Testosterone-to-oestradiol ratio is associated with female facial attractiveness

The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology : QJEP
Fabian ProbstJanek S Lobmaier

Abstract

The relationship between facial shape and attractiveness has been extensively studied, yet few studies have investigated the underlying biological factors of an attractive face. Many researchers have proposed a link between female attractiveness and sex hormones, but there is little empirical evidence in support of this assumption. In the present study we investigated the relationship between circulating sex hormones and attractiveness. We created prototypes by separately averaging photographs of 15 women with high and low levels of testosterone, oestradiol, and testosterone-to-oestradiol ratio levels, respectively. An independent set of facial images was then shape transformed toward these prototypes. We paired the resulting images in such a way that one face depicted a female with high hormone level and the other one with a low hormone level. Fifty participants were asked to choose the more attractive face of each pair. We found that low testosterone-to-oestradiol ratio and low testosterone were positively associated with female facial attractiveness. There was no preference for faces with high oestradiol levels. In an additional experiment with 36 participants we confirmed that a low testosterone-to-oestradiol ratio plays a ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Mar 21, 2017·Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience·Marzia Del Zotto, Alan J Pegna
May 24, 2017·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Hannah M Rowland, Robert P Burriss
Aug 5, 2020·Scientific Reports·Agnieszka ŻelaźniewiczBogusław Pawłowski
Feb 4, 2021·PloS One·Georgios KanavakisNikolaos Gkantidis
Mar 7, 2021·Journal of Clinical Medicine·Georgios KanavakisPertti Pirttiniemi

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BETA
contraception

Software Mentioned

SPSS
PsychoMorph

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