Men Focus on Good Bodies for the Short-Term, Pretty Faces for the Long-Term
New research from psychologists at The University of Texas at Austin found that men seeking short-term companionship were more interested in the attractiveness of a woman’s body, whereas men seeking long-term companionship were more interested in the attractiveness of a woman’s face.
In the study, 375 college students were shown an image of a person described as either a potential long-term or short-term mate, whose face and body were hidden. The participants were allowed to view either the body or face, but not both.
Seventy-five percent of men told to consider the woman a long-term mate chose to view her face. And 51 percent of men told to consider the woman a short-term companion chose to view her body.
This is likely due to the fact that a woman’s body sends off cues about her current state of fertility, whereas a woman’s face provides information about her long-term reproductive value, as previous research has found.
Women who participated in the study showed no significant difference in their interest in men’s faces or bodies when it came to selecting short-term versus long-term mates however.
“Mating is central to the engine of natural selection. This research helps clarify people’s preference,” said psychology graduate student, Jaime Confer, who co-authored the results of this research.
