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It is common scientific knowledge, that most of what we say within a conversation is not only expressed by the words' meaning alone, but also through our gestures, postures, and body movements. This non-verbal mode is possibly rooted firmly in our human evolutionary heritage, and as such, some scientists argue that it serves as a fundamental assessment and expression tool for our inner qualities. Studies of nonverbal communication have established that a universal, culture-free, non-verbal sign system exists, that is available to all individuals for negotiating social encounters. Thus, it is not only the kind of gestures and expressions humans use in social communication, but also the way these movements are performed, as this seems to convey key information about an individual's quality. Dance, for example, is a special form of movement, which can be observed in human courtship displays. Recent research suggests that people are sensitive to the variation in dance movements, and that dance performance provides information about an individual's mate quality in terms of health and strength. This article reviews the role of body movement in human non-verbal communication, and highlights its significance in human mate preferences in order to promote future work in this research area within the evolutionary psychology framework.

Young and healthy-looking skin is a feature that is universally admired and considered attractive among humans. However, as we age, skin condition deteriorates due to a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors determined not only by genetics and physiological health but also by behaviour and lifestyle choice. As regards the latter, cumulative, repeated exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is linked intrinsically to the induction of specific types of skin cancer and the expression of cutaneous damage markers responsible for the majority of the visible signs of skin ageing. Here we review empirical evidence for skin-specific effects of chronic UVR exposure and relate it to perception of visible skin condition. In contrast to other dermatological accounts, we stress an evolutionary psychology context in understanding the significance of age-related changes in visible skin condition in human social cognition and interaction. We suggest that the “marriage” of the scientific fields of skin biology and evolutionary psychology provides a modern, powerful framework for investigating the causes, mechanisms and perception of chronic sun damage of skin, as it explains the human obsession with a youthful and healthy appearance. Hence, it may be that these insights bring true emotional impetus to the adoption of sun protection strategies, which could conceivably impact skin cancer rates in coming years.

Previous research has revealed that natural and synthetic pheromones can enhance ratings of opposite sex attractiveness. The present study investi- gated the effects of exposure to male axillary secretions on female ratings of the sexual attractiveness of male stimuli. Thirty-two female undergradu- ates, half of whom were contraceptive pill users, rated male vignette char- acters and photographs of male faces on aspects of attractiveness. On two separate study days, corresponding to different phases of their menstrual cycle, stimuli were presented while exposed to male axillary pheromones and under a control condition (no pheromone). The order of testing was balanced with respect to pheromone/control condition and menstrual cycle phase. Pheromone exposure resulted in significantly higher attractiveness ratings of vignette characters and faces. Use of the contraceptive pill or menstrual cycle phase had equivocal effects on some vignette items and nei- ther had any influence on female ratings of male facial attractiveness. The results of this study suggest that exposure to natural male axillary phero- mones can significantly enhance female perceptions of various aspects of male attractiveness.

Prenatal and/or pubertal testosterone (T) directly influences male physical characteristics and behaviors that facilitate the achievement and maintenance of status and resources. In numerous animal species there is evidence that females have evolved preferences for signals of a male’s status as such signals may indicate male quality (in terms of health and reproductive success). In humans, it is known that women judge sex-typical (T-linked) physical characteristics of the face and body of men higher on attractiveness, masculinity, and dominance. Moreover, recent research indicates that women are also able to evaluate certain male facial characteristics that signal physical strength. Here we show that women’s perception of the attractiveness and assertiveness of men’s dancing, correlates with male handgrip strength (as a measure of muscular strength) after controlling for body weight. We conclude that men’s dances – in addition to faces and bodies – may be another proxy for male competitiveness, and could thus be used by women to evaluate male quality.

Evolutionary psychologists have widely accepted that there are biological reasons for body shape and size preferences in potential sexual partners. Female physical attractiveness is considered to be largely a reflection of her potential reproductive success. Recent research suggests that male physical attractiveness is also based upon the same criterion. Reproductive success is defined as the optimum (for a given environment) number of children surviving to reach sexual maturity and to become parents themselves. Buss (1989) suggests that there are cultural universals in desired body size and shape for intersexual attraction, and that these derive from the division of labor between males and females during the course of evolution, where males specialized in hunting activities and females in food gathering and child rearing. Natural and sexual selection are believed to have operated in a way that men and women whose bodies were best suited for these tasks were most attractive to potential mates. We find that females consider their physical appearance as “efficient” when they attract mates, males consider their body as efficient when it promises success in male-male competition (Erikson 1968; Lerner et al. 1976). “From the invisible atom to the celestial body lost in space. Everything is movement... it is the most apparent characteristic of life: it manifests itself in all functions. It is even the essence of several of them.” Etienne-Jules Marey (1839–1904), the pioneer of motion research

