2013
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.2495
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Adiposity, compared with masculinity, serves as a more valid cue to immunocompetence in human mate choice

Abstract: According to the 'good genes' hypothesis, females choose males based on traits that indicate the male's genetic quality in terms of disease resistance. The 'immunocompetence handicap hypothesis' proposed that secondary sexual traits serve as indicators of male genetic quality, because they indicate that males can contend with the immunosuppressive effects of testosterone. Masculinity is commonly assumed to serve as such a secondary sexual trait. Yet, women do not consistently prefer masculine looking men, nor … Show more

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Cited by 78 publications
(85 citation statements)
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“…For example, while both Thornhill & Gangestad [9] and Boothroyd et al [1] found that facial masculinity was negatively related to male participants' reported number of prior colds and flu, mixed results were found regarding the relationship of male facial masculinity to length of infections and antibiotic use, and no association with 'stomach flu' was found. Rated facial masculinity has been associated with general health measured as a composite score from adolescent medical records [10] and to one aspect of immune function [18]. Rantala et al [18] found that men with more masculine-looking faces were able to mount a stronger antibody response to a hepatitis B vaccination.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…For example, while both Thornhill & Gangestad [9] and Boothroyd et al [1] found that facial masculinity was negatively related to male participants' reported number of prior colds and flu, mixed results were found regarding the relationship of male facial masculinity to length of infections and antibiotic use, and no association with 'stomach flu' was found. Rated facial masculinity has been associated with general health measured as a composite score from adolescent medical records [10] and to one aspect of immune function [18]. Rantala et al [18] found that men with more masculine-looking faces were able to mount a stronger antibody response to a hepatitis B vaccination.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Rated facial masculinity has been associated with general health measured as a composite score from adolescent medical records [10] and to one aspect of immune function [18]. Rantala et al [18] found that men with more masculine-looking faces were able to mount a stronger antibody response to a hepatitis B vaccination. Facial masculinity did not, however, mediate the relationship between immune response and facial attractiveness, suggesting that perceived masculinity was not being used as a cue to assess mate value.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…Sexual selection in males could have operated through female mate choice (Little, DeBruine, & Jones 2011a;Little, DeBruine, & Jones, 2011b) and/or through male-male competition (Puts, 2009;Little, Jones, & DeBruine, 2013;Barber, 1995). A great deal of attention however has been put into studies of women's masculinity preferences reflecting mate choice at the individual and population level (Rhodes et al, 2003;Thornhill & Gangestad, 2006;Rantala et al, 2013;DeBruine et al, 2011;Batres & Perrett, 2016), while less emphasis has been given to the effects of male-male competition at any level of study (de Bara et al, 2013;Batres & Perrettt, 2014, Snyder et al, 2011). Studies at the population level have utilized measures of health (e.g., mortality), violence (e.g., homicide rate), and education (e.g., high-school attendance rates), which are aggregated indicators that summarize the state of a population as a whole.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Finally, Rantala et al (2013) examined the physical masculinity of the same men (mean age = 23, SD = 3.9) from whom they had gathered the immune response data discussed above. They found that although some indices of dimorphism did correlate with immune response strength to the vaccine, this could not explain anything female observers found attractive about those men.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%