This study, published in Personality and Individual Differences in 2012, investigates the connection between preferences for actual height and preferences for facial cues associated with height. The researchers, D.E. Re and D.I. Perrett, aimed to determine if attraction to faces that appear taller (in men) or shorter (in women) aligns with established preferences for height in romantic partners. The study also explores whether an individual's own height influences their preferences for apparent height in faces.
Background and Rationale
The introduction provides a detailed overview of the importance of height in social interactions and mate choice. Key points include:- Height and Social Status: Taller individuals tend to achieve greater career success, are more likely to be promoted, attain higher education, and earn more income. They are also perceived as more dominant, stronger, and smarter.
- Height and Mate Choice: Both men and women generally prefer romantic relationships where the man is taller than the woman. Women tend to prefer taller men, while men's preferences for women's height are less consistent across studies.
- Assortative Mating: People often prefer partners similar to themselves in height, with taller women being more tolerant of dating men closer to their own height.
- Facial Attractiveness and Body Characteristics: The study builds on research showing that facial characteristics can reflect preferences for body characteristics, such as adiposity and strength.
- Facial Cues to Height: The researchers note that craniofacial research suggests stature can be estimated from skull shape, and face growth is related to body growth. They propose that faces might contain cues to height that influence attractiveness.
Methods
The study employed the following methods:- Participants: The study involved 147 women and 61 men (primarily White European) with a mean age of 24.72 years. Participants completed the study online.
- Face Stimuli:
- The researchers used a database of Caucasian face images (47 men, 83 women).
- The heights of the individuals in the images were known (men: 168-192 cm, women: 156-184 cm).
- Faces were standardized and delineated with 189 points using custom software.
- Participants rated the apparent height of the faces, confirming the reliability of height perception from the images (Cronbach's alpha > 0.94).
- Face composites were created by averaging multiple faces to reduce the impact of individual facial anomalies.
- "Perceived height prototypes" were created by averaging the faces of the 10 shortest-perceived and 10 tallest-perceived individuals of each sex.
- Face shape continua were generated by transforming composite faces based on the shape difference between the perceived height prototypes, creating a range from "perceived short" to "perceived tall." The continua consisted of 20 steps, with 10% increments.
- A validation task confirmed that these transformations effectively altered the perceived height of the faces.
- Procedure:
- Participants completed an online survey reporting their sex, age, height, and preferred partner height (in cm).
- Participants were presented with the face transform continua (five male and five female composites) individually and in random order.
- Using a custom interactive program, participants could "manually" change the face shape by scrolling over the face image until they achieved the most attractive appearance. The starting point and scroll direction were randomized.
- Participants who reported heights below 147 cm were excluded from the analysis to ensure data accuracy.
Results
The key findings of the study were:- Preferences for Apparent Height:
- On average, participants adjusted male faces to appear 5.26 cm taller and female faces to appear 0.59 cm shorter to maximize attractiveness.
- Across all participants, women’s faces were reduced in apparent height more than expected by chance (t(207) = 2.63, p < 0.01, Cohen’s d = 0.37), and men’s faces were increased in apparent height more than expected by chance (t(207) = 7.54, p < 0.01, Cohen’s d = 1.05).
- No significant differences were found between male and female participants in the degree of transformation applied to male or female faces.
- Relationship with Actual Height Preferences: Individual preferences for facial cues to height were correlated with self-reported preferences for actual height in a partner.
- Influence of Own Height (Women): A significant relationship was found between female participants' own height and their preferences for apparent height in male faces. Taller women tended to prefer male faces that appeared taller.
- Influence of Own Height (Men): This relationship was not found for male participants judging female faces.
Conclusions
The study concludes that:- Facial cues can be used to assess height preferences, validating the study's approach.
- Facial attractiveness is related to preferences for body characteristics like height.
- The findings align with previous research indicating that women generally prefer taller men, and that there is an assortative mating effect based on a woman's own height.