  Objective: Evidence for attentional biases to weight- and shape-related information in women with eating concerns is inconclusive. Method: We investigated whether body dissatisfaction is associated with an attentional bias toward thin bodies using a modified dot probe task. Results: In three studies, we found that undergraduate females were faster to discriminate the direction of an arrow cue when it appeared in the location previously occupied by a thin than a fat body. This attentional bias toward thin bodies was found using extreme stimuli (thin and fat bodies) presented for 500 ms (Experiment 1), extreme stimuli presented for 150 ms (Experiment 2), and less extreme stimuli that were equated for perceived extremity, presented for 150 ms (Experiment 3). When the stimuli were equated on perceptual extremity, the more dissatisfied a woman was with her body, and the larger her own BMI, the less of an attentional bias she showed toward thin bodies.   Discussion: Our results indicate that women have an attentional bias to thin bodies, which appears to be automatic. Contrary to prediction, this bias was weaker in women with greater BMI and body dissatisfaction. This result offers no support for the view that selective attention to thin bodies is causally related to body dissatisfaction.

Sex steroids are supposed to moderate the differences between male and female facial characteristics. Studies on women’s preferences for male faces reported increased preferences for facial architecture developed under the influence of testosterone as this may indicate masculinity, dominance and social status. Recent research demonstrates that facial sexual dimorphism does not only develop at puberty but may be organized much earlier in ontogeny. However, the actual cause and timing of variation in facial shape due to sex-steroids remains speculative. This study uses data from Neave and colleagues1 who measured digit ratio (2D:4D) as a proxy to prenatal testosterone and also salivary testosterone samples in order to study differential effects of androgens on perceived male facial shape. Male facial shape was regressed upon 2D:4D ratio and circulating levels of testosterone by means of geometric morphometric methods. We found some evidence for opposite effects of early androgen action (via 2D:4D ratio) on the upper and the lower face respectively (i.e. low 2D:4D ratio results in a relatively robust and prominent lower face), whereas circulating testosterone seems to cause a rather uniform elongation of the face. Local deformations primarily show pronounced and medially tailed eyebrows for the shapes associated with increasing salivary testosterone. These preliminary results suggest that prenatal and pubertal testosterone have differential effects on male facial shape that should be considered in future studies on women’s preferences towards male facial appearance.

Evolutionary behavioral biology suggests that certain characteristics of the human face and body are important for mate preferences and are therefore subject to sexual selection. J. Weeden and J. Sabini (see record 2005-11504-001 ) identify a number of weaknesses in the association between traits' attractiveness and health. In contrast, the authors argue that (a) studies on preferences for physical characteristics that rely on 1 trait permit only limited interpretation, (b) limitations placed on J. Weeden and J. Sabini's review exclude important associations, (c) there are misconceptions in their treatment of some traits, and (d) their selected literature provides an inaccurate picture regarding effect size. The authors suggest that future research in this field should seek conceptual and methodological constancy in trait selection and in the evaluation of attractiveness- and health-related traits.

Objectives  Visible skin condition of women is argued to influence human physical attraction. Recent research has shown that people are sensitive to variation in skin color distribution, and such variation affects visual perception of female facial attractiveness, healthiness, and age. Methods  The eye gaze of 39 males and females, aged 13 to 45 years, was tracked while they viewed images of shape- and topography-standardized stimulus faces that varied only in terms of skin color distribution. Results  The number of fixations and dwell time were significantly higher when viewing stimulus faces with the homogeneous skin color distribution of young people, compared with those of more elderly people. In accordance with recent research, facial stimuli with even skin tones were also judged to be younger and received higher attractiveness ratings. Finally, visual attention measures were negatively correlated with perceived age, but positively associated with attractiveness judgments. Conclusions  Variation in visible skin color distribution (independent of facial form and skin surface topography) is able to selectively attract people's attention toward female faces, and this higher attention results in more positive statements about a woman's face.

Evolutionary psychology suggests that certain human beauty standards have evolved to provide reliable cues of fertility and health. Hence, preferences for some physical characteristics of the face and body are thought to reflect adaptations for the promotion of mate choice. Studies that have investigated facial attractiveness have concentrated mainly on features such as symmetry, averageness and sex-typical traits, which are developed under the influence of sex steroids. Few studies, however, have addressed the effect of human skin condition on perception of facial appearance in this context, and possible implications for sexual selection. There is now accumulating evidence that skin pigmentation and skin surface topography cues, particularly in women, have a significant influence on attractiveness judgements, as they seem primarily to signal aspects of age and health. This article (i) reviews briefly some of the main determinants of visible skin condition, (ii) presents recent evidence on its signalling value in face perception and (iii) suggests areas for future research with reference to an evolutionary psychology framework.

