The effect of weight on health and face perception : a cross-cultural perspective
Abstract
My research identifies facial adiposity, a measure of weight in the face, as a novel
facial cue to attractiveness and health. Previously identified facial cues, such as
symmetry, averageness, sexual dimorphism and skin condition, are not consistently
related to indices of actual health. In chapter 2 I demonstrate that facial adiposity is reliably
associated with judgements of facial attractiveness and health in Caucasians and also
with frequency and duration of respiratory infections, antibiotics use and blood pressure,
indicating that facial adiposity is a valid cue to health. Additionally, in chapter 3 I identify
three quantifiable facial shape cues that are reliably related to Body Mass Index (BMI)
and are used by observers to judge weight in Caucasian and African faces.
In chapter 4 I show that Western Caucasian women, but not men, prefer a
significantly lower facial adiposity when judging attractiveness than when judging health
in other women’s faces. This difference may reflect the influence of the media, since it
was only significant in women’s judgements and previous work showed that women
internalize media messages about body ideals more than men do. In contrast, African
participants in chapter 6 did not show any difference between the optimal facial adiposity
for health and attractiveness, which is consistent with the prediction that people living in
an environment with a high disease burden will base their concept of attractiveness more
closely on cues to health. Importantly, these different patterns of results for Western
Caucasian and African participants are unlikely to be due to cultural differences in media
ideals of beauty, since the new African body ideal portrayed by the South African media
is closely aligned with the Western ideal (chapter 5). Thus, my research suggests that
perceptions of facial adiposity may well be influenced by an interaction between
environmental factors and media ideals.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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