Mirror mirror
Friday 14 August 2009
Women are attracted to men who look like a masculine version of them, according to a new study.
The research, carried out by the University of St Andrews, brings scientists closer to revealing the secrets of what women find attractive in men. The latest results show that women liked men who were both masculine looking and looked like themselves.
Psychologists believe that the resemblance might cancel out any issues of mistrust normally associated with strong masculine characteristics. The findings are published online this week by the scientific journal Behavioral Ecology.
The research used computer digital techniques to manipulate men's faces. Faces were made to look more or less masculine, and more or less like the women who rated them. Women rated each face for attractiveness.
The new study was carried out by lead researcher Tamsin Saxton, a postdoctoral research fellow funded by the Economics and Social Research Council (ESRC), based at the University's School of Psychology.
She commented, "Previous research has often found that women can be attracted to masculine men, but also a bit suspicious of them. However, women tend to trust men more if they look like them. So perhaps the resemblance cancelled out the women's suspicions. Or maybe the women felt they were better matched with men who looked like them, because if two people resemble each other, they might both be attracted to each other."
Celebrity lookalikes which could fit the mould include Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp, David and Victoria Beckham and Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.
The study was carried out in collaboration with the University of Liverpool. Researcher Craig Roberts commented, "When people rate what's attractive, they have to consider lots of different characteristics. What's really interesting is that masculinity was more important to women's judgments compared with whether the men looked like the women."
ENDS
NOTE TO EDITORS:
TAMSIN SAXTON IS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW ON 01334 463044, EMAIL ts61@st-andrews.ac.uk
The study was carried out with Anthony Little, Hannah Rowland, Ting Gao and Craig Roberts, collaborators based at the Universities of Liverpool and Stirling, and used Psychomorph software developed by Bernard Tiddeman and David Perrett of the University of St Andrews.
VIDEO OR AUDIO CLIPS OF TAMSIN TALKING ABOUT HER WORK ARE AVAILABLE FROM THE PRESS OFFICE - CONTACTS BELOW.
Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews
Contact Gayle Cook, Senior Press Officer on 01334 467227 / 462529, mobile 07900 050 103, or email gec3@st-andrews.ac.uk
Ref: Mirror mirror 140809
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