The enhancement of physical attractiveness through body modifications, such as tattoos is evident in a wide range of cultures and has recently become popular also in Westernized societies. Evolutionary psychologists have suggested that these invasive body modifications could possibly act as handicap signals in sexual selection. However, knowledge about the actual signalling quality of body modification and its perception is still scarce. In this present study a sample of 278 men and women rated images of tattooed and non-tattooed virtual human characters for perceived aggression, attractiveness, dominance, health, masculinity (male figures), and femininity (female figures). Tattooed male characters were perceived as more dominant, and tattooed female characters as less healthy compared with their non-tattooed counterparts. Female raters were more likely to perceive tattooed men as healthy than male raters. We discuss these results in view of a potential biological signalling function of tattoos.

In Western societies women prefer relatively taller men as potential partners, whereas men prefer women to be slightly shorter than them. Here we report data on relative height preferences in a traditional ethnic group, i.e. the Himba, in which men and women do not show such a strong preference. Thus our data challenges the view of a universal preference for taller men, by suggesting that height preferences may be influenced by environmental and ecological conditions.

Few systematic studies have examined differences in women’s behaviour across the entire menstrual cycle. Previous research indicates that women’s sexual motivation and mating behaviour increases near ovulation, as well as sexual desire and selection of provocative clothing. We investigated whether self-perception varies across the menstrual cycle, i.e., whether women consider themselves to be more attractive near ovulation. As a hypothesized by-product of increased desire and a reflection of short-term sexual strategy selection, we tested changes in clothing style, use of cosmetics, and purchasing behaviour across the menstrual cycle. We adopted the daily report method of estimated fertility (Haselton & Gangestad, 2006; Schwarz & Hassebrauck, 2008) over 35 days with 25 College age women who were not taking any kind of hormonal contraceptives. Women reported feeling more attractive and desirable, increased sexual interest and appearance related styling at the days near ovulation (i.e., when conception likelihood was high) than on the other days of the menstrual cycle. However, no significant differences between high and low fertile phases were found for purchasing behaviour. We discuss our results with reference to the evolutionary psychology of female fertility and mating related behaviour.

Background: Deviations of physical characteristics from bilateral symmetry, in otherwise symmetric individuals, are supposed to result from environmental perturbations during development. One cause of such perturbations may be sex steroids such as testosterone and oestrogen. Aim: The study examined the relationship between second to fourth digit ratio (2D:4D), a putative negative correlate with prenatal testosterone and a positive correlate with prenatal oestrogen, and asymmetry. Methods: Eleven traits (including the second and fourth finger lengths) were measured in a sample of 680 English children aged 2–18 years, and second to fifth finger lengths in samples of 120 Austrian and English undergraduate students aged from 17 to 30 years and 213 Polish adults aged from 26 to 90 years. Results: Significant U-shaped curvilinear associations between 2D:4D and all 11 traits were found in English children with the strongest associations between 2D:4D and composite asymmetry of second plus fourth digit, and second to fifth digits. Further investigation of the relation between 2D:4D and digit asymmetries in the sample of Austrian and English undergraduates and the Polish adults confirmed significant U-shaped relationships between 2D:4D and finger asymmetries. Conclusion: Our data show that both low 2D:4D (a marker of high prenatal testosterone) and high 2D:4D (a marker of high prenatal oestrogen) are associated with elevated levels of asymmetry and this relationship applies particularly to finger asymmetry.

Individuals with body modifications, such as tattoos, have been shown to differ from nonmodified individuals in sensation-seeking personality characteristics and sociosexuality. This study examined possible differences in people’s attributions of those characteristics toward virtual human characters varying in body modification. Some 287 participants rated tattooed and nontattooed bodies of avatars on aspects of sensation seeking and number of previous sexual partners. Tattooed stimuli were rated as more experience, thrill, and adventure seeking as well as more likely to have a high number of previous sexual partners and as less inhibited when compared to nontattooed stimuli, and this was particularly true for male stimuli. It was concluded that people with body modifications, such as tattoos, are perceived differently compared to nontattooed individuals in terms of sensation seeking and previous sexual partner number, this being particularly true for men. Findings are discussed with reference to the evolutionary model of human sexual selection.

Sex steroids have important influences upon brain development and this may lead to sex differences in developmental psychopathology. Digit ratio (2D:4D) – a negative correlate of prenatal testosterone (T) – may provide further insight into the possible role of early organizational effects on such developmental psychopathology. We measured 2D:4D ratios in a group of schoolchildren in two countries (UK and Austria) and gave questionnaires assessing behavioural problems to their parents. Although there were few differences in behavioural measures between sexes (only the externalizing behaviour score was higher in Austrian boys), several correlations existed between 2D:4D and different indices of developmental psychopathology. Low 2D:4D (indicating higher prenatal T) was related to measures of total difficulties and poor conduct in both UK and Austrian children. In the UK sample, prosocial behaviour was positively related to 2D:4D in girls and hyperactivity and conduct correlated negatively with 2D:4D in boys. Associations were generally stronger for boys than for girls. We suggest that early androgen mediation effects during prenatal development increase the probability for gender-related behaviour problems.

