Sexy legs? Nice eyes? Big nose? Black teeth?! What characteristics will attract you to your Valentine this week?
An expert in facial attractiveness and sexual signalling from the University of Abertay Dundee is looking for volunteers to take part in a brand new study aimed at determining the factors behind mate choice.
Dr Fhionna Moore has studied human behavioural ecology and evolutionary psychology for several years and works with experts from around the world.
Dr Moore said: “Research into human attraction has yielded a fascinating insight into the ways in which men and women around the world choose their partners.
“On one hand are rich cultural differences in the characteristics that are attractive in the opposite sex - in a study of ethnographic data, for example, I found reference to attractive traits as diverse as black teeth and strong legs - and on the other are consistent differences in the preferences of men and women.
“A general pattern across societies, for example, is that men tend to focus on physical appearance, whereas women weight cues to a partner’s status more highly. While this large body of work has been useful in identifying key patterns across societies, a major criticism is that it has been limited by only looking at the characteristics that the researcher considers to be important in order to test a particular theory. This means that we may not get an accurate picture of real preferences – it might be the case that the characteristics we have focussed on are relatively unimportant in reality.
Dr Moore is now looking to further existing research by removing what could be leading factors – i.e starting with a blank canvas by removing the characteristics that are commonly believed to be important.
“To identify the characteristics that are really driving partner choice in the real world, I am collecting data online in which I am asking participants to tell me about the characteristics they consider to be important in a partner – rather than the other way round. I am looking for male and female participants who are over the age of 18 to contribute their views to the study by filling in a short questionnaire.” Dr Moore said.
To take part in the study please log on to:http://psych.abertay.ac.uk/tradeoffs/study1/pis.html
Contacts and sources:
University of Abertay Dundee
An expert in facial attractiveness and sexual signalling from the University of Abertay Dundee is looking for volunteers to take part in a brand new study aimed at determining the factors behind mate choice.
Dr Fhionna Moore has studied human behavioural ecology and evolutionary psychology for several years and works with experts from around the world.
Dr Moore said: “Research into human attraction has yielded a fascinating insight into the ways in which men and women around the world choose their partners.
“On one hand are rich cultural differences in the characteristics that are attractive in the opposite sex - in a study of ethnographic data, for example, I found reference to attractive traits as diverse as black teeth and strong legs - and on the other are consistent differences in the preferences of men and women.
“A general pattern across societies, for example, is that men tend to focus on physical appearance, whereas women weight cues to a partner’s status more highly. While this large body of work has been useful in identifying key patterns across societies, a major criticism is that it has been limited by only looking at the characteristics that the researcher considers to be important in order to test a particular theory. This means that we may not get an accurate picture of real preferences – it might be the case that the characteristics we have focussed on are relatively unimportant in reality.
Dr Moore is now looking to further existing research by removing what could be leading factors – i.e starting with a blank canvas by removing the characteristics that are commonly believed to be important.
“To identify the characteristics that are really driving partner choice in the real world, I am collecting data online in which I am asking participants to tell me about the characteristics they consider to be important in a partner – rather than the other way round. I am looking for male and female participants who are over the age of 18 to contribute their views to the study by filling in a short questionnaire.” Dr Moore said.
To take part in the study please log on to:http://psych.abertay.ac.uk/tradeoffs/study1/pis.html
University of Abertay Dundee
0 comments:
Post a Comment