Women's Preference for Masculine Faces Not Affected by Hormones

Data from almost 600 participants show that women’s perceptions of male attractiveness do not vary according to their hormone levels, in contrast with some previous research. The study findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

“We found no evidence that changes in hormone levels influence the type of men women find attractive,” say lead researcher Benedict C. Jones of the University of Glasgow.

“This study is noteworthy for its scale and scope — previous studies typically examined small samples of women using limited measures,” Jones explains. “With much larger sample sizes and direct measures of hormonal status, we weren’t able to replicate effects of hormones on women’s preferences for masculine faces.”

This image shows an example of a male face digitally altered to appear masculine.

Credit: ©Jones et al

This image shows an example of a male face that is digitally altered to appear more feminine.

Credit: ©Jones et al

These findings run counter to the hypothesis that sexual selection pressures lead women to prefer more masculine mates, who supposedly have greater genetic “fitness,” when they are most fertile and most likely to conceive.

The data also showed that oral contraceptive use did not dampen women’s preference for masculine faces, as has been shown previously.

“There has been increasing concern that the birth control pill might disrupt romantic relationships by altering women’s mate preferences, but our findings do not provide evidence of this,” says Jones.

In light of these findings, Jones and coauthors are continuing to investigate whether other fertility-related differences hold up in larger, more robust studies.

This research was supported by European Research Council grants awarded to B. C. Jones (OCMATE) and L. M. DeBruine (KINSHIP).

All data and materials have been made publicly available via the Open Science Framework. The complete Open Practices Disclosure is available online. This article has received badges for Open Data and Open Materials.

Contacts and sources:Anna Mikulak