School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2024 Nov 14;19(11):e0310835. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310835. eCollection 2024.
Thin and muscular have been characterised as body shape ideals for women and men, respectively, yet each sex misperceives what the other sex desires; women exaggerate the thinness that men like and men exaggerate the muscularity that women like. Body shape ideals align with stereotypic perceptions of femininity in women and masculinity in men. The present study investigates whether misperception of opposite-sex desires extends to femininity/masculinity in facial morphology. We used interactive 3D head models to represent faces varying in sexual dimorphism. White European heterosexual men and women were asked to choose their own and ideal face shape, the ideal shape of a short- and a long-term partner, and the face shape they thought the opposite sex would most like for a short- and a long-term partner. Women overestimated the facial femininity that men prefer in a partner and men overestimated the facial masculinity that women prefer in a partner. The discrepancy between own and ideal sexual dimorphism (an index of appearance dissatisfaction) covaried with by the misperception of what the opposite-sex desires. These results indicate misperception of opposite-sex facial preferences and that mistaken perceptions may contribute to dissatisfaction with own appearance.
瘦和肌肉发达分别被描述为女性和男性的理想体型，但两性都误解了对方想要的是什么；女性夸大了男性喜欢的瘦，男性夸大了女性喜欢的肌肉。体型理想与女性的女性气质和男性的男性气质的刻板印象相符。本研究调查了对异性欲望的误解是否延伸到面部形态的女性气质/男性气质。我们使用交互式 3D 头部模型来表示在性别二态性方面存在差异的面部。要求白种欧洲异性恋男性和女性选择自己和理想的脸型、短期和长期伴侣的理想脸型，以及他们认为异性最想要的短期和长期伴侣的脸型。女性高估了男性在伴侣中更喜欢的面部女性气质，而男性高估了女性在伴侣中更喜欢的面部男性气质。自身和理想性别二态性之间的差异（外观不满的指标）与对异性欲望的误解相关。这些结果表明，对面部异性偏好存在误解，错误的认知可能导致对自身外表的不满。
