Sex-typicality and attractiveness: Are supermale and superfemale faces super-attractive

Many animals find extreme versions of secondary sexual characteristics attr active, and such preferences can enhance reproductive success (Andersson, 1 994). We hypothesized, therefore, that extreme versions of sex-typical trai ts may be attractive in human faces. We created supermale and superfemale f aces by exaggerating all spatial differences between an average male and an average female face. In Expt 1 the male average was preferred to a superma le (50% exaggeration of differences from the female average). There was no clear preference for the female average or the superfemale (50% exaggeratio n). In Expt 2, participants chose the most attractive face from sets of ima ges containing feminized as well as masculinized images for each sex, and s panning a wider range of exaggeration levels than in Expt 1. Chinese sets w ere also shown, to see whether similar preferences would occur for a less f amiliar race (participants were Caucasian). The most attractive female imag e was significantly feminized for faces of both races. However, the most at tractive male image for both races was also significantly feminized. These results indicate that feminization, rather than sex exaggeration per se, is attractive in human faces, and they corroborate similar findings by Perret t: ed al. (1998).