Rikowski A, Grammer K
Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Urban Ethology, Vienna, Austria.
Proc Biol Sci. 1999 May 7;266(1422):869-74. doi: 10.1098/rspb.1999.0717.
Several studies have found body and facial symmetry as well as attractiveness to be human mate choice criteria. These characteristics are presumed to signal developmental stability. Human body odour has been shown to influence female mate choice depending on the immune system, but the question of whether smell could signal general mate quality, as do other cues, was not addressed in previous studies. We compared ratings of body odour, attractiveness, and measurements of facial and body asymmetry of 16 male and 19 female subjects. Subjects wore a T-shirt for three consecutive nights under controlled conditions. Opposite-sex raters judged the odour of the T-shirts and another group evaluated portraits of the subjects for attractiveness. We measured seven bilateral traits of the subject's body to assess body asymmetry. Facial asymmetry was examined by distance measurements of portrait photographs. The results showed a significant positive correlation between facial attractiveness and sexiness of body odour for female subjects. We found positive relationships between body odour and attractiveness and negative ones between smell and body asymmetry for males only if female odour raters were in the most fertile phase of their menstrual cycle. The outcomes are discussed in the light of different male and female reproductive strategies.
多项研究发现，身体和面部对称性以及吸引力是人类选择配偶的标准。这些特征被认为是发育稳定性的信号。研究表明，人体气味会根据免疫系统影响女性的配偶选择，但气味是否能像其他线索一样表明总体配偶质量，此前的研究并未涉及。我们比较了16名男性和19名女性受试者的体臭评分、吸引力评分以及面部和身体不对称测量结果。受试者在受控条件下连续三个晚上穿着T恤。异性评分者对T恤的气味进行评判，另一组则评估受试者的照片以确定其吸引力。我们测量了受试者身体的七个双侧特征以评估身体不对称性。通过对肖像照片的距离测量来检查面部不对称性。结果显示，对于女性受试者，面部吸引力与体臭的性感程度之间存在显著的正相关。仅当女性气味评分者处于月经周期的最易受孕阶段时，我们发现男性的体臭与吸引力之间存在正相关，而气味与身体不对称之间存在负相关。我们根据不同的男性和女性生殖策略对结果进行了讨论。
