Why Women Wear High Heels: Evolution, Lumbar Curvature, and Attractiveness
Despite the widespread use of high-heeled footwear in both developing and modernized societies, we lack an understanding of this behavioral phenomenon at both proximate and distal levels of explanation. The current manuscript advances and tests a novel, evolutionarily anchored hypothesis for why wom...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2017-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01875/full |
| _version_ | 1819178820773609472 |
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| author | David M. G. Lewis Eric M. Russell Laith Al-Shawaf Vivian Ta Zeynep Senveli William Ickes David M. Buss |
| author_facet | David M. G. Lewis Eric M. Russell Laith Al-Shawaf Vivian Ta Zeynep Senveli William Ickes David M. Buss |
| author_sort | David M. G. Lewis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Despite the widespread use of high-heeled footwear in both developing and modernized societies, we lack an understanding of this behavioral phenomenon at both proximate and distal levels of explanation. The current manuscript advances and tests a novel, evolutionarily anchored hypothesis for why women wear high heels, and provides convergent support for this hypothesis across multiple methods. Using a recently discovered evolved mate preference, we hypothesized that high heels influence women’s attractiveness via effects on their lumbar curvature. Independent studies that employed distinct methods, eliminated multiple confounds, and ruled out alternative explanations showed that when women wear high heels, their lumbar curvature increased and they were perceived as more attractive. Closer analysis revealed an even more precise pattern aligning with human evolved psychology: high-heeled footwear increased women’s attractiveness only when wearing heels altered their lumbar curvature to be closer to an evolutionarily optimal angle. These findings illustrate how human evolved psychology can contribute to and intersect with aspects of cultural evolution, highlighting that the two are not independent or autonomous processes but rather are deeply intertwined. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T21:48:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f0fc676d4c614bc7a29c63975de8efc1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T21:48:38Z |
| publishDate | 2017-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-f0fc676d4c614bc7a29c63975de8efc12022-12-21T18:11:26ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782017-11-01810.3389/fpsyg.2017.01875297420Why Women Wear High Heels: Evolution, Lumbar Curvature, and AttractivenessDavid M. G. Lewis0Eric M. Russell1Laith Al-Shawaf2Vivian Ta3Zeynep Senveli4William Ickes5David M. Buss6School of Psychology and Exercise Science, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, AustraliaDepartment of Psychology, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, The University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, United StatesDepartment of Anthropology, Boston University, Boston, MA, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, United StatesDepartment of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United StatesDespite the widespread use of high-heeled footwear in both developing and modernized societies, we lack an understanding of this behavioral phenomenon at both proximate and distal levels of explanation. The current manuscript advances and tests a novel, evolutionarily anchored hypothesis for why women wear high heels, and provides convergent support for this hypothesis across multiple methods. Using a recently discovered evolved mate preference, we hypothesized that high heels influence women’s attractiveness via effects on their lumbar curvature. Independent studies that employed distinct methods, eliminated multiple confounds, and ruled out alternative explanations showed that when women wear high heels, their lumbar curvature increased and they were perceived as more attractive. Closer analysis revealed an even more precise pattern aligning with human evolved psychology: high-heeled footwear increased women’s attractiveness only when wearing heels altered their lumbar curvature to be closer to an evolutionarily optimal angle. These findings illustrate how human evolved psychology can contribute to and intersect with aspects of cultural evolution, highlighting that the two are not independent or autonomous processes but rather are deeply intertwined.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01875/fullevolutionary psychologymate preferenceslumbar curvaturehigh heelsphysical attractivenesscultural evolution |
| spellingShingle | David M. G. Lewis Eric M. Russell Laith Al-Shawaf Vivian Ta Zeynep Senveli William Ickes David M. Buss Why Women Wear High Heels: Evolution, Lumbar Curvature, and Attractiveness Frontiers in Psychology evolutionary psychology mate preferences lumbar curvature high heels physical attractiveness cultural evolution |
| title | Why Women Wear High Heels: Evolution, Lumbar Curvature, and Attractiveness |
| title_full | Why Women Wear High Heels: Evolution, Lumbar Curvature, and Attractiveness |
| title_fullStr | Why Women Wear High Heels: Evolution, Lumbar Curvature, and Attractiveness |
| title_full_unstemmed | Why Women Wear High Heels: Evolution, Lumbar Curvature, and Attractiveness |
| title_short | Why Women Wear High Heels: Evolution, Lumbar Curvature, and Attractiveness |
| title_sort | why women wear high heels evolution lumbar curvature and attractiveness |
| topic | evolutionary psychology mate preferences lumbar curvature high heels physical attractiveness cultural evolution |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01875/full |
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