Facial symmetry and the perception of beauty

Evolutionary as well as cultural, pressures may contribute to our perceptio ns of facial attractiveness. Biologists predict that facial symmetry should be attractive, because it may signal mate quality. We tested the predictio n that facial symmetry is attractive by manipulating the symmetry of indivi dual faces and observing the effect on attractiveness, and by examining whe ther natural variations in symmetry (between faces) correlated with perceiv ed attractiveness. Attractiveness increased when we increased symmetry, and decreased when we reduced symmetry, in individual faces (Experiment 1), an d natural variations in symmetry correlated significantly with attractivene ss (Experiments 1 and 1A). Perfectly symmetric versions, made by blending t he normal and mirror images of each face, were preferred to less symmetric versions of the same faces (even when those versions were also blends) (Exp eriments 1 and 2). Similar results were found when subjects judged the face s on appeal as a potential life partner, suggesting that facial symmetry ma y affect human mate choice. We conclude that facial symmetry is attractive and discuss the possibility that this preference for symmetry may be biolog ically based.