Thoughts on Beauty, Love, and Life!!!

EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY:

Quite recently psychologists have begun to take notice of the explanatory power of evolutionary theory in understanding human behavior.  Charles Darwin first proposed the contemporary version of evolutionary theory in 1859.  It quickly became the basis for most thinking in biology because it explained many previously unexplained observations, and it unified data from many areas of biology.  Although evolution is still called a “theory” and some details of what happened in the past are considered controversial by some, we will adopt the stance of the overwhelming majority of scientists that evolution is a fact.  We are not so naïve as to think that scientific facts are the truth. We understand that scientific facts can be modified by further research and that other factors (e.g., culture, learning, and genetics) are also likely to play significant roles. We believe that evolution happens.  It is possible to understand a position even if one does not believe it is correct, and this is all that is required to understand the research in this area. 

Waist to Hip Ratio and its use by men in determining a woman’s attractiveness and the effects there of was studied by Devendra Singh’s. He focused his research on what makes a woman attractive to a man.  We often think of attractiveness in terms of facial beauty, hairstyle, clothing status, and other variables. Women seem to spend a great deal of time and money to improve their appearance through cosmetics, dress, hair styling, and even plastic surgery.  Singh’s approach to the study of female attractiveness does not focus on these aspects but, instead, focuses on a relatively simple concept of beauty — the ratio between size of waist and hips. You might think this to be a very unusual concept, because we often think of the variables mentioned earlier (hair, dress) as the key dimensions of attractiveness. The waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is really not a newly discovered dimension of beauty, but has historical roots.  In Victorian society, a small waist and large hips were attained by wearing corsets that cinched the waist tightly and bustles, artificial structures attached to the rear of dresses to increase hip size.  The work of Singh grows out of the tradition of evolutionary psychology and specifically focuses on the role of attractiveness as a variable in mate selection. 


WHY WAIST-TO-HIP RATIO?

It has been demonstrated that sex hormones affect the accumulation of fat. Testosterone, the male hormone, increases fat deposits in the abdominal area and decreases fat deposits in the hip-buttock-thigh area. In contrast, estrogen, the female hormone, inhibits fat in the abdominal region and increases fat deposits in the hip-buttock-thigh region. Therefore mature men and women have opposite body features in the waist and hip region due largely to the function of different hormones. WHR is seen to be a stable, easily obtained measure that reflects the underlying biological processes.

Singh’s research studied whether men use WHR as important criteria in assessing the attractiveness of women. Research has shown that even though the overall weight standard of female attractiveness has changed over the past three decades in favor of a lower overall weight, the hourglass figure as the ideal has remained unchanged. Measurements of Miss America participants from the 1940s through the mid-1980s indicate that WHR's have remained constant, even though body weight and height have changed (Mazur, 1986.)Gardner, Garfinkel, Schwartz, and Thompson (1980), in examining body measurement data for Playboy centerfolds from 1960 to 1978, found a fairly constant WHR that was very close to the Miss America data. In both samples a WHR of approximately .70 was found. The notion of women’s bodies changing to a more androgynous, tubular look may find some support in the upper body, the bust. However the WHR, even in models that look similar to Twiggy, a famous twig like English model, tend to have low WHR. Twiggy is said to have physical measurements of 31 – 24 – 33, which yields a WHR of .73.Therefore it appears that weight variations in females, high or low, do not invalidate the concept of WHR. Women who are most attractive to men have WHRs in the low .70s

DO MEN USE WHR IN ASSESSING
ATTRACTIVENESS OF WOMEN?

