TY - JOUR
T1 - Women's Preferences for Male Behavioral Displays Change Across the Menstrual Cycle
AU - Gangestad, Steven W.
AU - Simpson, Jeffry A.
AU - Cousins, Alita J.
AU - Garver-Apgar, Christine E.
AU - Niels Christensen, P.
PY - 2004/3
Y1 - 2004/3
N2 - Women prefer both the scent of symmetrical men and masculine male faces more during the fertile (late follicular and ovulatory) phases of their menstrual cycles than during their infertile (e.g., luteal) phases. Men's behavioral displays in social settings may convey signals that affect women's attraction to men even more strongly. This study examined shifts in women's preferences for these behavioral displays. A sample of 237 normally ovulating women viewed 36 or 40 videotaped men who were competing for a potential lunch date and then rated each man's attractiveness as a short-term and a long-term mate. As predicted, women's preference for men who displayed social presence and direct intrasexual competitiveness increased on high-fertility days relative to low-fertility days, but only in a short-term, not a long-term, mating context. These findings add to the growing literature indicating that women's mate preferences systematically vary across the reproductive cycle.
AB - Women prefer both the scent of symmetrical men and masculine male faces more during the fertile (late follicular and ovulatory) phases of their menstrual cycles than during their infertile (e.g., luteal) phases. Men's behavioral displays in social settings may convey signals that affect women's attraction to men even more strongly. This study examined shifts in women's preferences for these behavioral displays. A sample of 237 normally ovulating women viewed 36 or 40 videotaped men who were competing for a potential lunch date and then rated each man's attractiveness as a short-term and a long-term mate. As predicted, women's preference for men who displayed social presence and direct intrasexual competitiveness increased on high-fertility days relative to low-fertility days, but only in a short-term, not a long-term, mating context. These findings add to the growing literature indicating that women's mate preferences systematically vary across the reproductive cycle.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=1642408617&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=1642408617&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.01503010.x
DO - 10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.01503010.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 15016293
AN - SCOPUS:1642408617
SN - 0956-7976
VL - 15
SP - 203
EP - 207
JO - Psychological Science
JF - Psychological Science
IS - 3
ER -