SIMULATED ATTRACTION INCREASES OPPOSITE SEX ATTRACTIVENESS RATINGS IN FEMALES BUT NOT MALES

Males appear to focus more on physical cues in evaluating female attractiveness whereas females consider a wider range of evaluative criterion including possibly other female’s opposite-sex interest, with similar proclivities being documented in a range of non-human species. Two experiments were conducted to investigate such ‘mate-copying’ tendencies in humans. Male and female undergraduates (Experiment 1) were asked to rate the attractiveness of a photographically presented opposite-sex target model either alone or surrounded by same-sex peers instructed to simulate attraction to the opposite-sex target. Other male and female undergraduates (Experiment 2) rated the attractiveness of the same model presented with either no information relating to previous participant’s attractiveness ratings or artificially enhanced, fictional rating information. Both sexes rated models higher when provided with elevated rating information, however, no sex-differences were evident thus demonstrating equal conformity levels. With visual simulated attraction cues, however, females but not males were influenced by other females’ attraction to the model, thus providing evidence for mate copying in human females.