Hierarchical status is rapidly assessed from behaviourally dominant faces.

Recognition of social hierarchy is a key feature that helps us navigate through our complex social environment. Neuroimaging studies have identified brain structures involved in the processing of hierarchical stimuli, but the precise temporal dynamics of brain activity associated with such processing remains largely unknown. In this investigation, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the effect of social hierarchy on the neural responses elicited by dominant and nondominant faces. Participants played a game where they were led to believe that they were middle-rank players, responding alongside other alleged players, whom they perceived as higher or lower-ranking. ERPs were examined in response to dominant and nondominant faces, and low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) was used to identify the implicated brain areas. The results revealed that the amplitude of the N170 component was enhanced for faces of dominant individuals, showing that hierarchy influences the early stages of face processing. A later component, the late positive potential (LPP) appearing between 350-700 ms, also was enhanced for faces of higher-ranking players. Source localisation suggested that the early modulation was due to an enhanced response in limbic regions. These findings provide electrophysiological evidence for enhanced early visual processing of socially dominant faces.

The social predictors of paternal antenatal mental health and their associations with maternal mental health in the Queensland Family Cohort prospective study.

Antenatal depression (AND) affects 1 in 10 fathers, potentially negatively impacting maternal mental health and well-being during and after the transition to parenthood. However, few studies have assessed the social predictors of paternal AND or their possible associations with maternal mental health. We analysed data from 180 couples participating in the Queensland Family Cohort longitudinal study. Both parents completed surveys measuring mental health, relationship quality, social support, and sleep quality at 24 weeks of pregnancy. Mothers also completed the same surveys 6 weeks' postpartum. Antenatal depression, stress, and anxiety were highest among fathers reporting lower social support and higher sleep impairment. Maternal AND, stress, and anxiety were higher among mothers reporting higher physical pain and poor sleep quality. Postnatally, mothers reporting lower social support also reported higher depression, anxiety, stress, and psycho-social well-being. While there were no significant associations between AND among fathers and maternal antenatal or postnatal depression, an exploratory analysis revealed that mothers whose partners reported lower antenatal social support also reported lower postnatal social support and higher postnatal depression. Our findings highlight the importance of including data among fathers to achieve a whole family approach to well-being during the transition to parenthood.

Associations between COVID-19 lockdown and post-lockdown on the mental health of pregnant women, postpartum women and their partners from the Queensland family cohort prospective study.

BACKGROUND: There are very few developed countries where physical isolation and low community transmission has been reported for COVID-19 but this has been the experience of Australia. The impact of physical isolation combined with low disease transmission on the mental health of pregnant women is currently unknown and there have been no studies examining the psychological experience for partners of pregnant women during lockdown. The aim of the current study was to examine the impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 and post lockdown from August 2020 on the mental health of pregnant women or postpartum women and their partners. METHODS: Pregnant women and their partners were prospectively recruited to the study before 24 weeks gestation and completed various questionnaires related to mental health and general wellbeing at 24 weeks gestation and then again at 6 weeks postpartum. The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) were used as outcome measures for the assessment of mental health in women and DASS-21 was administered to their partners. This analysis encompasses 3 time points where families were recruited; before the pandemic (Aug 2018-Feb 2020), during lockdown (Mar-Aug 2020) and after the first lockdown was over (Sept-Dec 2020). RESULTS: There was no significant effect of COVID-19 lockdown and post lockdown on depression or postnatal depression in women when compared to a pre-COVID-19 subgroup. The odds of pregnant women or postpartum women experiencing severe anxiety was more than halved in women during lockdown relative to women in the pre-COVID-19 period (OR = 0.47; 95%CI: 0.27-0.81; P = 0.006). Following lockdown severe anxiety was comparable to the pre-COVID-19 women. Lockdown did not have any substantial effects on stress scores for pregnant and postpartum women. However, a substantial decrease of over 70% in the odds of severe stress was observed post-lockdown relative to pre-COVID-19 levels. Partner's depression, anxiety and stress did not change significantly with lockdown or post lockdown. CONCLUSION: A reproductive age population appear to be able to manage the impact of lockdown and the pandemic with some benefits related to reduced anxiety.

Facial width-to-height ratio predicts fighting success: A direct replication and extension of Zilioli et al. (2014).

