Color 3D bodies and judgements of human female attractiveness

By Kathryn L. Smith, Piers L. Cornelissen, Martin J. Tovee. 2007

106 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract For a set of color video clips that depict a 360° view of the bodies of 43 young Caucasian women who are within the normal range of percentage of body fat, we show that their attractiveness to both male and female observers depends strongly on their percentage of body fat and their level of skin tanning, but is not significantly related to their cardiovascular fitness (a key health measure). Although evolutionary psychology suggests that physical health should play a role in determining attractiveness judgements, it appears that cardiovascular fitness may be a weak cue, at least in bodies not undergoing cardiovascular exercise. Instead, it seems that more salient cues, such as body mass and skin tanning, are the primary determinants of attractiveness judgements.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Small Animals

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/196fddf3aa7dff8f70a0f49f865b19051ded154f

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In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

In Small Animals

Jüri Allik

Citations in the corpus

Patterns of eye movements when male and female observers judge female attractiveness, body fat and waist-to-hip ratio (2009, methodology): “This is consistent with previous studies which have also found very similar ratings of attractiveness by both genders (Tovée et al. 1999; Smith et al., 2007a).”
The Attractive Female Body Weight and Female Body Dissatisfaction in 26 Countries Across 10 World Regions: Results of the International Body Project I (2010, result): “…developed settings, our results would seem to corroborate the suggestion that the ideal in such societies is thin, and possibly underweight (e.g., Smith et al., 2007; Swami, Antonakopoulos, et al., 2006; Swami, Caprario, et al., 2006; Swami, Neto, et al., 2007; Swami & Tovée, 2005a).”