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. 2012;7(11):e49294.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049294. Epub 2012 Nov 14.

Evidence for genetic variation in human mate preferences for sexually dimorphic physical traits

Karin J H Verweij  1 , Andrea V Burri, Brendan P Zietsch
Affiliations

Evidence for genetic variation in human mate preferences for sexually dimorphic physical traits

Karin J H Verweij et al. PLoS One. 2012.

Abstract

Intersexual selection has been proposed as an important force in shaping a number of morphological traits that differ between human populations and/or between the sexes. Important to these accounts is the source of mate preferences for such traits, but this has not been investigated. In a large sample of twins, we assess forced-choice, dichotomous mate preferences for height, skin colour, hair colour and length, chest hair, facial hair, and breast size. Across the traits, identical twins reported more similar preferences than nonidentical twins, suggesting genetic effects. However, the relative magnitude of estimated genetic and environmental effects differed greatly and significantly between different trait preferences, with heritability estimates ranging from zero to 57%.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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