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why do some men prefer this phase over
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this one or why do some women prefer
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this one over this one do men and women
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have different standards for facial
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attractiveness facial attractiveness is
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crucial for human social interactions
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for example attractive individuals have
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a higher chance of being hired for a job
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they also obtain more prestigious
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occupations in addition attractiveness
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plays an essential role in the ability
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to engage with potential mates of
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perhaps the opposite sex but what
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exactly do men and women perceive as
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being attractive in this video we're
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going to talk a bit about whether men
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and women have the same standards for
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facial attractiveness and if they don't
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how much do they defer by the most
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important factor that influences facial
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attractiveness is called sexual
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dimorphism after puberty men and women
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start to develop unique facial
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characteristics due to different levels
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of hormones namely testosterone and
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estrogen for example males have larger
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jaw Burns and more prominent facial
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features whereas women tend to present
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bullet cheeks lips and perhaps even more
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developed cheekbones this means that
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there are distinctive features which are
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considered to be either masculine or
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feminine these traits can be observed
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both in men and women both men and women
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tend to prefer Symmetry and youthfulness
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in the faces but how are the
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gender-specific features perceived in
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terms of attractiveness we can assume
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that distinctive masculine features in
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men and feminine features in women are
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considered more attractive because it
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pushes the scale of sexual dimorphism
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and as studies such as Gillian roads
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have shown in evolutionary papers sexual
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dimorphism is a key indicator of making
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a face attractive basically the men look
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like men the women look like women
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generally men tend to prefer feminine
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women as femininity provides cues to
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desirable characteristics such as
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fertility and health on the other hand
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women's preferences for masculinity is
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more complex and studies on the impact
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of masculinity on male attractiveness
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have produced quite mixed results one
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possible explanation for the
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inconsistency that we see with this sex
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is that studies of masculinity are often
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associated with dominance and
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aggressiveness which can be desirable in
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certain contexts but undesirable in
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others we also have to consider that
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male hormones are on a daily basis
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whereas female hormones and Cycles are
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on a monthly basis and so there are very
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big shifts that we have seen in other
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studies where women prefer more
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masculine looking men at one point of
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the cycle and more feminine looking men
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another point of the cycle
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this means that men have a rather
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straightforward decision to make as
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femininity only has positive
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connotations women on the other hand
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have a far greater potential trade-off
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between positive and negative aspects of
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masculinity which may indicate different
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costs and benefits in a potential
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partner under different circumstances
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one influencing factor for example is
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the type of relationship that people are
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looking for short-term versus long term
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and this influences the perceived
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attractiveness of a potential partner
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who studied this little and colleagues
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used photographs of both male and female
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faces and digitally manipulated them to
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either appear more masculine or feminine
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than the original then they asked
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heterosexual men and women to identify
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which of the two versions they found the
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most attractive and which one they would
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be more inclined to engage with in both
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the long-term and short-term
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relationship in other words the authors
