psychological adaptations fax: +49 551 39 7299; e-mail: bernhard.fi[email protected] reflecting mate choice characteristics (Fig. 1) [5]. ª 2005 Society of Cosmetic Scientists and the Socie´te´ Franc¸aise de Cosme´tologie 317 The biology of facial beauty B. Fink and N. Neave Figure 1 Beauty standards may vary between the cultures, but dif- ferent ethnic groups seem to share a common attractiveness standard based upon biological rules. The faces are generated by means of digital image morphing technique and illustrate the universality of beauty without ethnic boundaries (Image courtesy: Karl Grammer, LBI for Urban Ethology). Although beauty standards may vary between Sexual selection, health and beauty cultures and between times, several studies have shown that members of different ethnic groups Parasites and diseases have played an important share common attractiveness standards. For exam- role in human evolution, as they exert tremendous ple, Cunningham et al. [6] asked males from differ- selection pressures on their hosts by reducing their ent ethnic backgrounds to judge the attractiveness longevity and reproductive success. It has been of females from same and different racial groups. known for a long time that individuals differ in Mean ratings were highly positively correlated and their susceptibility to parasites because of genetic- such ratings did not appear to be influenced by ally determined host resistance, and sexual selec- exposure to Western media. In a meta-analytic tion for healthy partners would obviously provide review, Langlois et al. [3] demonstrated that choosy individuals with potentially important fit- within and between cultures, raters strongly agree ness benefits in terms of resistant offspring [8]. about who is and who is not attractive. The simi- Parasite-mediated sexual selection may benefit larity of such cross-cultural perceptions suggests choosy individuals by preventing them from that beauty standards are innate, a view streng- obtaining mates with contagious parasites that thened by studies demonstrating that human could spread both to themselves and their off- infants show strong preferences for attractive spring, obtaining mates that are efficient parents, faces. In one such study, Langlois et al. [7] utilized and obtaining mates that are genetically resistant a standard visual preference technique with to parasites [9]. infants aged 2–3 and 6–8 months old. In this Hosts may reliably avoid the debilitating effects method the infants were shown pairs of faces pre- of parasites by evolving efficient immune defences, viously rated for attractiveness – an attractive face and the immune system in humans is one of the was always paired with an unattractive face. Both energetically most costly, only equalled by that of groups of infants looked significantly longer at the the brain. Immune defence may play a role in host more attractive face of the two. Hence, the constit- sexual selection because secondary sexual charac- uents of beauty seem to be neither arbitrary nor ters may reliably reflect the immunocompetence of culture bound but may reflect underlying biologi- individuals [10]. Many secondary sexual charac- cal selection pressures that may have shaped these ters develop under the influence of testosterone standards. The high consensus of people’s judge- and other sex hormones. However, hormones have ments of facial attractiveness is consistent with the antagonistic effects on the functioning of the theory of biologically based standards of beauty. immune system [10–12], and only individuals in 318 ª 2005 International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 27,317–325 The biology of facial beauty B. Fink and N. Neave prime condition may be able to develop the most to Morris [20], flawless skin is the most univer- extravagant secondary sexual characters without sally desired human feature and human males compromising their ability to raise efficient are expected to be most sexually attracted to immune defences. female skin that is free of lesions, eruptions, In the human face the basic proportions are warts, moulds, cysts, tumours, acne and hirsu- sexually dimorphic, as male traits develop under tism. The absence or presence of body hair is a the influence of testosterone and female traits sexually dimorphic characteristic, and relative develop under the influence of oestrogens. In the hairlessness and smooth skin in women may sig- case of the broad male chin as a feature of nal fertility because of its association with low attractiveness, the constraints seem to be known. androgen and high oestrogen. Females appreciate If females want dominant males, broad male men’s body hair developed under androgens, but chins may signal a tendency to dominate other males prefer its absence [18]. Skin infection may males. In eight different cultures, Keating et al. denote a disturbance of the production of andro- [13] have shown that males with broad chins gen and oestrogen and reduced reproductive are perceived as being those who are more likely ability. Studies in dermatology have found a to dominate others than be dominated (see also relationship between dermatoses (i.e. physiologi- Ref. [14]). A broad chin could, however, also act cal and pathological changes that can occur in as a handicap [15] because testosterone produc- the skin, nails and hair shafts) and elevated lev- tion might be costly due to suppression of els of sex hormones [21, 22]. In numerous types immune function and thereby increase disease of dermatoses in women, an increase of the level susceptibility during puberty [10]. Immunocompe- of androgens seems to be responsible for these tence is highly relevant because steroid reproduc- symptoms. For example, the polycystic ovary tive hormones may negatively impact immune syndrome results in an overproduction of andro- [10]. Extreme male features, which are triggered gens, which is clinically manifested as dermatos- by testosterone, thus advertise reliably that their es in women [23]. bearer is sufficiently parasite