Runninghead:THEINFLUENCEOFFACIALHAIRONMATESELECTION1

TheInfluenceofFacialHaironMateSelection

KatieFrench
MartinGochioco
GaryLi
TashaShermer
PasadenaCityCollege

THEINFLUENCEOFFACIALHAIRONMATESELECTION

Introduction
Manhashadbodyandfacialhairforaslongashistorycanremember.However,itisnot
certainexactlywhatrolethishairmayplayinsexualattraction.Discoveringthecorrelation
betweenfacialhairandmatechoicecouldopenupmorediscussionsandanalysisforfuture
researchtotranspire.Thepossiblerelationmayhavealteredspecificgeographicalareas,time
periods,orgroupsofpeopletobreedinacertainway.Iffacialhairdoesindeedaffectmate
selection,itispossiblethatitcouldimpactaspeciesfitness.Forexample,ifitismorelikelyfor
awomantomatewithamanwithoutfacialhair,theresahigherchancethatmoremenwithout
facialhairwillprocreateintheenvironment.Thus,thefitnessforamanwithoutfacialhairwill
beincreased.Manystudieshavebeenconductedinpastresearchthatmayalludetothe
correlationbetweenmateselectionandfacialhair.AccordingtoProkop,Fancovicova,&
Rantala(2012),ahumanslackofpartialitytobodyhairmaybeconnectedtothepresenceof
bacteria.Popenoe(1937)holdsthatsexualattractivenessofapartnermaybeamajorfactorin
thechoiceofamate.Facialandotherbodilyhairwouldfallunderthecategoryofsexualand
physicalattractiveness.Thesestudies,bothonthehumanspecies,showvariousviewpointson
theinfluenceoffacialhaironafemalespreferenceinamate.
Itisnotprovenwhetherfacialhairhasadirectimpactonmateselectioninhumans.With
thisinformation,muchfutureresearchcouldbedonetodeterminewhypeopledoordonot
chooseaspecificcharacteristicintheprocessofmateselection.Wehypothesizethatfacialhair
mayplayamajorroleinthephysicalattractionofamaletoafemale,ultimatelyaffectingmate
selection.Inaddition,wehypothesizethatagemaysimultaneouslyaffecttheviewoffacialhair
thatawomanmayhold.Simplystated,olderwomenwhoarepostmenopausalmaypreferfacial

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hairwhileyoungerwomenwhoarepremenopausalmaypreferacleanshave.Forsomewomen,
facialhairmaynotmatteratallinchoosingamate,whereasforotherwomen,facialhairmay
precludeamanfromconsideration.Thechoicemaybecontextual,basedonindividual
preference,socialfactors,andbiologicalimpulses.
Ourhypothesisisthatamansfacialhairisamajorcharacteristicinchoosingamate,
anditismorelikelyforanolderfemaletopreferfacialhaircomparedtoayoungerone.We
expectourhypothesistobebackedupbyourexperimentalresults.SinceRantala,
Plkki,&
Rantala(2012)foundthat
olderwomenaremorefondofoverallbodyhairthanyoungerwomen,
wededucethatfacialhairmayfallunderthesamecircumstances.

Methods
Inordertotestthehypothesisonwhethermensfacialhairaffectstheirattractivenessto
women,weconductedasurveyofasamplesizeofsixtyfemaleparticipantsaroundPasadena
CityCollege,twoofwhichwerediscardedfornotfillingoutthesurveycorrectly.The
questionnairesurveyiscomposedofthefollowingaspects:femaleparticipantsage,whethershe
ispreorpostmenopausal,ifshefindsmentobesexuallyattractive,andherpreferenceonthe
pictureofmalecelebritieswithorwithoutfacialhair.Inordertoprotecttheprivacyofthe
participants,weaddedacheckboxwhichstatesthattheresultofthesurveyisanonymousandis
usedforscientificresearchonly.Theagesectionofthesurveyisdividedintofourdifferent
segments,rangingfromunder18,1825,2640,and40andabove.Sinceourhypothesisis
relatedtoage,anditismorelikelytofindyoungerwomenoncampus,ourresearchteamwent
acrossthestreetandvisitedvariousrestaurants,asupermarket,andacaftoreachparticipants

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withinawideragerange.Thefinalquestionofthesurveyaskstheparticipantstoexaminetwo
setsofpicturesofthesamecelebritiesandcirclewhichtheyprefer:sideAwithfacialhair,or
sideBwithoutfacialhair.Tominimizeotherfactorswhichmayinfluencetheresult,we
deliberatelyselectedpicturesofthesamepersonwithsimilarclothingandhairstyle,allowinghis
facialhairtobethemostobviousdifferencebetweentwopictures.Participantswereaskedto
selectwhichsideofthepicturetheyprefer.Inordertoobtainamoreaccurateresponse,we
purposelydidnotrevealtotheparticipantswhatthedifferenceswerebetweenthepictures,so
thattheyhadtodeterminethedifferenceontheirown,givingamoreclearindicationwhetheror
nottheyfoundamanwithfacialhairmoreattractive.