It is interesting to observe that Miss America contestants and Playboy magazine models have consistently conformed to WHR's in the low .70s.However,it is even more important to demonstrate that men use the WHR data as an important factor in determining a woman ’ s attractiveness.  Women have many other physical features such as legs, breasts, facial characteristics, and hairstyle that may convey information regarding general and reproductive health. If WHR is to be considered an important criterion, it has to be shown that man’s ratings of women’s beauty correlate with WHR.  The following study does just that — if the researcher manipulates WHR, will men’s ratings of a woman’s attractiveness change?  In this first study, 106 Caucasian and Hispanic college men volunteered to participate as part of class requirements.  This is a common practice in psychological research, even though it raises ethical questions.  Are you really a volunteer if you participate as a course requirement?  The participants were asked to rank 12 line drawings of average height female figures at four different levels of WHR (.7, .8, .9, and 1.0) and three levels of body weight (under-weight --not exceeding 90 lbs., normal weight -- not exceeding 120 lbs., and overweight --not exceeding 150 lbs.). The figures were printed on normal letter-size paper in a random order. Participants could review all figures prior to making ratings. The line drawings are presented in Figure 5.1. The participants were told that they were in a research project concerning “Body Types and Personality.” The participant’s task was to review all 12 drawings and rank them from most attractive (i.e., 1) to least attractive (i.e., 12).  Information about the participants such as age, height, weight, religion, and ethnic background was collected before the ranking task.  After the ranking was completed participants were debriefed.  Debriefing means that the research participants were given all the facts about the research project.  In this research it was felt that giving the participants all the facts prior to the ranking would have altered the results. Therefore, participants are often given a “cover story” that will enable them to participate without knowing what the investigators are interested in studying.  When this is done, it is mandatory to let participants know about the genuine purposes of the research after they complete their participation.  The attractiveness scores for both Caucasian and Hispanic participants in this study were compared and found to be similar.  The participant’s own body type, as assessed by a weight/height index, was not found to be a factor that impacted their ranking of attractiveness of the drawings. The attractiveness ranking scores are displayed in Table 5.1.This table depicts the percentage of participants ranking each of the drawings as most attractive (rank 1) and least attractive (rank 12); the choice is a function of body weight status (underweight, normal weight, overweight) and WHR (.7, .8, .9, and 1.0). Within all three weight categories, the attractiveness rating, as seen in Table 5.1,increased as the WHR moved from 1.0 to .7.The normal weight figure with a WHR of .7 was ranked as most attractive, with the underweight WHR of .7 in second place. The figures in the normal weight category were overall most often assigned the highest rank (i.e., 1) and never assigned the lowest rank (i.e., 12) with the exception of the normal figure with the WHR of 1.0.Singh notes that the normal body weight figures accounted for approximately two-thirds of the attractiveness rankings, whereas the underweight figures accounted for approximately one-third of the attractiveness rankings.  It is interesting to note that despite the widespread American belief that thinness is a marker of beauty, the data from this study indicate that men prefer normal weight when rating attractiveness. The low attractiveness ratings for overweight females were consistent with previous research (Harris, Walters, & Walshull, 1991), however, the lower attractive scores for underweight women were unexpected. Singh states that there is some evidence to suggest being under-or overweight can negatively impact reproductive health in the following ways: retardation of the onset of menstrual cycle, increasing the length of menstrual cycle, and a higher incidence of infertility due to ovulation problems. Data also indicate that underweight women have offspring who are born at low birth weights, have delays in growth, and may suffer impairments in physical and cognitive development (Supy, Steer, McCusker, Steele, & Jacobs, 1988).  Overweight women also experience reproductive health issues. In order to determine if older men would rank female attractiveness in the same way as the college-age males, a second study using the same methodology was undertaken.  The participants in this study were Caucasian males ages 25 to 85.A wide range of socioeconomic and educational status was included in this participant group.  The findings in this second study were remarkably similar to the initial investigation. No age group differences were noted.  This second study, a replication, provides additional strength for the concept that males utilize WHR as a sign of physical attractiveness. Indeed, these findings imply that the WHR plays a critical role in male decisions regarding attractiveness.  Certainly the data indicate that weight is an important factor and the two physical variables (weight and WHR) are both central to male decision-making regarding a woman’s beauty status. To be considered highly attractive, a woman must have a low WHR and a normal body weight.  If a woman’s weight deviates from normal or if her WHR increases, she is likely to be judged less attractive by males.  These results indicate that males have the ability to detect the WHR signal and utilize the information in formulating judgments regarding beauty.

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