Experimental data: face preferences versus actual partner choice

DeBruine, Lisa (2017). Experimental data: face preferences versus actual partner choice. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-851968

What makes one person find a face very attractive while another person finds the same face average? Studies of face preferences using computer graphic techniques to make faces more or less masculine, symmetric, healthy, distinctive or similar to self are helping to answer this question. However, these studies assume that preferences determined by judging the attractiveness of unfamiliar computer-manipulated faces will correspond to the types of partners that these people actually choose.

We will test this assumption by examining whether or not preferences for facial masculinity, symmetry, health, distinctiveness and similarity to self that are determined from experimental methods correspond to measurements of these traits in partners' faces. We will also investigate whether more attractive people are better able to attract partners that are close to their ideal preferences.

Finally, a two-year prospective study will investigate the face preferences of people both before and after they meet a new partner to determine if matches between experimentally-determined preferences and actual partner characteristics are caused by changing preferences to match a partner's traits rather than choosing a partner to match existing preferences. These studies are essential to determine how the results of experimental studies of face preferences apply to real-world partner choice.

Data description (abstract)

Data from couples and longitudinal experimental tests, assessing face preferences for chosing the healthier, more dimorphic, more symmetric, and more average face. Preferences were assessed via two-alternative-forced-choice preference tasks, and consider masculinity and femininity, average-ness, symmetry, skin health, and similarity preferences.

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