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Resultswerecollectedandtalliedafterthesurvey,andweredividedintothreegroups:
preferfacialhair,prefercleanshaven,ormixedanswers.Thefirstgroupisbasedontheresult
fromfourdifferentagegroupsofwomenwhopreferthetwopicturesofmenwithfacialhair.In
otherwords,allthewomenwhofallunderthiscategorylikemenwithfacialhair.Womeninthe
secondgrouplikethephotosofthemenwithoutfacialhair.Finally,thelastgroupisthemixed
answers,someofthemchoseAforonepicture,butpreferedBintheotherphoto.

Results
Byage,resultsindicatedthatoverall,youngerwomen(age1825)preferfacialhairand
thattheolderwomenwhoweresurveyed(age40+)arejustaboutevenlydistributedandthe
majorityhavemixedopinions.Femalesagedunder18andbetween2640donotgenerallycare
foracleanshavenman.Judgingbywhetherornotthesubjectshavegonethroughtheir
menopauseornot,mostpremenopausalwomenprefermenwithfacialhairandpostmenopausal
womenareaboutevenlydistributed.
Thefirstchartmeasurespreferencebasedonagegroups(Figure1).Theredcolumn
indicatesthosewhopreferfacialhair,thepurpleindicatesthosewhopreferacleanshave,and
theblueindicatesthosewithmixedanswers.Manyoftheparticipantshadfiguredoutthegoalof
thesurvey,duetothepictureshavingtheobviousfacialhairdifference,andmadeverbal
commentsgenerallyalongthelinesoflikingfacialhairmostofthetimebutnotonthesecond
celebrity.Thesecondchartmeasurespreferencebasedonwhetherornotthesubjectshavegone
throughtheirmenopause(Figure2).Thecolorofthecolumnscarryoverthesameindication.

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THEINFLUENCEOFFACIALHAIRONMATESELECTION

Discussion
Theresultsofourexperimentdonotlendsupporttoourhypothesis.Therefore,basedon
thisstudy,wemustconcludethatourhypothesishasbeenrefuted.Infact,wefoundtheinverse
ofourhypothesistobethecase.Themajorityofwomen1825tendedtopreferfacialhair
(45.7%),versus31.4%ofwomen1825whohadnopreference,and22.9%whopreferredno
facialhair.Amongwomen2640,37.5%preferredfacialhair,and62.5%hadnopreference.No
responsesfromparticipantsages2640indicatedapreferenceformenwithnofacialhair.
Womenunder18weresplitdownthemiddle,with50%preferringfacialhairand50%preferring
nofacialhair.Noresponsesfromparticipantsundertheageof18indicatedthattheyhadno
preference.Amongwomen40andolder,thegroupwhowethoughtwouldskewthefurthest
towardsapreferenceforfacialhair,27.3%preferredfacialhair,27.3%preferrednofacialhair,
and45.4%hadnopreference.
Theseresultsseemtoshowapossiblenegativecorrelationbetweenadvancedageand
preferenceforfacialhair.Generally,astheageoftheparticipantgroupsincreased,their
preferenceformenwithfacialhairdecreased.Fromthe1825grouptothe2640group,the
preferenceforfacialhairwentdown8.2%.Fromthe2640agegrouptothe40andolderage
group,thepreferenceforfacialhairwentdown10.2%.Sincethecessationofmenstruationis
normallycorrelatedwithadvancedage,itmakessensethatonly22.2%ofpostmenopausal
womenindicatedapreferenceforfacialhair,whereas33.3%preferrednoneand44.4%hadno
preference.Conversely,42.8%ofpremenopausalwomenpreferredfacialhair,versus16.3%who
preferrednofacialhairand40.8%whohadnopreference.Incidentally,oneofourparticipants
wasaged1825andindicatedthatshewaspostmenopausal,whichmightbearesultof