Animals often use acoustical cues, such as formant frequencies, to assess the size of potential mates and rivals. Reliable vocal cues to size may be under sexual selection. In most mammals and many other vertebrates, formants scale with vocal tract length allometrically and predict variation in size more reliably than fundamental frequency or pitch (F0). In humans, however, it is unclear from previous work how well voice parameters predict body size independently of age and sex. We conducted a meta-analysis to establish the strength of various voice–size relationships in adult men and women. We computed mean weighted correlations from 295 coefficients derived from 39 independent samples across five continents, including several novel and large cross-cultural samples from previously unpublished data. Where possible, we controlled for sample size, sample sex, mean age, geographical location, study year, speech type and measurement method, and ruled out publication bias. Eleven of 12 formant-based vocal tract length (VTL) estimates predicted men's and women's heights and weights significantly better than did F0. Individual VTL estimates explained up to 10% of the variance in height and weight, whereas F0 explained less than 2% and correlated only weakly with size within sexes. Statistically reliable size estimates from F0 required large samples of at least 618 men and 2140 women, whereas formant-based size estimates required samples of at least 99 men and 164 women. The strength of voice–size relationships varied by sample size, and in some cases sex, but was largely unaffected by other demographic and methodological variables. We confirm here that, analogous to many other vertebrates, formants provide the most reliable vocal cue to size in humans. This finding has important implications for honest signalling theory and the capacity for human listeners to estimate size from the voice.

Male movements serve as courtship signals in many animal species, and may honestly reflect the genotypic and/or phenotypic quality of the individual. Attractive human dance moves, particularly those of males, have been reported to show associations with measures of physical strength, prenatal androgenization and symmetry. Here we use advanced three-dimensional motion-capture technology to identify possible biomechanical differences between women’s perceptions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ male dancers. Nineteen males were recorded using the ‘Vicon’ motion-capture system while dancing to a basic rhythm; controlled stimuli in the form of avatars were then created in the form of 15 s video clips, and rated by 39 females for dance quality. Initial analyses showed that 11 movement variables were significantly positively correlated with perceived dance quality. Linear regression subsequently revealed that three movement measures were key predictors of dance quality; these were variability and amplitude of movements of the neck and trunk, and speed of movements of the right knee. In summary, we have identified specific movements within men’s dance that influence women’s perceptions of dancing ability. We suggest that such movements may form honest signals of male quality in terms of health, vigour or strength, though this remains to be confirmed.

The ratio of 2nd to 4th digit length (2D:4D), the systemizing quotient (SQ) and the empathizing quotient (EQ) are putative correlates of prenatal testosterone. However, the evidence that 2D:4D is related to SQ or EQ is mixed. Voracek and Dressler (2006) used indirect finger measurements and found no significant associations with 2D:4D and SQ or EQ, whereas von Horn, Bäckman, Davidsson, and Hansen (2010) reported significant correlations between 2D:4D and a composite measure of SQ and EQ using direct finger measurements. Here we report associations of 2D:4D, SQ and EQ in participants from a large internet survey in which direct measurements of fingers were collected. We found (i) significant negative correlations of SQ with 2D:4D, this being stronger for right hand 2D:4D and independent of sex, age, height, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and education, (ii) no significant correlation of EQ and 2D:4D. We further examined mean 2D:4D’s and found suggestions of a distortional effect of indirect finger measurement in the Voracek and Dressler (2006) study. Our results partly replicate those of von Horn et al. (2010) and emphasize the use of direct finger measurements when studying associations between 2D:4D and target traits with small effect size.

Recent research has revealed that variation in human dancing ability is related to levels of fluctuating asymmetry, and that women rate symmetrical male dancers more positively. We measured the lengths of the 2nd (index) and 4th (ring) finger in a sample of young men and recorded short digital video clips of their dance movements. A panel of 104 female judges rated 12 clips of men with the lowest and highest finger-length ratios (2D:4D) for attractiveness, dominance, and masculinity. We found that dances by men with low (masculinised) 2D:4D ratios were rated significantly higher on attractiveness, dominance, and masculinity than dancers with high (feminised) 2D:4D. There were no significant differences between the two groups of dancers for age and other physical measures such as waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and body-mass-index (BMI). Since there is evidence that finger-length ratios negatively correlate with testosterone exposure in utero, male dancing abilities may be organized early during development. Moreover, women’s ability to perceive differences in dance movement of men with low and high 2D:4D may indicate that dance provides some cues to phenotypic condition, relevant for sexual selection.