Penton-Voak IS. Evolutionary psychology of facial attractiveness. Curr Direct Psychol Sci 2002

The human face communi-cates an impressive number of v i sua l s igna l s. A l though adults ’ ratings of facial attrac-tiveness are consistent across studies, even cross-culturally, there has been considerable controversy surrounding at-tempts to identify the facial features that cause faces to be judged attractive or unattrac-tive. Studies of physical attrac-tiveness have attempted to identify the features that con-tribute to attractiveness by studying the relationships be-tween attractiveness and (a) symmetry, (b) averageness, and (c) nonaverage sexually di-morphic features (hormone markers). Evolutionary psy-chology proposes that these characteristics all pertain to health, suggesting that humans have evolved to view certain features as attractive because they were displayed by healthy individuals. However, the question remains how single features that are considered at-tractive relate to each other, and if they form a single ornament that s ignals mate qual i ty. Moreover, some researchers have recently explained attrac-tiveness preferences in terms of individual differences that are predictable. This article briefly describes what is cur-rently known from attractive-ness research, reviews some recent advances, and suggests areas for future researchers ’ at-tention. Keywords face; attractiveness; mate choice; evolutionary psychology An obsession with beauty is not unique to modern Western culture but can be found around the world in almost all societies that have been studied. Several studies have shown that members of different ethnic groups share common attrac-tiveness standards, suggesting that the constituents of beauty are neithe