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K. Kościński Institute of Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
Institute of Anthropology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Umultowska 89, 61-614, Poznan, Poland

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Abstract

Although patterns of facial preferences have been examined in many studies, the intra-individual variation in assessments of facial attractiveness has been addressed far less frequently. Here we investigated the stability of women's evaluations of real and digitally manipulated male faces at monthly and yearly intervals, and we sought determinants of the stability. The following results were obtained: (1) The stability of attractiveness assessments over a year was not lower than over a month. This suggests that between-session disparity is predominantly from factors fluctuating over time with no directional trends. (2) The breakdown of a relationship resulted in an increase in the preference for friendly looking faces. (3) The change of mood positively correlated with the change of preference for good-genes facial cues, but only in paired women. This suggests the influence of mood changes on women's readiness to cheat their long-term partner in order to “gain” good genes. (4) Women that were relatively open to casual sex manifested relatively high stability of preferences for sexy looking faces. (5) The mean between-session self-correlation of attractiveness assessments amounted to 0.78 (R2 = 61%), which is unexpectedly low given generally very efficient face processing in humans.

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Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 
Language English
Size  
Year of
Foundation
2007 (2003)
Publication
Programme
changed title
Volumes
per Year
 
Issues
per Year
 
Founder Akadémiai Kiadó
Founder's
Address
H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Publisher Akadémiai Kiadó
Publisher's
Address
H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Responsible
Publisher
Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN 1789-2082 (Print)
ISSN 2060-5587 (Online)