The body and face of woman: One ornament that signals quality?

Evidence has accumulated in recent years supporting the hypothesis that bot h facial and bodily physical attractiveness in humans are certifications of developmental and hormonal health. Such evidence indicates that physical a ttractiveness is an honest or Zahavian signal of phenotypic and genetic qua lity. The hypothesis that physical beauty connotes health was first propose d by Westermarck and was discussed later by Ellis and Symons, It has been s uggested that facial attractiveness in women is a deceptive signal of youth , unrelated to phenotypic and genetic quality. This sensory-bias or super-s timulus hypothesis is not supported by this study of men's ratings of the a ttractiveness of photographs of 92 nude women. Independent ratings of photo graphs of faces, fronts with faces covered, and backs of the same women are significantly, positively correlated. The correlation between the ratings of different photos implies that women's faces and external bodies comprise a single ornament of honest mate value, apparently constructed during pube rty by estrogen and also probably by developmental adaptations for symmetry . Thus, women's physical attractiveness in face and body honestly signal ho rmonal and perhaps developmental health. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.