Trade-offs in a dangerous world: women's fear of crime predicts preferences for aggressive and formidable mates

Snyder, Jeffrey K.; Fessler, Daniel M. T.; Tiokhin, Leonid; Frederick, David A.; Lee, Sok Woo; Navarrete, Carlos

doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.08.007

Cited by 125 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The results from a country (or location of residence) level analysis, may conflate the effects of multiple factors (e.g., violence and pathogen load may correlate across countries, either or both could affect masculinity preferences). In fact, Snyder et al, (2011) found no effect for violence at the population level (i.e., neighbourhood crime) but did find an effect of selfassessed vulnerability to crime on women's formidability preferences. Perhaps, measures at the population level, can only be a mere approximation of an individual's real exposure to danger/violence.…”

Section: Direction Of Violence Effectsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Conversely, Scott et al, (2014) found that facial masculinity preferences for both men and women increased with lower levels of disease burden across 12 populations and that these preferences were predicted by level of urbanization, rather than presumed pathogen risk. Likewise, Snyder et al, (2011) found that women's mate preferences were not predicted by population violence (i.e., neighbourhood crime).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, Snyder et al, (2011) found that women who felt vulnerable to public violence preferred bodies and personality characteristics of formidable male partners. Our results do not necessarily contradict those results.…”

Section: Direction Of Violence Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several researchers (Puts, 2010;Brooks et al, 2011;Snyder et al, 2011;Fessler, Hollbrook, & Fleischman, 2015;Ryder et al, 2016) have suggested that women's masculinity preferences reflect their need for protection in violent environments. Brooks et al, (2011) found supporting evidence for this claim across 30 different countries using an…”

Section: Direction Of Violence Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sexual selection in males could have operated through female mate choice (Little, DeBruine, & Jones 2011a;Little, DeBruine, & Jones, 2011b) and/or through male-male competition (Puts, 2009;Little, Jones, & DeBruine, 2013;Barber, 1995). A great deal of attention however has been put into studies of women's masculinity preferences reflecting mate choice at the individual and population level (Rhodes et al, 2003;Thornhill & Gangestad, 2006;Rantala et al, 2013;DeBruine et al, 2011;Batres & Perrett, 2016), while less emphasis has been given to the effects of male-male competition at any level of study (de Bara et al, 2013;Batres & Perrettt, 2014, Snyder et al, 2011). Studies at the population level have utilized measures of health (e.g., mortality), violence (e.g., homicide rate), and education (e.g., high-school attendance rates), which are aggregated indicators that summarize the state of a population as a whole.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Aggressor or protector? Experiences and perceptions of violence predict preferences for masculinity

Borras-Guevara

Batres

Perrett

2017

Evolution and Human Behavior

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Women's preferences for masculine male partners have been explained in terms of heritable health. The evidence between masculinity and health, however, is controversial and therefore, alternative explanations for masculinity preferences reflecting income inequality and protection from violence have been proposed. This study thus aimed to test the effect of exposure to violence (i.e., experiences of robberies and perceptions of danger) on the individual masculinity preferences of women and men from the capital city of Colombia, Bogota, and surrounding small towns. One hundred and fifty three adult participants (mean age +/-S.D.= 31.3 +/-9.4), all heterosexual, were surveyed in reference to indicators related to health (e.g., drinking water access, frequency of illnesses), access to media (e.g., television and internet access), education (e.g., graduating from high school, attending university) and exposure to violence (e.g., frequency of robberies/attacks, feelings of danger from violence).Participants made two alternative, preference forced-choice for masculinized and feminized versions of both rural Salvadoran and European male faces. We found that men and women exposed to higher levels of violence preferred less masculine male faces, although this effect was only significant for women. Additionally, the effect of violence exposure was more relevant for the Salvadoran stimuli. Violence contributed significantly to explaining masculinity preferences after controlling for participant age, education, access to media, and health-related factors. These preferences may reflect women's strategy to avoid male violence demonstrating that exposure to violence matters in interpersonal attraction.

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Section: Direction Of Violence Effectsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Direction Of Violence Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%