First the oh-so-serious
abstract of the study:
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A number of traits have been proposed to be important in human mate choice decisions. However, relatively little work has been conducted to determine the relative importance of these traits. In this study, we assessed the relative importance of the face and body in judgments of human physical attractiveness. One hundred twenty-seven men and 133 women were shown images of 10 individuals of the opposite sex. Participants rated the images for their attractiveness for either a short-term relationship or a long-term relationship. Images of the face and the body were rated independently before participants were shown and asked to rate the combined face and body images. Face ratings were found to be the best predictor of the ratings of combined images for both sexes and for both relationship types. Females showed no difference in ratings between short- and long-term conditions, but male ratings of female bodies became relatively more important for a short-term relationship compared with a long-term relationship. Results suggest that faces and bodies may be signaling different information about potential mates.
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Now to
translate this into everyday English:
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I’ll save you all the nitty-gritty, scientific-y details and just give you the good news. Forget about your diet and focus on your face cream if you’re in the market for a long-term mate. A new study by Dr. Currie at Royal Society University in London confirmed that men and women approach long-term relationships in a similar way—both genders pay way more attention to gorgeous faces than hot bodies. When it comes to short-term relationships ... well, women were more likely to go for face over body while the dudes placed much more importance on the body than the face. Shocker. Gives a whole new meaning to the term “butter face.”
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So, what do you think? Does this study match your experience? Do the anecdotes line up with the data?