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Evolutionary approaches to human mating strategies have associated facial and physical attractiveness with cues of health, fertility, and personality traits both in men and women. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that these associations may be mediated by psychological flexibility (an indicator of mental health) and/or sociosexual orientation (an indicator of mating strategy). Study aims were: (1) to examine potential correlations between self-perceived attractiveness, self-reported health, minor ailments, mating effort, sociosexual orientation, and psychological flexibility, (2) to test whether psychological flexibility and sociosexual orientation mediate these associations, and (3) to explore potential directional relationships between the study variables. A mixed-sex sample of 211 young adults completed an online battery of questionnaires that gathered demographic, personality, and behavioral data. We found low-to-moderate positive partial correlations (controlling for age, sex, and BMI) between self-perceived attractiveness, self-reported health, mating effort, sociosexual orientation, and psychological flexibility. In contrast, minor ailments were negatively correlated with self-reported health and psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility and sociosexual orientation independently and partially mediated the association between self-perceived attractiveness and mating effort. Potential causal effects between all the study variables were also discussed. This study contributes to our understanding of the evolutionary aspects of human attractiveness and mating strategies. Further studies are needed to test causality and covariation between these variables to disentangle their potential bidirectional impact on mental health and psychological wellbeing., Author(s): Javier I. Borráz-León [sup.1] [sup.2] [sup.3] , Indrikis A. Krams [sup.4] [sup.5] [sup.6] , Ana Lilia Cerda-Molina [sup.3] , Markus J. Rantala [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) https://ror.org/05vghhr25, grid.1374.1, 0000 [...]

Makeup usage in women serves as a behavioral tactic of both intersexual attraction and intrasexual competition. However, this tactic may incur costs to men due to the artificially enhanced mate value achieved by makeup usage. Therefore, to avoid these potential costs, men may be sensitive to the makeup cues and lower their preference for women wearing makeup during mate choice, especially for men who are pursuing a long-term relationship. In the present research, we systematically tested this hypothesis by three studies. Specifically, the three studies consistently showed that adult males who were naïve in applying makeup still displayed the ability to perceive the makeup status of female faces after exposure to female faces for sufficient time (at self-paced speed) or for moderately short time (6500 ms), even when the physical attractiveness and the possibilities that the target faces had undergone cosmetic surgery were controlled. Studies further revealed that the more long-term-mating oriented male participants were able to perceive makeup cues even after exposure to female faces for only 50 ms, and they tended to lower their perceived mate value for female targets wearing makeup in long-term mating scenarios even after exposure to female faces for only 6500 ms. Taken together, these results suggest that men are sensitive to the authenticity of the physical characteristics of potential mates and they can alter their tendency of mate choices accordingly, especially for men who are pursuing a long-term relationship., Author(s): Qi Wu [sup.1] [sup.2] , Zheying Liu [sup.1] [sup.2] , Xuanchen Liu [sup.1] [sup.2] , Dongfang Chen [sup.1] [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.411427.5, 0000 0001 0089 3695, Department of [...]

Women's physical attractiveness is associated with health and fertility, but various fashion accessories could act, however, as supernormal stimuli and may enhance physical attractiveness to the opposite sex. Wearing high heels could contribute to women's physical attractiveness in various ways. Across three independent studies, I investigated whether high heels influence the perception of leg length and consequently their physical attractiveness in both sexes and their role in women's intrasexual competition. Heeled legs were more attractive than non-heeled legs and heeled legs were also viewed as longer than non-heeled legs. Furthermore, high heels promote women's mates guarding of their own partners as well as their perception of the sexual receptivity of the target wearing high heels. In conclusion, visually prolonged leg length by wearing high heels make legs more sexually attractive and high heels promote competition between women for access to the opposite sex., Author(s): Pavol Prokop [sup.1] [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.7634.6, 0000000109409708, Department of Environmental Ecology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, , Mlynská dolina B2 418, 842 15, Bratislava, Slovakia (2) [...]

The idea that individuals tend to choose a romantic partner following similarities on personality traits has always attracted much attention in the psychological literature, although results were controversial. We conducted a new data analysis approach to personality traits of 235 newlywed couples. Univariate analysis revealed that a neurotic husband is usually paired with a lesser extrovert and open wife. To figure out if this mating selection pattern may be translated in a mathematical predictive model a twofold approach was employed by using Partial Least Squares regression and machine learning algorithm. The experimental results demonstrate that marital assortment for personality is a multi-trait complementarity process but these data are unable to predict human mating., Author(s): Antonio Cerasa [sup.1] [sup.2] , Emiliano Cristiani [sup.3] , Barbara De Luca [sup.4] , Maria Luisa De Narda [sup.5] , Maria Concetta Cundò [sup.5] , Sara Concetta Bottani [sup.4] [...]