Zilioli et al. (2014) were the first to show an association between male facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) and physical aggression and fighting ability in professional mixed-martial-arts fighters. Here, we re-examined this relationship by replicating (using all original measures) and extending (using 23 new variables related to fighting performance) Zilioli et al. (2014) in a statistically well-powered sample of 520 fighters using automatic and manual measures of the fWHR involving both eyelid and eyebrow landmarks, used interchangeably in previous reports (Studies 1-2). Most importantly, we successfully replicated Zilioli et al.'s (2014) central finding that fighters' fWHR, when manually calculated using the eyebrow landmark, predicted their fighting success (p = .004, controlling for body mass index and total fights). Consistent with past criticisms of using fight rather than fighter data to examine fighting success, which have argued that individual fights can be suddenly and unexpectedly determined and do not capture an individual's overall ability to succeed, Study 3 (N = 1367 fights) found no association between fWHR and singular victories. Studies 1-3 showed continual evidence that larger fWHRs were associated with grappling abilities, even after controlling for demographic and allometric factors. Strikingly, Study 3 discovered associations between all fWHR measures and grappling skill that remained robust before and after controlling for 17 different control variables. We discuss that grappling, or the act of taking down an opponent, involves a more aggressive, close-combat approach than does striking. Combined, these results offer additional support for the argument that fWHR may have been shaped by sexual selection.

A branded bandage is worth a thousand words: blood branded bandages signal men's generosity and morality.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Recruiting and retaining male donors remain an ongoing challenge for blood collection agencies. Research suggests that interventions based on costly signalling theory that allows donors to unobtrusively but publicly signal their donor status may be effective. However, what functions as such a signal and how it is interpreted has not been determined. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 242 Australian residents (127 female; 115 male) recruited through an online research platform rated their perceptions of a male target wearing (a) no bandage, (b) a regular unmarked bandage or (c) a blood donor branded bandage. RESULTS: The target wearing a blood donor branded bandage was rated as significantly more generous by female participants and moral compared to both the target who wore no bandage and the target wearing a regular unmarked bandage. The target wearing the unmarked bandage was perceived as significantly less healthy and competent compared to the target not wearing a bandage. CONCLUSION: A public signal of public donor status conveys the generosity and morality of the wearer. The bandage applied to donors after they have donated can act as such an effective signal, but only when these bandages are clearly branded as resulting from donating blood.

Mating Strategies and the Masculinity Paradox: How Relationship Context, Relationship Status, and Sociosexuality Shape Women's Preferences for Facial Masculinity and Beardedness.

According to the dual mating strategy model, in short-term mating contexts women should forego paternal investment qualities in favor of mates with well-developed secondary sexual characteristics and dominant behavioral displays. We tested whether this model explains variation in women's preferences for facial masculinity and beardedness in male faces. Computer-generated composites that had been morphed to appear ± 50% masculine were rated by 671 heterosexual women (M age = 31.72 years, SD = 6.43) for attractiveness when considering them as a short-term partner, long-term partner, a co-parent, or a friend. They then completed the Revised Sociosexual Inventory (SOI-R) to determine their sexual openness on dimensions of desire, behavior, and attitudes. Results showed that women's preferences were strongest for average facial masculinity, followed by masculinized faces, with feminized faces being least attractive. In contrast to past research, facial masculinity preferences were stronger when judging for co-parenting partners than for short-term mates. Facial masculinity preferences were also positively associated with behavioral SOI, negatively with desire, and were unrelated to global or attitudinal SOI. Women gave higher ratings for full beards than clean-shaven faces. Preferences for beards were higher for co-parenting and long-term relationships than short-term relationships, although these differences were not statistically significant. Preferences for facial hair were positively associated with global and attitudinal SOI, but were unrelated to behavioral SOI and desire. Although further replication is necessary, our findings indicate that sexual openness is associated with women's preferences for men's facial hair and suggest variation in the association between sociosexuality and women's facial masculinity preferences.

Sexual Selection, Agonistic Signaling, and the Effect of Beards on Recognition of Men's Anger Displays.

The beard is arguably one of the most obvious signals of masculinity in humans. Almost 150 years ago, Darwin suggested that beards evolved to communicate formidability to other males, but no studies have investigated whether beards enhance recognition of threatening expressions, such as anger. We found that the presence of a beard increased the speed and accuracy with which participants recognized displays of anger but not happiness (Experiment 1, N = 219). This effect was not due to negative evaluations shared by beardedness and anger or to negative stereotypes associated with beardedness, as beards did not facilitate recognition of another negative expression, sadness (Experiment 2, N = 90), and beards increased the rated prosociality of happy faces in addition to the rated masculinity and aggressiveness of angry faces (Experiment 3, N = 445). A computer-based emotion classifier reproduced the influence of beards on emotion recognition (Experiment 4). The results suggest that beards may alter perceived facial structure, facilitating rapid judgments of anger in ways that conform to evolutionary theory.