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wanted to find out where the perceived
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attractiveness was influenced by the
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expected type of relationship
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the results showed that women's
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preferences for more masculine traits
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was greater for short-term than for
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long-term relationships the same Trend
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was observed for men where they
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preferred more feminine features for
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short term than for long-term
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relationships in other words both
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genders preferred distinctive feminine
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or masculine traits for short-term
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relationships and the author suggests
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that masculinity and femininity as a
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facial feature unconsciously provide
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information about the quality in terms
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of genetic individuals and additional
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interesting difference in men and
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women's preferences arises when
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considering the importance they place on
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facial or bodily Beauty according to one
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study by confer and colleagues men tend
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to prioritize bodily over facial
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attractiveness in short-term dating
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contexts whereas women do not exhibit
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the same difference in other words when
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it comes to short-term dating only men
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tend to emphasize bodily features over
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facial attribute a possible
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interpretation of this could be that
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bodily features in women provide even
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stronger cues for fertility than facial
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features do
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another influencing factor is the
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environment so the severity of the
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environment and the availability of
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resources have a role in how a person's
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spatial preferences change in other
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words since facial attractiveness
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provides cues to the quality in air
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quotes of an individual contextual
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factors like your environment your
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socioeconomic how much money you have
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has a impact on your preferences for
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example men with facial hair might be
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considered more desirable under
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vulnerable circumstances like when money
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is scarce or we're in a recession maybe
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like now as beards are associated with
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masculinity and therefore they can
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indicate dominance and aggressiveness
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compared to other men because when times
00:04:54
get tough people start fighting things
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get scary you want very many looking men
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in theory this is what little and
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colleague studied in their paper human
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preferences for facial masculinity
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change with relationship type and
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environmental harshness where women and
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men who participated in the study were
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asked to choose between a feminized and
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a masculinized version of a face under
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hypothetical harsh and safe scenarios
00:05:17
for example the safe scenario could be
00:05:20
having a supportive family and a stable
00:05:22
financial situation while the harsh
00:05:24
scenario could be being in a doomsday
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apocalypse and what who are you going to
00:05:28
choose to be on your team out of the
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Five Guys interestingly enough the
00:05:32
authors found that when seeking
00:05:33
long-term relationships women who
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imagine themselves in a harsh
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environment preferred less permanent
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traits compared to when they were in a
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safe environment similar results were
00:05:41
found for men who preferred less
00:05:42
feminine women in a harsh environment
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than in a safe environment the idea
00:05:47
behind these results is that high
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quality Partners you know in air quotes
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here
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so things like attractive High genetic
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quality health indicators those kind of
00:05:56
things tend to invest in long-term
00:05:59
relationships less because they have a
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higher market value meaning that
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everybody wants them and so they're more
00:06:04
likely to find other partners easily
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consequently they're more likely to
00:06:07
abandon the relationship during
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challenging circumstances and hence they
00:06:11
may not make the best long-term Partners
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In addition a lot of people see less
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attractive Partners as them expected to
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demand less mating effort since they
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tend to be more available in the long
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term
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therefore many psychologists have noted
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on what both men and women face which is
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a trade-off between partner quality and
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the availableness of that partner itself
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in terms of physical investment who
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explained this with an example there may
