Evolved Adaptation

1. Evolved Adaptation • Universal • Non-socialized • Practically speaking, cross-cultural demonstration

2. Societal Learning • Differences between Caucasian and Black Americans • Generally, Blacks less negative with respect to higher weight • Variety of studies through 1980s

3. A Few General Findings • Compared to whites, black women • More tolerant of higher weight than whites (Rucker & Cash 1992) • Less body image dissatisfaction and less likely to believe being thin equals being attractive (Thomas 1989) • Black female teens have higher body satisfaction and feel less pressured to achieve thin ideal than whites (Rosen & Gross (1987) • Black men less likely than white men to refuse to date an overweight woman (Harris et al. 1991)

4. Ethnic Difference • No studies had specifically demonstrated that black Americans idealized obesity • But, taken together, blacks seem more tolerant of fat in attractiveness judgments

5. Body Weight/Body Shape • These studies focused strictly on body weight • Female body shape determined by both amount of fat and its distribution

6. WHR ~0.7 Kate Russell Kate Moss Marilyn Monroe Twiggy http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_n8bWuUpexE0/SFzc_Bf30FI/AAAAAAAABBM/a5FcfzOaPy4/s400/jane_russell15.jpg http://www.marinadelreyphotos.com/images/people%20gallery/images/TWIGGY%201966.jpg http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/marilyn-monroe-swimsuit.jpg http://punchitin.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/kate-moss.jpg

7. WHR Similarities • WHR measures puts both American blacks and whites in the same sex-specific ranges • 0.8 and lower for females, 0.85 and higher for males • Body weights may differ, but WHR preferences may be similar for the ethnic groups

8. Singh (1994) • Identify male and female American black preferences for WHR and body weight using line drawings • Compare with earlier findings

9. Criteria • Rank figures for a number of characteristics: • Good health; youthful appearance; attractiveness; sexiness • Faithfulness • Desire for children; capability for having children • Ambitiousness and career drive; intelligence; aggressiveness • Interesting to talk to; kindness & understanding; good companion; sense of humour

10. Analysis • Ordinal data, so had to use nonmetric multidimensional scaling • 12 figures and 15 attributes scaled into the same dimensional space • Identifies attributes’ perceived similarity and degree of attributes’ association with individual figures

11. Attributes’ Similarity • All attributes closely associated except youthfulness, faithfulness, and kindness & understanding • Don’t perceive youthfulness as closely linked to attractiveness, companionship, or desirability for along-term relationship

12. Figures and Attributes • For males, all attributes except youthfulness, faithfulness, and kindness & understanding associated with N7 figure • Females the same, except they include N8 and N9 in grouping • Neither males nor females grouped overweight figures with attributes of attractiveness, sexiness, companionship, and desirability for long-term relationship

13. WHR and Attractiveness • Similar to earlier studies • Positive correlation for attractiveness rankings based upon WHR • Males normal and underweight figures using WHRs, but not for overweight (but all ranked low) • Females ranked normal and overweight figures using WHRs • Neither sex have higher attractiveness rankings to android range (0.9, 1.0) figures of any body weight

14. WHR and Long-term Relationship • Males: used WHR for ranking normal and overweight figures • Strongest preference for N7 • If only body weight considered males preferred normal figures the most and underweight the least • Males did not associate youthfulness with long-term relationship, but females did

15. In General • Subjects assigned attractiveness ranking using WHR within each body weight category • Figures with similar body weight given lower ranking if they had higher WHR • Overweight figures not associated with: attractiveness, sexiness, companionship, or desirability for long-term relationship • But, overweight figures were linked to being desirous and capable of having children and being kind & understanding

16. In Support of Universal Trait • Results very similar to those found for American whites in earlier studies • Do not support belief that American black males find overweight females sexy and attractive • Like whites, black males and females use rank figures similarly; use similar criteria to identify desired body shape

17. However… • This study used American black college students • Previous studies used American white college students • Age, socioeconomics, education…

