Facial resemblance between women's partners and brothers

Saxton, Tamsin, Steel, Catherine, Rowley, Katie, Newman, Amy and Baguley, Thom (2017) Facial resemblance between women's partners and brothers. Evolution and Human Behavior, 38 (4). pp. 429-433. ISSN 1090-5138

Preview	Text Facial resemblance between partners and brothers - accepted version%2C for personal websites.pdf - Accepted Version Download (422kB) | Preview
	Text Facial resemblance between partners and brothers - accepted version, for personal websites.docx - Accepted Version Download (2MB)
	Text (Supplementary Online Material 1 and 2) Supplementary Online Material 1 and 2.docx - Supplemental Material Download (27kB)
	Other (Supplementary Online Material 3) Supplementary Online Material 3.xlsx - Supplemental Material Download (104kB)

Abstract

Research on optimal outbreeding describes the greater reproductive success experienced on average by couples who are neither too closely related, nor too genetically dissimilar. How is optimal outbreeding achieved? Faces that subtly resemble family members could present useful cues to a potential reproductive partner with an optimal level of genetic dissimilarity. Here, we present the first empirical data that heterosexual women select partners who resemble their brothers. Raters ranked the facial similarity between a woman’s male partner, and that woman’s brother compared to foils. In a multilevel ordinal logistic regression that modeled variability in both the stimuli and the raters, there was clear evidence for perceptual similarity in facial photographs of a woman’s partner and her brother. That is, although siblings themselves are sexually aversive, sibling resemblance is not. The affective responses of disgust and attraction may be calibrated to distinguish close kin from individuals with some genetic dissimilarity during partner choice.

Actions (login required)

View Item

Downloads