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be somebody you see that's very
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attractive very desirable socially
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speaking but they would make a horrible
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mother or father because they don't have
00:06:46
the right skill set to be taken care of
00:06:49
you know family life that would be in
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theory a partner trade-off because
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evolutionary speaking they have all of
00:06:55
the ticks that we're looking for as
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humans but in evolutionary social
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domesticated life they're just not good
00:07:01
parents so that's one example
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self-perceived attractiveness is another
00:07:06
factor that influences the preference of
00:07:08
masculine or feminine traits and overall
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physical attractiveness between men and
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women according to bureaus and
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colleagues in their paper man's
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attractiveness predicts the preference
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for female facial Beauty when judging
00:07:19
for short-term but not long-term
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Partners both men and women who rate
00:07:22
themselves as attractive prefer enhanced
00:07:25
speeches on their potential Partners on
00:07:27
the other hand those who consider
00:07:28
themselves less attractive are less
00:07:30
inclined to prefer enhanced features and
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what does an enhanced feature means
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basically think sharper cheekbones
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sharper jaw bigger eyes everything that
00:07:38
separates a face from the average phase
00:07:40
this means that attractive men prefer
00:07:42
more feminine features in women and
00:07:44
unattractive men and attractive women
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prefer more masculine features in men
00:07:48
than unattractive women when people
00:07:50
judge faces of the same sex there was no
00:07:52
effect of self-perceived attractiveness
00:07:54
on the preferences for masculinity or
00:07:56
femininity since his study was carried
00:07:58
on heterosexual subjects this suggests
00:08:00
that the market value effect only apply
00:08:03
lies to potential mates what that means
00:08:05
in simplest big is that people who
00:08:07
consider themselves in more valuable
00:08:08
Partners tend to seek out more enhanced
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facial traits in their potential mates
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you know their dates their people their
00:08:16
crushes people they're pursuing they
00:08:18
tend to look for the sharper crazier
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looking features that make a face
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attractive in other words they have
00:08:22
higher beauty standards what's not
00:08:25
obvious however is that they don't seem
00:08:27
to place as much importance on
00:08:28
attractiveness in context other than
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mating
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what that means is people who are
00:08:34
already attractive will not give you a
00:08:36
past simply for being attractive
00:08:38
yourself this is significant because as
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we've seen a lot of our videos on the
00:08:42
channel facial attractiveness has many
00:08:43
aspects of life being covered such as
00:08:46
job seeking communication the likelihood
00:08:48
of not getting embarrassed in a social
00:08:50
situation but when it comes to
00:08:52
attractiveness and dating
00:08:54
it doesn't really work for other
00:08:55
attractive people they don't give you a
00:08:57
pass just for being attractive
00:08:59
another contextual Factor affecting
00:09:01
women's preferences in this case over
00:09:03
more masculine spaces for men is the
00:09:06
fluctuation of hormone levels hinted at
00:09:08
earlier in his review facial
00:09:10
attractiveness Anthony little states
00:09:11
that women are more attracted to
00:09:13
masculine male faces at their peakility
00:09:15
this may be related to selecting higher
00:09:17
quality quote unquote men commonly
00:09:19
associated with masculine cues at the
00:09:21
time because they're more likely to
00:09:23
become pregnant from these men
00:09:25
and in this case contextual factors such
00:09:28
as the type of relationship you know
00:09:30
long term versus short term your
00:09:31
socioeconomic status how much money you
00:09:33
have your own self-esteem and
00:09:35
self-attractiveness and even hormones
00:09:37
have a important role in the perception
00:09:39
of facial attractiveness for both men
00:09:41
and women meaning that your beauty
00:09:43
standards will change to a degree based
00:09:46
on other factors
00:09:47
so what can we take from this well there
00:09:49
are certain features that both men and
00:09:51
women find attractive no doubt about
00:09:52
that such as asymmetric bass youthful
00:09:54
appearance clear skin however other
00:09:56
important traits particularly
00:09:58
masculinity and femininity androgenicity
00:10:01
which is what these terms are called or
00:10:03
sexual dimorphism are more complex and
00:10:05
depend on various external factors as a
00:10:08
consequence of scientific literature on
00:10:10
these traits is inconsistent and does
00:10:12
change a lot especially with masculinity
00:10:15
for men one possible reason for this
00:10:17
inconsistency is that masculinity is
00:10:19
often associated with aggression which
00:10:21
may be perceived as threatening by some
00:10:23
women and not threatening or comforting
00:10:25
by others for example aggressive
00:10:27
individuals are more likely to
00:10:28
experience injury or death as a result
00:10:30
women's evaluations of masculinity may
00:10:33
involve weighing its potential costs and
00:10:35
benefit is this man a risk to me and my
00:10:38
family on the other hand studies on
00:10:40
men's preferences for femininity are
00:10:42
more consistent because feminine traits
00:10:44
are generally associated with fertility
00:10:45
and good health not with aggressive risk
00:10:48
or danger which can be sometimes good
00:10:51
for keeping men alive but in family life
00:10:53
that's not really a benefit so menzia
00:10:57
direct benefit by choosing more feminine
00:10:59
looking women but women don't
00:11:01
necessarily see a direct benefit from
00:11:03
choosing a more masculine looking man
00:11:05
that's why there's also a preference for
00:11:06
pretty boys and also drill sergeant
00:11:09
hyper masculine looking men it just
00:11:11
depends on the woman herself
00:11:13
many contextual factors do influence how
00:11:15
men and women see other special
00:11:17
attractiveness such as your own
00:11:18
self-esteem your interest regarding the
00:11:20
type of relationship and in addition
00:11:22
most Studies have been conducted with
00:11:24
heterosexual participants so keep that
00:11:26
in mind when we're talking about
00:11:27
homosexual or same-sex relations the
00:11:30
things do change and we this is
00:11:32
something we'll talk about in another
00:11:33
video as a result the impact of sexual
00:11:35
preferences as well as other contextual
00:11:37
factors are still viewed to a very
00:11:39
heteronormative perspective
00:11:41
anyway that's all for this video if
00:11:44
you'd like to get your face analyzed
00:11:45
learn about your androgenicity how
00:11:47
masculine or feminine your face is using
00:11:50
scientific literature and what you can
00:11:51
do to improve it talk about symmetry
00:11:53
dimorphism and all the other fun things
00:11:55
that make a face attractive then you can
00:11:57
order a facial analysis over at the
00:11:59
website performed by a team of doctors
00:12:01
and dentists and you can learn how to
00:12:02
look your best self as always I'll catch
00:12:05
you in the next one
