Social support influences preferences for feminine facial cues in potential social partners

Christopher D. Watkins, Lisa M. De Bruine, Anthony C. Little, Benedict C. Jones

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Most previous studies of individual differences in women's and men's preferences for sexually dimorphic physical characteristics have focused on the importance of mating-related factors for judgments of opposite-sex individuals. Although studies have suggested that people may show stronger preferences for feminine individuals of both sexes under conditions where social support may be at a premium (e.g., during phases of the menstrual cycle where raised progesterone prepares women's bodies for pregnancy), these studies have not demonstrated that perceptions of available social support directly influence femininity preferences. Here we found that (1) women and men randomly allocated to low social support priming conditions demonstrated stronger preferences for feminine shape cues in own- and opposite-sex faces than did individuals randomly allocated to high social support priming conditions and (2) that people perceived men and women displaying feminine characteristics as more likely to provide them with high-quality social support than those displaying relatively masculine characteristics. Together, these findings suggest that social support influences face preferences directly, potentially implicating facultative responses whereby people increase their preferences for pro-social individuals under conditions of low social support.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)340-347
Number of pages8
JournalExperimental Psychology
Volume59
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012

Keywords

  • Alliance formation
  • Face perception
  • Priming
  • Sexual dimorphism
  • Social support

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
  • General Psychology
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

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