The reason we are attracted to people we have never talked to or interacted with but only seen can be explained by evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology provides a progressive reason for our mental and often subconscious appeal to a certain person. Our ancestors did not chose a partner solely because they found them attractive, some characteristic of the individual indicated good health and sufficient survival tactics. To what extent does evolutionary psychology explain why we find certain physical characteristics that contribute to physical attraction? Psychologist call the part of our brain that is concerned with survival and reproduction the “Old Brain”. This part of the brain is hardwired to only assess the possible benefit to ourselves and our society as a whole. The “Old Brain” is concerned with our individual survival as well as the survival of our society and offspring. Our “Old Brain” is programmed to find certain attributes attractive because they indicate that the person is either fertile, healthy or will produce good offspring. A select few of theses attributes include facial symmetry, pheromones, facial averageness, fertility, hormone makers, body hair, and hip to waist ratio.
Every physical characteristic can be explained by evolutionary psychology to a certain extent, it explains attractions and sexual appeals to both sexes. Evolutionary psychology has the ability to explain why we find certain people and characteristics attractive, all attraction to physical characteristics can be explained by evolutionary psychology. While there are individual preferences for some traits that will prove adaptive and are consistent with evolutionary theory, attraction is still engrained in our biology. According to Bowers, “Psychologists Break Down the Essence of Physical Beauty” He asserts that each physical characteristic on a woman that men find attractive is due to evolution and whether a woman is fertile or will have good genes for her offspring and vice versa (Bower, B. (1990, May 12). Average Attractions: Psychologists Break Down the Essence of Physical Beauty. Science News, 137(19), 298. Retrieved from Questia School). This is also the reason women walk with swinging their hips, the swinging accentuates their hips which shows that the woman could potentially be fertile. Men can be successful at attracting mates because they have honest signs of good condition, however, could actually be less likely to invest time and other resources in offspring and therefore their partner might become conditioned to this. Additionally, Thornhill explains that another reason is because women invest more heavily in offspring, making them the more "valuable" gender, which makes men more inclined to find a female partner. Evolutionary psychology provides an explanation for our mental and often subconscious appeal to a certain person. Our ancestors did not chose a partner solely because they found them attractive, some characteristic of the individual indicated good health and sufficient survival tactics (Thornhill, R., & Gangestad, S. W. (1999, December). Facial attractiveness. Retrieved January 24, 2017, from http://invibe.net/biblio_database_dyva/woda/data/att/c264.file.08484.pd). Psychologist call the part of our brain that is concerned with survival and reproduction the “Old Brain”. This part of the brain is hardwired to only assess the possible benefit to ourselves and our society as a whole. The “Old Brain” is concerned with our individual survival as well as the survival of our society and offspring. Fink describes the Old Brain and how the “Old Brain” is programmed to find certain attributes attractive because they indicate that the person is either fertile, healthy or will produce good offspring. A select few of theses attributes include facial symmetry, pheromones, facial averageness, fertility, hormone makers, body hair, and hip to waist ratio (Fink, B., & Penton-Voak, I. (2002). Evolutionary Psychology of Facial Attractiveness. Retrieved January 24, 2017, from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1467-8721.0190.) The reason a man is attracted to the curves of a woman's body is because the curves show that the woman is mature and grown which means she has the ability to reproduce. Women rate men with slightly feminized faces as more cooperative and honest, and as good parents. Evidence suggests that these attributions are valid and if all else is equal, these traits will be attractive to women. Fink continues to show how although ancestral women would also have faced the problem of identifying fertile men, the problem is considerably less severe because most men remain fertile throughout their lifespan, where women lose their fertility with age (Fink, B., & Penton-Voak, I. (2002). Evolutionary Psychology of Facial Attractiveness. Retrieved January 24, 2017, from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1467-872 1.00190.). Another characteristics of physical attraction is pheromones. Pheromones are the smell you secrete and this often attracts a mate. The pheromone process occurs often in animals and occurs a little less often in humans, however, pheromones are still a determining factor that is important in our mate choice. Females utilize and rely on pheromones more than males do, more women can find a male partner based on pheromones than men can find women. One study that illustrates pheromones and their impact on physical attraction is the Wedekind (1995). In this study Wedekind took 49 female volunteers and 44 male volunteers to participate in his psychology study on pheromones. The 44 male participants were given a plain white t shirt to wear for two days and exercise in without ever removing the t shirt. After the males had worn the t shirts for two days Wedekind took the t shirts and put them into glass