Wen Fangfang, Zuo Bin, Wang Yang, Ma Shuhan, Song Shijie, Zhang Hongxia
School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Social Psychology, Central China Normal University, Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430079, China.
Xiantao First People's Hospital of Hubei Province, Xiantao, China.
Arch Sex Behav. 2021 Feb;50(2):531-541. doi: 10.1007/s10508-020-01868-8. Epub 2021 Jan 4.
Past research on women's preferences for male facial masculinity in Western cultures has produced inconsistent results. Some inconsistency may be related to the use of different facial stimulus manipulations (e.g., between-sex sexual dimorphic facial manipulation or within-sex sexual dimorphic facial manipulation) that do not perfectly avoid non-facial cues, and pregnancy status may also influence women's face preferences. We therefore recruited pregnant and nonpregnant Chinese women and manipulated the sexual dimorphism of male facial stimuli to explore the influences of manipulation methods, non-facial cues, and pregnancy status on face preferences. Results showed that: (1) in contrast with a general masculinity preference observed in Western cultures, both pregnant and nonpregnant Chinese women preferred feminized and neutral male faces generally; (2) pregnant women's preference for feminized male faces was stable across manipulation methods, while nonpregnant women preferred feminized male faces except under between-sex sexual dimorphism manipulation; and (3) manipulation methods, rather than non-facial cues, influenced participants' face preferences. Specifically, women showed the strongest preferences for femininity when face stimuli were manipulated by within-sex sexual dimorphic facial manipulation, followed by unmanipulated faces and between-sex sexual dimorphic facial manipulation. This effect was stronger for nonpregnant women in the unmanipulated condition and for pregnant women in the between-sex sexual dimorphic facial manipulation. This research provides empirical evidence of women's preferences for sexual dimorphism in male faces in a non-Western culture, as well as the effects of facial manipulation methods, pregnancy status, and the interactions between these factors.
过去在西方文化中对女性对男性面部阳刚之气偏好的研究结果并不一致。一些不一致可能与使用不同的面部刺激操作有关（例如，性别间性二态性面部操作或性别内性二态性面部操作），这些操作不能完美避免非面部线索，而且怀孕状态也可能影响女性的面部偏好。因此，我们招募了怀孕和未怀孕的中国女性，并对男性面部刺激的性二态性进行操作，以探讨操作方法、非面部线索和怀孕状态对面部偏好的影响。结果表明：（1）与西方文化中观察到的普遍对阳刚之气的偏好相反，怀孕和未怀孕的中国女性通常都更喜欢女性化和中性的男性面孔；（2）孕妇对女性化男性面孔的偏好不受操作方法的影响，而未怀孕女性除了在性别间性二态性操作下外，更喜欢女性化男性面孔；（3）影响参与者面部偏好的是操作方法，而非非面部线索。具体而言，当通过性别内性二态性面部操作来处理面部刺激时，女性对女性化特征的偏好最为强烈，其次是未处理的面孔和性别间性二态性面部操作。这种效应在未处理条件下的未怀孕女性和性别间性二态性面部操作下的怀孕女性中更为明显。本研究为非西方文化中女性对男性面孔性二态性的偏好以及面部操作方法、怀孕状态及其之间的相互作用的影响提供了实证证据。
