Sex ratio influences the motivational salience of facial attractiveness.

Abstract:

:The sex ratio of the local population influences mating-related behaviours in many species. Recent experiments show that male-biased sex ratios increase the amount of financial resources men will invest in potential mates, suggesting that sex ratios influence allocation of mating effort in humans. To investigate this issue further, we tested for effects of cues to the sex ratio of the local population on the motivational salience of attractiveness in own-sex and opposite-sex faces. We did this using an effort-based key-press task, in which the motivational salience of facial attractiveness was assessed in samples of faces in which the ratio of male to female images was manipulated. The motivational salience of attractive opposite-sex, but not own-sex, faces was greater in the own-sex-biased (high competition for mates) than in the opposite-sex-biased (low competition for mates) condition. Moreover, this effect was not modulated by participant sex. These results present new evidence that sex ratio influences human mating-related behaviours. They also present the first evidence that the perceived sex ratio of the local population may modulate allocation of mating effort in women, as well as men.

journal_name

Biol Lett

journal_title

Biology letters

authors

Hahn AC,Fisher CI,DeBruine LM,Jones BC

doi

10.1098/rsbl.2014.0148

subject

Has Abstract

pub_date

2014-06-01 00:00:00

issue

6

eissn

1744-9561

issn

1744-957X

pii

rsbl.2014.0148

journal_volume

10

pub_type

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