Mothers are sensitive to men's beards as a potential cue of paternal investment.

Mating strategy theories assert that women's preferences for androgen dependent traits in men are stronger when the costs of reduced paternal investment are lowest. Past research has shown that preferences for facial masculinity are stronger among nulliparous and non-pregnant women than pregnant or parous women. In two studies, we examine patterns in women's preferences for men's facial hair - likely the most visually conspicuous and sexually dimorphic of men's secondary sexual traits - when evaluating men's masculinity, dominance, age, fathering, and attractiveness. Two studies were conducted among heterosexual pregnant women, mothers, non-contractive and contraceptive users. Study 1 used a between-subjects sample (N = 2103) and found that mothers had significantly higher preferences for beards when judging fathering than all other women. Pregnant women and mothers also judged beards as more masculine and older, but less attractive, than non-contractive and contraceptive users. Parous women judged beards higher for age, masculinity and fathering, but lower for attractiveness, than nulliparous women. Irrespective of reproductive status, beards were judged as looking more dominant than clean-shaven faces. Study 2 used a within-subjects design (N = 53) among women surveyed during pregnancy and three months post-partum. Judgments of parenting skills were higher for bearded stimuli during pregnancy among women having their first baby, whereas among parous women parenting skills judgments for bearded stimuli were higher post-partum. Our results suggest that mothers are sensitive to beardedness as a masculine secondary sexual characteristic that may denote parental investment, providing evidence that women's mate preferences could reflect sexual selection for direct benefits.

Women's preferences for men's beards show no relation to their ovarian cycle phase and sex hormone levels.

According to the ovulatory shift hypothesis, women's mate preferences for male morphology indicative of competitive ability, social dominance, and/or underlying health are strongest at the peri-ovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle. However, recent meta-analyses are divided on the robustness of such effects and the validity of the often-used indirect estimates of fertility and ovulation has been called into question in methodological studies. In the current study, we test whether women's preferences for men's beardedness, a cue of male sexual maturity, androgenic development and social dominance, are stronger at the peri-ovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle compared to during the early follicular or the luteal phase. We also tested whether levels of estradiol, progesterone, and the estradiol to progesterone ratio at each phase were associated with facial hair preferences. Fifty-two heterosexual women completed a two-alternative forced choice preference test for clean-shaven and bearded male faces during the follicular, peri-ovulatory (validated by the surge in luteinizing hormone or the drop in estradiol levels) and luteal phases. Participants also provided for one entire menstrual cycle daily saliva samples for subsequent assaying of estradiol and progesterone. Results showed an overall preference for bearded over clean-shaven faces at each phase of the menstrual cycle. However, preferences for facial hair were not significantly different over the phases of menstrual cycle and were not significantly associated with levels of reproductive hormones. We conclude that women's preferences for men's beardedness may not be related to changes in their likelihood of conception.

No compelling positive association between ovarian hormones and wearing red clothing when using multinomial analyses.

Several studies report that wearing red clothing enhances women's attractiveness and signals sexual proceptivity to men. The associated hypothesis that women will choose to wear red clothing when fertility is highest, however, has received mixed support from empirical studies. One possible cause of these mixed findings may be methodological. The current study aimed to replicate recent findings suggesting a positive association between hormonal profiles associated with high fertility (high estradiol to progesterone ratios) and the likelihood of wearing red. We compared the effect of the estradiol to progesterone ratio on the probability of wearing: red versus non-red (binary logistic regression); red versus neutral, black, blue, green, orange, multi-color, and gray (multinomial logistic regression); and each of these same colors in separate binary models (e.g., green versus non-green). Red versus non-red analyses showed a positive trend between a high estradiol to progesterone ratio and wearing red, but the effect only arose for younger women and was not robust across samples. We found no compelling evidence for ovarian hormones increasing the probability of wearing red in the other analyses. However, we did find that the probability of wearing neutral was positively associated with the estradiol to progesterone ratio, though the effect did not reach conventional levels of statistical significance. Findings suggest that although ovarian hormones may affect younger women's preference for red clothing under some conditions, the effect is not robust when differentiating amongst other colors of clothing. In addition, the effect of ovarian hormones on clothing color preference may not be specific to the color red.

Standardized protocols for characterizing women's fertility: A data-driven approach.