jars. Wedekind then asked the 49 female participants to smell each and everyone of the t shirts and rate them on which ones they found the best smelling. Wedekind discovered that the women found the best smelling males to be the ones whose MHC gene was so different their own. MHC refers to the Major Histocompatibility Complex and this is one of the immune system's key markers of identity. (MENTION AND SUMMARIZE THIS INFORMATION ON MICE AND MHC) MHC proteins attach to foreign bodies and present them to the immune system for a verdict of self or not self. Essentially the image see jeans are wet attacks foreign bodies and strengthens your immune system. MHC is the gene that deals with the immune system so women found the ones who were most different attractive because they want their children to be immune to as most diseases as possible. This study supports the evolutionary explanation of mate selection in humans, and that women will choose their mate based on how much you can contribute to their offspring. This study also demonstrates that physical attraction is influenced by biological factors and Wedekind shows this through genetic make up. Due to my prior knowledge, I know there is an evolutionary reason for just about every characteristic we find attractive when looking for a partner. For example, men find women's hips attractive because wide hips indicate that a woman has the ability to successfully carry children. Men are attracted to this because they want to find a partner that can successfully and effectively pass on their genes and create offspring. On the other hand, women are aware that men are attracted to this and that is why women will sway when they walk to accentuate their hips. Another characteristic of attraction that is explained by evolutionary psychology is facial symmetry. In hunter-gatherer days, if your face was symmetrical or without blemishes it indicated to others that you were healthy and that you could survive/navigate your environment. Now, people still find symmetrical faces attractive because it still indicates that the person is healthy and has the ability to survive. The ability to survive is essentially what all of physical attraction is centered around and this is due to our ancestors and our “old brain”. Some traits that we find attractive due to evolutionary psychology and survival are no longer significant because we are not pressed with the same challenge to survive each day as we were in the hunter-gatherer days. However, physical attraction is partially engrained in the “old brain” which has not changed since hunter-gatherer days so we are still programmed to look for these physical characteristics and be attracted to them. Females and males tend to choose mates independently of other same-sex individuals’ mate choices/ preferences, or they can copy the mate choices of these individuals. The Handicap Principle proposed by Amotz Zahavi in 1975 suggests that, “the evolution of extravagant, and thus costly, display traits as honest signals of the ability to deal with environmental problems throughout evolutionary history.” Some attractive features clearly show health, these include clear eyes and smooth skin, as well as non-facial features such as average body mass index. Women rate men with slightly feminized faces as more cooperative and honest, and as good parents. Evidence suggests that these attributions are valid and if all else is equal, these traits will be attractive to women. Men who are successful at attracting mates because they have honest signs of good condition, however, could actually be less likely to invest time and other resources in offspring and therefore their partner might become conditioned to this. “Charles Darwin’s and similar hypotheses for the evolution of mate choice – that human sexual attraction is fully ex- plained as a means of obtaining a mate that will result in offspring with a mating advantage because of their physical attractiveness alone – are difficult to sustain in light of the evidence accumulated in these areas of research.” Although ancestral women would also have faced the problem of identifying fertile men, the problem is considerably less severe because most men remain fertile throughout their life span, where women lose their fertility with age. Another reason is because women invest more heavily in offspring, making them the more "valuable" gender, which makes men more inclined to find a female partner. “Smell” is what describes sensing someone’s pheromones — a type of scent-bearing chemical secreted in sweat and other bodily fluids. Pheromones are known to be involved in sexual attraction in animals, and research suggests that they may also play a role for people. Eye contact or gazing with someone that the receiver deems as “attractive” is more rewarding to them and increases their hormones more than making eye contact with some that the receiver deems “unattractive”. People are attracted to partners with symmetrical faces because it usually is an accurate assessment of their physical condition. Other psychologists think that facial symmetry is just visually pleasing to our eyes which and that is the reason it attracts partners because they want to pass the same trait of facial symmetry to their offspring. Each physical characteristic on a woman that men find attractive is due to evolution and whether a woman is fertile or will have good genes for her offspring. The theory of desired dissimilar immune system matching can be quantified according to markers on a person’s major histocompatibility complex (MHC), a large gene region that controls the immune system response, and postulates that couples attracted to this type of scent owing to the result that a resultant child would create a more robust immune system, more defensive against a greater variety of pathogens.
