Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2012;7(8):e42593. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0042593. Epub 2012 Aug 8.
Previous work has suggested that the experience of psychological stress may influence physical attractiveness ideals, but most evidence in favour of this hypothesis remains archival. The objective of this study was to experimentally investigate the impact of stress on men's judgements of female body size.
Men were randomly assigned to either an experimental group, in which they took part in a task that heightened stress (experimental group, n = 41) or in which they did not take part in such a task (control group, n = 40). Both groups rated the attractiveness of female bodies varying in size from emaciated to obese, completed a measure of appetite sensation, and had their body mass indices (BMIs) measured.
Between-groups analyses showed that the experimental group was matched with the control group in terms of mean age, BMI, and appetite sensation. Further analyses showed that men in the experimental group rated a significantly heavier female body size as maximally attractive than the control group. Men in the experimental group also rated heavier female bodies as more attractive and idealised a wider range of female figures than did the control group.
This study found that the experience of stress was associated with a preference among men for heavier female body sizes. These results indicate that human attractiveness judgements are sensitive to variations in local ecologies and reflect adaptive strategies for dealing with changing environmental conditions.
先前的研究表明，心理压力的体验可能会影响人们对身体吸引力的理想标准，但支持这一假设的大多数证据仍然是档案资料。本研究的目的是通过实验来研究压力对男性对女性体型吸引力的判断的影响。
男性被随机分配到实验组或对照组。实验组的男性参加了一项会增加压力的任务（实验组，n=41），而对照组的男性则不参加此类任务（对照组，n=40）。两组男性都对体型从消瘦到肥胖不等的女性身体进行了吸引力评价，完成了对食欲感觉的测量，并测量了他们的体重指数（BMI）。
组间分析表明，实验组和对照组在平均年龄、BMI 和食欲感觉方面相匹配。进一步的分析表明，实验组男性认为体型明显更重的女性更具吸引力，而对照组则不然。实验组男性还认为更重的女性身体更具吸引力，也更理想化了更广泛的女性体型。
本研究发现，压力的体验与男性对更重的女性体型的偏好有关。这些结果表明，人类的吸引力判断对当地生态环境的变化敏感，并反映了应对环境变化的适应性策略。
