Coetzee Vinet, Perrett David I, Stephen Ian D
Perception Laboratory, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Mary's Quad, South Street, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP, Scotland, UK.
Perception. 2009;38(11):1700-11. doi: 10.1068/p6423.
Facial symmetry, averageness, sexual dimorphism, and skin colour/texture all serve as cues to attractiveness, but their role in the perception of health is less clear. This ambiguity could reflect the fact that these facial traits are not the only cues to health. We propose that adiposity is an important, but thus far disregarded, facial cue to health. Our results demonstrate two important prerequisites for any health cue. First, we show that facial adiposity, or the perception of weight in the face, significantly predicts perceived health and attractiveness. Second, we show that perceived facial adiposity is significantly associated with measures of cardiovascular health and reported infections. Perceived facial adiposity, or a correlate thereof, is therefore an important and valid cue to health that should be included in future studies.
面部对称性、平均性、性别二态性以及肤色/质地均作为吸引力的线索，但它们在健康认知中的作用尚不清楚。这种模糊性可能反映出这些面部特征并非健康的唯一线索这一事实。我们提出，肥胖是一种重要但迄今为止被忽视的面部健康线索。我们的研究结果证明了任何健康线索的两个重要前提。首先，我们表明面部肥胖，即对面部重量的感知，能显著预测感知到的健康状况和吸引力。其次，我们表明感知到的面部肥胖与心血管健康指标和报告的感染情况显著相关。因此，感知到的面部肥胖或其相关因素是一种重要且有效的健康线索，应纳入未来的研究中。