(Wedekind, C., Seebeck, T., Bettens, F., & Paepke, A. J. (1995). MHC-dependent mate preferences in humans. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 260(1359), 245-249.)
While men do find women’s faces attractive due to symmetry, they also find women who are at their most fertile part in their menstrual cycle to be the most appealing or most attractive. During women's most fertile point in their menstrual cycle their face is slightly altered and men can find this more attractive. In 2004, a British study was conducted in which a group of 125 men were asked to look at two pictures of the exact same woman. However, one was taken when the woman was not on her menstrual cycle and the other was taken when she was at her most fertile point during her menstrual cycle. The men were asked which picture they found more attractive. Almost 60% of the men said that the woman at the peak of her fertility was the more attractive out of the two. While the findings show men considered the more fertile woman more attractive, you do have to consider that some of the men could have possibly noticed no difference but for the sake of the experiment they just chose one of the two pictures. This study supports the idea of men finding women more attractive when they are at their most fertile point in their cycle. Evolutionary psychology explains this because men will find women more attractive at this time because they will most easily produce offspring when they are at this stage so the males become attracted to them. Males do not knowingly find the women more attractive during periods of high fertility, they do it subconsciously because it is engrained in their biology. Most factors of attraction on women are found more attractive to men during their highest point of fertility. Another example is how womens breasts tend to get bigger during their menstrual system and then when they are fertile. This is another indicator to males that the woman is fertile and at a high chance of reproduction. This is also the explanation for why men are attracted to females with larger breasts. Larger breasts tend to signify that the woman is matured and has the ability to reproduce and sustain fertile and successful offspring. This is the evolutionary reason for why men find women's breasts attractive and why the men are typically more attracted during the women's highest fertility point. All evolutionary psychology functions on the basis of which mate will produce the most successful offspring. Mates tend to look for someone who they believe is better than them because they want their offspring to be a successful as possible. In hunter and gatherer days, mates only cared about physical appearance because it signified good health. If a possible mate had a disease, scratches, or any other blemish, they were typically not approached because it signified to others that they did not have the ability to survive successfully in their environment which is not a trait you want to pass onto your offspring.
Studies to include:
Shackelford and Larsen: From an evolutionary psychological perspective, facial symmetry is an underlying indicator of health and how probable it is that the person will contribute to successful offspring. Shackelford and Larsen wanted to carry out an experiment to determine whether facial symmetry really is an indicator of underlying health and well being. Shackelford and Larsen went about their study by using a participant group of 66 women and 34 men that had a mean age of 20 years old. The incentive for participants was that they would receive credit towards their grades in class meetings, homework assignments and a final term paper. One of the daily procedures participants were required to perform was the daily physical symptom report. In this report participants had to check off any of seven symptoms such as headache, runny nose, nausea, muscle soreness or cramps, sore throat/cough, backache and jitteriness. Participants filled out the same form twice a day, at the beginning in the end, for four weeks. Additionally, participants had to undergo a procedure to measure their cardiovascular health. All participants participating in this procedure had to read and sign a consent form prior to the procedure. In order to assess the cardiovascular health of the participants, participants either had to ride a bike for one minute maintaining a speed of 11 mph or they had to step up and step down a 2 foot step for one minute. The heart rate was recorded of all the participants in each exercise and was then used to determine the cardiovascular health of the participant. They determined whether the participant was deemed healthy by measuring the time it took for the participants heart rate to return to its normal heart rate. A head and shoulders photograph was taken of each participant and then that photograph was rated based on several categories; it was rated by an independent group of 18 men and women with a mean age of 19. The raters assessed the unattractiveness or attractiveness of each participant using a nine point scale. The results of the experiment found that people deemed facially more attractive may be physically healthier but only slightly. None of the empirical evidence suggests a large significance however there is still a small significance. The results are consistent with an evolutionary psychological perspective and the belief that attractiveness is an underlying indicator of health.
