Facial masculinity increases perceptions of men’s age, but not perceptions of their health: Data from an Arab sample

Alharbi, Sarah Ah; Holzleitner, Iris J; Lee, Anthony J; Saribay, S. Adil; Jones, Benedict C

Abstract

Masculine characteristics in men’s faces are often assumed to function as health cues. However, evidence for this assumption from empirical tests is mixed. For example, research on Western women’s face perceptions found that masculinized versions of men’s faces were perceived to be older, but not healthier, than feminized versions. Since research on this topic has focused on Western women’s face perceptions, we investigated the effects of masculinizing face images on Arab women’s perceptions of men’s health (study 1, N=211) and age (study 2, N=209). Arab women perceived masculinized versions of male face images to be older, but not healthier, than feminized versions. These results add to a growing body of evidence challenging the assumption that male facial masculinity functions primarily as a health cue.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 10, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Oct 2, 2020
• Publication Date: 2021-06
• Deposit Date: Jun 11, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 11, 2021
• Journal: Evolutionary Psychological Science
• Electronic ISSN: 2198-9885
• Publisher: Springer (part of Springer Nature)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 184-188
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-020-00263-9
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7461289