Peters M, Rhodes G, Simmons L W
Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia.
J Evol Biol. 2008 Mar;21(2):572-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2007.01477.x. Epub 2008 Jan 3.
The psychological mechanisms underlying attractiveness judgements in humans are thought to be evolved adaptations for finding a high quality mate. The phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis proposes that females obtain reliable information on male fertility from male expression of sexual traits. A previous study of Spanish men reported that facial attractiveness was positively associated with semen quality. We aimed to determine whether this effect was widespread by examining a large sample of Australian men. We also extended our study to determine whether cues to semen quality are provided by components of attractiveness: masculinity, averageness and symmetry. Each male participant was photographed and provided a semen sample that was analyzed for sperm morphology, motility and concentration. Two independent sets of women rated the male photographs for attractiveness, and three further sets of 12 women rated the photographs for masculinity, symmetry or averageness. We found no significant correlations between semen quality parameters and attractiveness or attractive traits. Although male physical attractiveness may signal aspects of mate quality, our results suggest that phenotype-linked cues to male fertility may not be general across human populations.
人类吸引力判断背后的心理机制被认为是为寻找高质量配偶而进化出的适应性特征。表型关联生育力假说提出，女性可从男性性特征的表现中获取有关男性生育力的可靠信息。之前一项针对西班牙男性的研究报告称，面部吸引力与精液质量呈正相关。我们旨在通过研究大量澳大利亚男性样本，确定这种效应是否普遍存在。我们还扩展了研究，以确定精液质量线索是否由吸引力的组成部分提供：阳刚之气、普通程度和对称性。为每位男性参与者拍摄照片，并提供一份精液样本，对其精子形态、活力和浓度进行分析。两组独立的女性对男性照片的吸引力进行评分，另有三组每组12名女性对照片的阳刚之气、对称性或普通程度进行评分。我们发现精液质量参数与吸引力或吸引人的特征之间没有显著相关性。尽管男性的身体吸引力可能标志着配偶质量的某些方面，但我们的结果表明，与男性生育力相关的表型线索可能并非在所有人群中都普遍存在。
