The leg-to-body ratio as a human aesthetic criterion

Swami, Viren; Einon, Dorothy; Furnham, Adrian

doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2006.08.003

Cited by 44 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Effect sizes are within the range of previous reports (34,35) using the [TC] 2 3D body scanner, thus lending further credibility to the usefulness of this technology for future studies. Findings are consistent with previous reports that bodily FA is negatively associated with sex-typical facial structure (36,37) and that relative leg length correlates differently with attractiveness across the sexes (12). Body size and shape are important not only for aesthetic preferences but also have significant functional consequences (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

“…For human females, smaller waist relative to hips (WHR), larger breasts, and longer legs relative to height have been attributed to fecundity selection and are perceived as attractive by males (8,11,12). In human males, greater height, larger size, and shorter legs relative to height are believed to have arisen through sexual selection by enhancing success in male-male rivalry (6,7) and by being more attractive to females (6,12). In addition, pronounced secondary sex characteristics may be preferred because they are signals of a pathogen-resistant genotype (13).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Fluctuating asymmetry and preferences for sex-typical bodily characteristics

Brown

Price

Kang

et al. 2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Body size and shape seem to have been sexually selected in a variety of species, including humans, but little is known about what attractive bodies signal about underlying genotypic or phenotypic quality. A widely used indicator of phenotypic quality in evolutionary analyses is degree of symmetry (i.e., fluctuating asymmetry, FA) because it is a marker of developmental stability, which is defined as an organism's ability to develop toward an adaptive end-point despite perturbations during its ontogeny. Here we sought to establish whether attractive bodies signal low FA to observers, and, if so, which aspects of attractive bodies are most predictive of lower FA. We used a 3D optical body scanner to measure FA and to isolate size and shape characteristics in a sample of 77 individuals (40 males and 37 females). From the 3D body scan data, 360°videos were created that separated body shape from other aspects of visual appearance (e.g., skin color and facial features). These videos then were presented to 87 evaluators for attractiveness ratings. We found strong negative correlations between FA and bodily attractiveness in both sexes. Further, sextypical body size and shape characteristics were rated as attractive and correlated negatively with FA. Finally, geometric morphometric analysis of joint configurations revealed that sex-typical joint configurations were associated with both perceived attractiveness and lower FA for male but not for female bodies. In sum, body size and shape seem to show evidence of sexual selection and indicate important information about the phenotypic quality of individuals.3D morphometrics ͉ body shape ͉ developmental stability ͉ sexual dimorphism ͉ sexual selection I n humans, as in other species, sex differences in size and shape are attributed to divergent effects of morphology on the survival or reproductive success of each sex (1-10). For human females, smaller waist relative to hips (WHR), larger breasts, and longer legs relative to height have been attributed to fecundity selection and are perceived as attractive by males (8,11,12). In human males, greater height, larger size, and shorter legs relative to height are believed to have arisen through sexual selection by enhancing success in male-male rivalry (6, 7) and by being more attractive to females (6, 12). In addition, pronounced secondary sex characteristics may be preferred because they are signals of a pathogen-resistant genotype (13). However, recent theoretical models suggest that high-quality signalers may be more resistant, equally resistant, or less resistant to pathogens, depending on life history trade-offs between reproductive effort, survival, and fecundity (14, 15). For example, high-quality males that produce costly signals may compromise their future survival but nonetheless be more fit than their low-quality competitors.If sex-typicality of body size and shape are attractive to the opposite sex because they indicate phenotypic quality, then these conspicuous sex-specific signals are expected to correlate negativ...

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluctuating asymmetry and preferences for sex-typical bodily characteristics

Brown

Price

Kang

et al. 2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…First of all, it needs clarifying whether average or rather higher than the average LBR is attractive. Differences in previous Sorokowski & Pawlowski, 2008;Swami, Einon, & Furnham, 2006) and future studies might be related to the employed stimuli. It is possible that elongating legs without modifications of stimuli's torso would positively affect body attractiveness, whereas creation of the stimuli involving leg elongation at the cost of shortening the trunk would not affect body attractiveness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Are Preferences for Legs Length Universal? Data From a Semi-Nomadic Himba Population From Namibia

Sorokowski

Sorokowska

Mberira

2012

The Journal of Social Psychology

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Leg-to-body ratio (LBR) is one of the morphological traits that influences a person's attractiveness. To date, studies confirming that hypothesis have been conducted mainly in Western cultures. They have shown that the average or slightly higher-than-the-average LBR is perceived to be attractive in women. In the case of men, results were more ambiguous; however generally shorter or similar LBRs compared to females were attractive. Here, data on LBR preferences of a traditional, semi-nomad ethnic group (i.e., the Himba of northern Namibia, n = 81) are reported. Also in Himba people LBR influences a person's attractiveness. Similar to Western societies, extremely high and low LBRs were unattractive. However, contrary to previous findings, Himba preferred women of relatively low LBR and men of relatively high LBR.

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“…The current study replicated patterns found in previous research concerning other morphological trait preferences, with a few small differences from the specific values documented via stimulus sets. The traits that showed the greatest discrepancy (e.g., LBR of 0.43 vs. 0.50; Sorokowski et al 2011;Swami et al 2006) tended to be those that have been researched the least; thus, no specific value has yet been corroborated by multiple studies. Another reason for discrepancies could be that the most attractive value for a given trait might fall between the discrete intervals typically used in stimulus set research (e.g., WSR of 0.50, 0.55, 0.60, and 0.65; Dixson et al 2003), a constraint that has been eliminated in the current study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Another trait that has been manipulated within stimulus sets is leg length or leg-to-body ratio (LBR), which represents the proportion of an individual's height that is accounted for by the legs (Swami et al 2006). Average (i.e., approximately 0.50) to slightly above-average LBR is considered maximally attractive for male and female figures (e.g., Sorokowski et al 2011;Swami et al 2006) possibly because low LBR signals poor cardiovascular health and interruptions in growth during development (Davey Smith et al 2001;Gunnell et al 2003).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“Drawing” Conclusions About Perceptions of Ideal Male and Female Body Shapes

Cloud

Perilloux²

2015

Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Preferences for bodily traits (e.g., waist-to-hip ratio; WHR) have been widely documented through the use of stimulus sets (e.g., line drawings, photographs). The purpose of the present study was to explore preferences for bodily traits using a method that does not constrain the range of possible values for each trait. Participants drew a figure depicting the most attractive member of the opposite sex they could imagine and a figure depicting a member of their own sex that they believed members of the opposite sex would find maximally attractive. Participants drew some traits similarly to values identified in previous research (e.g., WHR); however, other traits (e.g., leg-to-body ratio) were drawn differently from values documented through the use of stimulus sets. Additional analyses showed that men were fairly accurate in predicting what women prefer in a man's bodily traits, but women underestimated the ideal WHR and overestimated the ideal bust-to-waist ratio considered by men to be maximally attractive. In contrast to our predictions, participants' morphological trait preferences were independent of their sociosexual orientations. While the unconstrained drawing task produced slightly different results than those obtained through the use of stimulus sets for some traits, its sensitivity to a larger range of potential values renders it a powerful method of exploring morphological trait preferences.

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The leg-to-body ratio as a human aesthetic criterion

Cited by 44 publications

References 34 publications

Fluctuating asymmetry and preferences for sex-typical bodily characteristics

Fluctuating asymmetry and preferences for sex-typical bodily characteristics

Are Preferences for Legs Length Universal? Data From a Semi-Nomadic Himba Population From Namibia

“Drawing” Conclusions About Perceptions of Ideal Male and Female Body Shapes

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