Facial threat affects trust more strongly than facial attractiveness in women than it does in men
Abstract Trust is essential in initiating social relationships. Due to the differential evolution of sex hormones as well as the fitness burdens of producing offspring, evaluations of a potential mating partner’s trustworthiness likely differ across sexes. Here, we explore unknown sex-specific effec...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2021-11-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-01775-5 |
| _version_ | 1818999738787168256 |
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| author | Johanna Brustkern Markus Heinrichs Mirella Walker Bastian Schiller |
| author_facet | Johanna Brustkern Markus Heinrichs Mirella Walker Bastian Schiller |
| author_sort | Johanna Brustkern |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Trust is essential in initiating social relationships. Due to the differential evolution of sex hormones as well as the fitness burdens of producing offspring, evaluations of a potential mating partner’s trustworthiness likely differ across sexes. Here, we explore unknown sex-specific effects of facial attractiveness and threat on trusting other-sex individuals. Ninety-three participants (singles; 46 women) attracted by the other sex performed an incentivized trust game. They had to decide whether to trust individuals of the other sex represented by a priori-created face stimuli gradually varying in the intensities of both attractiveness and threat. Male and female participants trusted attractive and unthreatening-looking individuals more often. However, whereas male participants’ trust behavior was affected equally by attractiveness and threat, female participants’ trust behavior was more strongly affected by threat than by attractiveness. This indicates that a partner’s high facial attractiveness might compensate for high facial threat in male but not female participants. Our findings suggest that men and women prioritize attractiveness and threat differentially, with women paying relatively more attention to threat cues inversely signaling parental investment than to attractiveness cues signaling reproductive fitness. This difference might be attributable to an evolutionary, biologically sex-specific decision regarding parental investment and reproduction behavior. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T22:22:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-287ca06eb0b742e6ae8d884ba803af21 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T22:22:12Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-287ca06eb0b742e6ae8d884ba803af212022-12-21T19:24:54ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222021-11-011111910.1038/s41598-021-01775-5Facial threat affects trust more strongly than facial attractiveness in women than it does in menJohanna Brustkern0Markus Heinrichs1Mirella Walker2Bastian Schiller3Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of FreiburgLaboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of FreiburgFaculty of Psychology, University of BaselLaboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of FreiburgAbstract Trust is essential in initiating social relationships. Due to the differential evolution of sex hormones as well as the fitness burdens of producing offspring, evaluations of a potential mating partner’s trustworthiness likely differ across sexes. Here, we explore unknown sex-specific effects of facial attractiveness and threat on trusting other-sex individuals. Ninety-three participants (singles; 46 women) attracted by the other sex performed an incentivized trust game. They had to decide whether to trust individuals of the other sex represented by a priori-created face stimuli gradually varying in the intensities of both attractiveness and threat. Male and female participants trusted attractive and unthreatening-looking individuals more often. However, whereas male participants’ trust behavior was affected equally by attractiveness and threat, female participants’ trust behavior was more strongly affected by threat than by attractiveness. This indicates that a partner’s high facial attractiveness might compensate for high facial threat in male but not female participants. Our findings suggest that men and women prioritize attractiveness and threat differentially, with women paying relatively more attention to threat cues inversely signaling parental investment than to attractiveness cues signaling reproductive fitness. This difference might be attributable to an evolutionary, biologically sex-specific decision regarding parental investment and reproduction behavior.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-01775-5 |
| spellingShingle | Johanna Brustkern Markus Heinrichs Mirella Walker Bastian Schiller Facial threat affects trust more strongly than facial attractiveness in women than it does in men Scientific Reports |
| title | Facial threat affects trust more strongly than facial attractiveness in women than it does in men |
| title_full | Facial threat affects trust more strongly than facial attractiveness in women than it does in men |
| title_fullStr | Facial threat affects trust more strongly than facial attractiveness in women than it does in men |
| title_full_unstemmed | Facial threat affects trust more strongly than facial attractiveness in women than it does in men |
| title_short | Facial threat affects trust more strongly than facial attractiveness in women than it does in men |
| title_sort | facial threat affects trust more strongly than facial attractiveness in women than it does in men |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-01775-5 |
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