18. Food Scarcity and Attractiveness Preferences • Reports that cultures with food scarcity show preference for plumpness in females • Distinction established between developing and developed countries • Makes a certain amount of evolutionary sense

19. Feast and Famine • Adaptive preference • In times of plenty, store fat reserves • Utilize these in times of famine to maintain pregnancy or nursing • Frisch (1990) showed critical threshold of body fat required for onset and maintenance of ovulation

20. Shape not Weight • But difference between storage and reproductive fat • Both storage and utilization of fats regulated by sex hormones • Moderate degrees of obesity, scarcity of food, and climactic conditions do not significantly affect gynoid or android shape

21. Cross-Cultural WHR Variation • Generally, within similar range and show non-overlapping sexual dimorphism • Average WHRs

22. Evolved Preference • In regions with food scarcity • Adaptive preference for fatter than slimmer women • Not a preference for women with android body shape • Gynoid fat distribution maintained • In regions without food scarcity, gynoid shape itself may be of greater significance

23. Singh & Luis (1995) • Used young Indonesian men and women as subjects • Indonesia interpreted as being more of a “developing” country than America • Rank standard set of figures (different weights, WHRs) with a series of personal attributes • Want to get non-American data set

24. Subjects • Trying to minimize cultural “contamination” • 17-25 years • Attending University of Texas • Had been in America 4-59 months (mean 21 months) before study • Limited exposure to western culture (some movies, TV mini-series) • Almost no exposure to nude or semi-nude magazine or movie images of women due to Indonesian censorship

25. Analysis • Nonmetric multidimensional scaling • WHR • Attributes • Association

26. Males, WHR

27. Females, WHR

28. WHR • Both separate based on weight • Within weight classes, rank by WHR (from 0.7-1.0)

29. Males, Attributes

30. Females, Attributes

31. Together

32. Taken Together • N7: health, attractiveness, youthfulness, intelligence, interesting to talk to • Honesty, kindness & understanding, liking children, faithfulness not associated with attractiveness; closer to overweight figures (not attractive, but have positive characteristics) • Females associate no attributes with underweight; • Males put U7 and U8 closer to attractiveness and desirability to marry, although these figures are not grouped with being capable of having children • Males link attractiveness to desire to marry her

33. Cross-Cultural Similarities • Using data from Singh’s earlier studies • N7 ranked most attractive by all • Within each weight category, gynoid figures (0.7, 0.8) ranked higher than android figures (0.9, 1.0) • Overweight ranked less attractive than normal or underweight

34. Overall Outcome • Neither ethnicity nor gender significantly affects perception of attractiveness in women • Normal weight females with low WHR rated as more attractive and healthy • Overweight possess positive personality traits, but not rated as attractive • Underweight with low WHR rated as attractive, but not judged very capable of having children

35. Resource Scarcity Interpretation • Contrary to prediction from theory, Indonesians did not have preference for overweight figures

36. Resources and Dominance • Social primates organize via dominance • Humans have complex social hierarchy • Fatness, or ability to achieve fatness, may be associated with dominance, power, resources

37. Anthropological Literature • Numerous examples citing preference for fatness • May not be actual obesity, per se, but potential to achieve this, representing status • Issues with cross-cultural definition of “obesity”

38. Personality • Seen certain personality characteristics associated with different body weights and shapes • To what extent do people extrapolate personality characteristics from WHR?

39. What Is Beautiful Is Good • Personality, behaviour • Most research demonstrating this has utilized facial appearance or body weight as method of judgment • Western ideal perceived to be to associate thinness with positive attributes

40. Singh (1994) • Assessing personality traits using WHR and weight • Used line drawing figures and manipulated pictures

41. Line Drawings • Generally replicated findings of other studies • WHR and body weight utilized to make attractiveness and personality judgments • Neither underweight nor overweight figures were most attractive despite lower WHRs • U7 and U8 ranked highest for youthfulness • Normal body weight and gynoid shape required for attractiveness and positive attributes

42. Manipulated Photos • Edited waist to alter WHR • Fairly simplistic • No attempt to adjust body weight or alter other body regions

43. Attribute Ratings