Matching Hypothesis: Walster (1966) The matching hypothesis is the idea to create a successful relationship, the two people in the relationship have to have roughly the same level of physical attractiveness. The matching hypothesis claims that if a woman of low attractiveness goes on a date with a man of high attractiveness and then another date with a man of low attractiveness; the woman will like the man of low attractiveness better due to their similarity in physical attractiveness. It also claims that successful couples who have different levels of attractiveness are successful due to other factors that compensate for the difference in attractiveness. For example, a very attractive female might date a very unattractive mail if he possesses a lot of wealth and power. In this instance the wealth and power would compensate for the males lack in physical attraction. An experiment that explores the matching hypothesis is Walster et al. (1966) In this experiment 752 participants were rated on their physical attractiveness by four judges on a scale from 1 to 8. After they were rated, the participants were asked to fill-in a questionnaire for the purposes of matching them with a similar partner. However, the pairing was completely random, the only exception was that no man was paired with a taller woman. two days later the participants returned and went to a dance with their assigned partner. At intermission participants were asked to assess their date. Walster discovered that participants with higher ratings were found to be more harsh on their dates, even if the participants had the same rating. He found that both men and women were satisfied with their dates if their date had a high level of attractiveness. Walster also found that physical attractiveness was the most important factor in enjoying the date. The only criticism on the entire experiment was the judge's rating and interaction with the participants. It is possible that any interaction between the judge and a participant while the judge was rating them could have led to a higher rating. A psychologist by the name of Huston argues that the matching hypothesis doesn't come from matching but is instead the tendency of people to avoid rejection by choosing someone that has the same level of attractiveness as themselves. They do this in order to avoid being rejected by someone with a higher level of attractiveness than themselves.
Zach: From an evolutionary psychological perspective, facial symmetry is an underlying indicator of health and how probable it is that the person will contribute to successful offspring. Shackelford and Larsen wanted to carry out an experiment to determine whether facial symmetry really is an indicator of underlying health and well being. Shackelford and Larsen went about their study by using a participant group of 66 women and 34 men that had a mean age of 20 years old. The incentive for participants was that they would receive credit towards their grades in class meetings, homework assignments and a final term paper. One of the daily procedures participants were required to perform was the daily physical symptom report. In this report participants had to check off any of seven symptoms such as headache, runny nose, nausea, muscle soreness or cramps, sore throat/cough, backache and jitteriness. Participants filled out the same form twice a day, at the beginning in the end, for four weeks. Additionally, participants had to undergo a procedure to measure their cardiovascular health. All participants participating in this procedure had to read and sign a consent form prior to the procedure. In order to assess the cardiovascular health of the participants, participants either had to ride a bike for one minute maintaining a speed of 11 mph or they had to step up and step down a 2 foot step for one minute. The heart rate was recorded of all the participants in each exercise and was then used to determine the cardiovascular health of the participant. They determined whether the participant was deemed healthy by measuring the time it took for the participants heart rate to return to its normal heart rate. A head and shoulders photograph was taken of each participant and then that photograph was rated based on several categories; it was rated by an independent group of 18 men and women with a mean age of 19. The raters assessed the unattractiveness or attractiveness of each participant using a nine point scale. The results of the experiment found that people deemed facially more attractive may be physically healthier but only slightly. None of the empirical evidence suggests a large significance however there is still a small significance. The results are consistent with an evolutionary psychological perspective and the belief that attractiveness is an underlying indicator of health.