A recent study examined the effects of different types of scarcity—material, time, and psychological—on women’s preferences for masculinity in male faces, finding that when resources are scarce, women exhibit a greater preference for feminine male faces. This research was published in Evolutionary Psychology.
Research suggests women select for facial masculinity as it predicts health and genetic quality, a desirable trait in potential partners. However, men with more masculine faces are also perceived as less faithful and more inclined towards short-term relationships. There appears to be a trade-off between choosing a mate with good health and genetic benefits versus a mate who is more likely to invest in long-term parental care. Previous research has shown that women’s preferences can shift based on their environmental context, particularly in relation to resource availability.
In contexts where resources are scarce, women may prioritize traits that signal a man’s ability to provide material support. Conversely, in environments where resources are abundant, women might favor traits associated with genetic quality and health.
Lee and McGuire (2023) recruited 802 women (average age ~ 25 years) through social media. Participants were attracted to men, with 35.08% being single and 62.30% in committed relationships. They completed the Perceived Scarcity Scale, which measures three domains of scarcity: material, time, and psychological. Participants rated their agreement with various statements on a 7-point scale [e.g., “I have had my utilities (e.g., heat, water, etc.) turned off because I could not pay my bill”].
Participants also completed a Face Rating Task, where they were shown 42 male faces sequentially and prompted to rate their attractiveness on a 9-point scale. Two facial metrics were used: objective sexual dimorphism, calculated using geometric morphometric techniques, and perceived masculinity, based on ratings from a normative dataset. The researchers controlled for order effects by presenting the tasks in random order.
Lee and McGuire found that material scarcity was significantly associated with a decreased preference for facial sexual dimorphism; as material scarcity increased, women showed a greater preference for more feminine male faces. There was a significant interaction between objective sexual dimorphism and material scarcity, indicating that women experiencing higher material scarcity rated more feminine faces as more attractive.
This finding supports the hypothesis that in contexts where material resources are scarce, women may prioritize traits that indicate a man’s potential for resource provisioning. No significant effects were found for time scarcity or psychological scarcity on preferences for facial masculinity.
One limitation is the low levels of material scarcity in the sample, likely due to the requirement of internet access and the predominance of a Western population, which limits generalizability to non-Western populations or those experiencing higher scarcity. Further research is needed in more diverse populations and under varying levels of resource scarcity.
The study, “Women’s Preferences for Masculinity in Male Faces Are Predicted by Material Scarcity, But Not Time or Psychological Scarcity”, was authored by Anthony J. Lee and Nikita K. J. McGuire.