Key Words facial attractiveness, face perception, evolutionary psychology, mate choice, adaptation ■ Abstract What makes a face attractive and why do we have the preferences we do? Emergence of preferences early in development and cross-cultural agreement on attractiveness challenge a long-held view that our preferences reflect arbitrary standards of beauty set by cultures. Averageness, symmetry, and sexual dimorphism are good candidates for biologically based standards of beauty. A critical review and meta-analyses indicate that all three are attractive in both male and female faces and across cultures.
Three main factors make a face attractive: symmetry, averageness and sexual dimorphism REF .
The Evolutionary Psychology of Facial Beauty
Annual review of psychology
Annual review of psychology
Psychology Medicine