Misperception of the facial appearance that the opposite-sex desires

Abstract

Thin and muscular have been characterised as body shape ideals for women and men, respectively, yet each sex misperceives what the other sex desires; women exaggerate the thinness that men like and men exaggerate the muscularity that women like. Body shape ideals align with stereotypic perceptions of femininity in women and masculinity in men. The present study investigates whether misperception of opposite-sex desires extends to femininity/masculinity in facial morphology. We used interactive 3D head models to represent faces varying in sexual dimorphism. White European heterosexual men and women were asked to choose their own and ideal face shape, the ideal shape of a short- and a long-term partner, and the face shape they thought the opposite sex would most like for a short- and a long-term partner. Women overestimated the facial femininity that men prefer in a partner and men overestimated the facial masculinity that women prefer in a partner. The discrepancy between own and ideal sexual dimorphism (an index of appearance dissatisfaction) covaried with by the misperception of what the opposite-sex desires. These results indicate misperception of opposite-sex facial preferences and that mistaken perceptions may contribute to dissatisfaction with own appearance.

Fig 1. Transformation of sexually dimorphic face shape.

Upper: The average male face transformed by −100% (feminised), 0% (neutral), +100% (masculinised) and +200% (masculinised) sexual dimorphism. Lower: The average female face transformed by −100% (masculinised), 0% (neutral), +100% (feminised) and +200% (feminised) sexual dimorphism. To preserve anonymity of participants, these images are averages of the shape, colour and texture of 50 male faces and 68 female faces, respectively, rather than of real individuals.

Fig 2. Male facial masculinity.

Left: Men’s predictions of women’s preferences for short- and long-term relationships. Right: Women’s masculinity preference for short- and long-term relationships. Histogram bars give the mean and SE of the percentage masculinity chosen, with 0% corresponding to the original base face.

Fig 3. Male facial masculinity chosen.

Men’s prediction of women’s preferences (left) and women’s masculinity preference (right) for short-term and long-term relationship contexts. Numbers in white display the mean amount of sexual dimorphism transform applied. The facial images are averages of the shape, colour and texture of 50 male faces and 68 female faces, respectively, rather than of real individuals.

Fig 4. Female facial femininity.

Left: women’s predictions of men’s preferences for short- and long-term relationships. Right: Men’s masculinity preference for short- and long-term relationships. Histogram bars give the mean and SE percentage masculinity chosen, with 0% corresponding to the original base face.

Fig 5. Female facial femininity chosen.

(Left) Women’s prediction of men’s preferences for short-term and long-term relationship contexts. (Right) Men’s femininity preference for short-term and long-term relationship contexts. The facial images are averages of the shape, colour and texture of 50 male faces and 68 female faces, respectively, rather than of real individuals.