Facial attractiveness judgements reflect learning of parental age characteristics

David I. Perrett; Ian S. Penton-Voak; Anthony C. Little; Bernard P. Tiddeman; D. Michael Burt; Natalie Schmidt; Roz Oxley; Nicholas Kinloch; Louise Barrett

doi:10.1098/rspb.2002.1971

Facial attractiveness judgements reflect learning of parental age characteristics

David I. Perrett, Ian S. Penton-Voak, Anthony C. Little, Bernard P. Tiddeman, D. Michael Burt, Natalie Schmidt, Roz Oxley, Nicholas Kinloch, Louise Barrett

Department of Psychology

University of St Andrews

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

118 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Mate preferences are shaped by infant experience of parental characteristics in a wide variety of species. Similar processes in humans may lead to physical similarity between parents and mates, yet this possibility has received little attention. The age of parents is one salient physical characteristic that offspring may attend to. The current study used computer-graphic faces to examine how preferences for age in faces were influenced by parental age. We found that women born to 'old' parents (over 30) were less impressed by youth, and more attracted to age cues in male faces than women with 'young' parents (under 30). For men, preferences for female faces were influenced by their mother's age and not their father's age, but only for long-term relationships. These data indicate that judgements of facial attractiveness in humans reflect the learning of parental characteristics.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	873-880
Number of pages	8
Journal	Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume	269
Issue number	1494
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2002.1971
Publication status	Published - 7 May 2002

Keywords

Age preference
Early visual experience
Facial attractiveness
Parental characteristics

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Medicine
General Immunology and Microbiology
General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Environmental Science
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

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10.1098/rspb.2002.1971

https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2002.1971

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title = "Facial attractiveness judgements reflect learning of parental age characteristics",

abstract = "Mate preferences are shaped by infant experience of parental characteristics in a wide variety of species. Similar processes in humans may lead to physical similarity between parents and mates, yet this possibility has received little attention. The age of parents is one salient physical characteristic that offspring may attend to. The current study used computer-graphic faces to examine how preferences for age in faces were influenced by parental age. We found that women born to 'old' parents (over 30) were less impressed by youth, and more attracted to age cues in male faces than women with 'young' parents (under 30). For men, preferences for female faces were influenced by their mother's age and not their father's age, but only for long-term relationships. These data indicate that judgements of facial attractiveness in humans reflect the learning of parental characteristics.",

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AU - Perrett, David I.

AU - Penton-Voak, Ian S.

AU - Little, Anthony C.

AU - Tiddeman, Bernard P.

AU - Burt, D. Michael

AU - Schmidt, Natalie

AU - Oxley, Roz

AU - Kinloch, Nicholas

AU - Barrett, Louise

PY - 2002/5/7

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KW - Age preference

KW - Early visual experience

KW - Facial attractiveness

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Facial attractiveness judgements reflect learning of parental age characteristics

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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