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hysterectomy.Oursurveydidnotaskthenatureofthemenopause,onlywhetherornotithad
occurred.
AccordingtoReed&Blunk(1990),menwithfacialhairaregenerallyviewedinamore
favorablelightversusmenwithoutfacialhair.Theyareperceivedasmoreeducated,intelligent,
inquisitive,enthusiastic,sincere,generous,openminded,extroverted,andashavingmorestatus
(Reed&Blunk1990).Ithasalsobeendemonstratedthatfemalesofallspeciespreferpowerful,
mature,highstatusmalesoverlesspowerful,immature,andlowstatusmales(Cunningham,
Barbee&Pike1990).Ifmenwithfacialhairareperceivedtopossessthepreviouslymentioned
positivequalities,includinghighstatus,itispossiblethatyoungerwomenaremorestrongly
attractedtomenwithfacialhairbecausetheythemselveshavenotyetattainedahighlevelof
socialstatus,andseektoincreasetheirstatusbyattachingthemselvestohighstatusmen.Since
theyoungerwomenarestillintheirreproductiveyears,theirpreferenceforhighstatusmen
wouldmakesensefromanevolutionaryperspective,becausetheywouldwanttheiroffspringto
inheritwhatevergoodgeneswereresponsibleforthemalesattractiveness,andthehighsocial
statusofthemalewouldensurethesafetyoftheiroffspring(Jaffe2002).Womenwhoare
postmenopausal,orwhoarenearingmenopause,mightfocuslessonthesefactorssincetheydo
nothaveoffspringtobeconcernedabout.
Perceivedmasculinitymayalsoplayaroleinourresults.AlthoughRhodes,Simmons,&
Peters(2005)foundthatmasculinityinmensphysiqueisassociatedwithgreaterlongterm
health,competitiveability,andreproductivesuccess,otherstudieshaveshownthatwomen
associatefacialmasculinitywithnegativepersonalitytraits,lessinterestinlongterm
relationships,andlowerpaternalinvestment(Dixson,Tam,&Awasthy2013),andtendto

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prefermenwithlessmasculinefaces(Perrettet.al.1998).Inthislight,ourfindingsthatwomen
whoarestillofreproductiveageprefermenwithfacialhairseemstocontradictpreviousstudies.
However,sexualselectiontheorieswouldsupportthevalidityofourfindings,ifmasculinityis
indeedatraitassociatedwithsuchtraitsashealthandreproductivesuccess.Itispossiblethatthe
positivetraitsassociatedwithmasculinityingeneraloutweighthenegativetraitsassociatedwith
facialmasculinityinparticular,fromabiologicalperspective.Itisalsopossiblethatwomenin
theirreproductiveyearsaremoreimmediatelysexuallyattractedtofacialmasculinity,butafter
furtherdeliberation,wouldchoosemenwithlessmasculinefacesforlongtermcoupling.Again,
womenwhoarepostmenopausalneednotbeconcernedwiththedurabilityoftheiroffspring,and
canfocussolelyonthequalitiestheydeemdesirableinalongtermpartner.
Duetothetimeconstraintsonourexperimentduration,wecouldnotfullycontrolfor
age,race,andotherfactorsthatmightinfluenceoursubjectsattractiontothemaleexamples.A
moreformalizedstudy,withalargersamplesizeandamorediversecollectionofmale
examples,mighthaveyieldeddifferentresults.Sinceweapproachedoursubjectsatwhatwas
likelytheirlunchhour,theymighthavefeltsomelevelofpressuretochoosequickly,orthey
mightnothavefullyunderstoodthesurveyquestions.Usingsubjectswhohaveconsentedto
participateinthestudyaheadoftimeandperformingthestudyinamorerelaxedsettingwould
beadvisableifweweretoattempttoverifytheresultsofthisexperimentinthefuture.
Itseemslikelythatbiological,social,andculturalfactorsdoallplayaroleinwomens
preferenceforfacialhair.Furtherresearchintothepossiblenegativecorrelationbetween
advancedageandpreferenceformalefacialhairmightprovidevaluableinsightintothe
changingsocialstatusofwomenastheyage,andhowthatrelatestotheircriteriaformate

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10

selection.Afuturestudymightalsousemaleexampleswithavarietyoftypesoffacialhair,and
awiderarrayofagesandethnicities.Requiringresponsesthatindicatetheparticipantscurrent
relationshipstatusandnumberofchildrenwouldallowustolookintotheinfluencethesefactors
haveonthepreferenceforfacialhair,andthatmightyieldmoreinformationastowhetherornot
thepreferenceisbiologicalorpurelysocial.Wecouldalsoexamineifsexualimprintinghasan
impactonfacialhairpreferencebyinquiringaboutthefacialhairoftheparticipantsfathers.
Comparingtheresultsofanyfutureresearchonthissubjecttopastresearchonsimilartopics
mightrevealifthereisachangeinolderwomenspreferenceforfacialhairthatcorrelateswith
anincreaseinwomenssocialstatus.Determininghowsuchsocialphenomenainfluencesexual
selectionwouldprovideuswithagreaterunderstandingoftherolesexualpoliticscanplayin
directingourevolution.

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