Experts are divided on whether women's cognition and behavior differs between fertile and non-fertile phases of the menstrual cycle. One of the biggest criticisms of this literature concerns the use of indirect, imprecise, and flexible methodologies between studies to characterize women's fertility. To resolve this problem, we provide a data-driven method of best practices for characterizing women's fertile phase. We compared the accuracy of self-reported methods and counting procedures (i.e., the forward- and backward-counting methods) in estimating ovulation using data from 140 women whose fertility was verified with luteinizing hormone tests. Results revealed that no counting method was associated with ovulation with >30% accuracy. A minimum of 39.5% of the days in the six-day fertile window predicted by the counting methods were non-fertile, and correlations between counting method conception probabilities and actual conception probability were weak to moderate, rs=0.11-0.30. Poor results persisted when using a lenient window for predicting ovulation, across alternative estimators of the onset of the next cycle, and when removing outliers to increase the homogeneity of the sample. By contrast, combining counting methods with a relatively inexpensive test of luteinizing hormone predicted fertility with accuracy >95%, but only when specific guidelines were followed. To this end, herein we provide a cost-effective, pragmatic, and standardized protocol that will allow researchers to test whether fertility effects exist or not.

The Role of Facial and Body Hair Distribution in Women's Judgments of Men's Sexual Attractiveness.

Facial and body hair are some of the most visually conspicuous and sexually dimorphic of all men's secondary sexual traits. Both are androgen dependent, requiring the conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone via the enzyme 5α reductase 2 for their expression. While previous studies on the attractiveness of facial and body hair are equivocal, none have accounted as to how natural variation in their distribution may influence male sexual attractiveness. In the present study, we quantified men's facial and body hair distribution as either very light, light, medium, or heavy using natural photographs. We also tested whether women's fertility influenced their preferences for beards and body hair by comparing preferences among heterosexual women grouped according their fertility (high fertility, low fertility, and contraceptive use). Results showed that men with more evenly and continuously distributed facial hair from the lower jaw connecting to the mustache and covering the cheeks were judged as more sexually attractive than individuals with more patchy facial hair. Men with body hair were less attractive than when clean shaven, with the exception of images depicting some hair around the areolae, pectoral region, and the sternum that were significantly more attractive than clean-shaven bodies. However, there was no effect of fertility on women's preferences for men's beard or body hair distribution. These results suggest that the distribution of facial and body hair influences male attractiveness to women, possibly as an indication of masculine development and the synthesis of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone via 5α reductase.

Human Male Body Size Predicts Increased Knockout Power, Which Is Accurately Tracked by Conspecific Judgments of Male Dominance.

Humans have undergone a long evolutionary history of violent agonistic exchanges, which would have placed selective pressures on greater body size and the psychophysical systems that detect them. The present work showed that greater body size in humans predicted increased knockout power during combative contests (Study 1a-1b: total N = 5,866; Study 2: N = 44 openweight fights). In agonistic exchanges reflective of ancestral size asymmetries, heavier combatants were 200% more likely to win against their lighter counterparts because they were 200% more likely to knock them out (Study 2). Human dominance judgments (total N = 500 MTurkers) accurately tracked the frequency with which men (N = 516) knocked out similar-sized adversaries (Study 3). Humans were able to directly perceive a man's knockout power because they were attending to cues of a man's body size. Human dominance judgments-which are important across numerous psychological domains, including attractiveness, leadership, and legal decision-making-accurately predict the likelihood with which a potential mate, ally, or rival can incapacitate their adversaries.

Human third-party observers accurately track fighting skill and vigour along their unique paths to victory.

Sexual selection via male-male contest competition has shaped the evolution of agonistic displays, weaponry, and fighting styles, and is further argued to have shaped human psychological mechanisms to detect, process, and respond appropriately to cues of fighting ability. Drawing on the largest fight-specific dataset to date across the sports and biological sciences (N = 2765 fights), we examined how different indicators of fighting ability in humans reflect unique paths to victory and indicate different forms of perceived and actual resource-holding power (RHP). Overall, we discovered that: (1) both striking skill and vigour, and grappling skill and vigour, individually and collectively predict RHP; (2) different RHP indicators are distinguished by a unique path to victory (e.g., striking skill is a knockout-typical strategy, whereas grappling vigour is a submission-typical strategy); and (3) third-party observers accurately track fighting skill and vigour along their unique paths to victory. Our argument that different measures of RHP are associated with unique paths to victory, and third-party observers accurately track fighting vigour and skill along their unique paths to victory, advance our understanding not only of human contest competition, but animal contest theory more broadly.

Facial hair may slow detection of happy facial expressions in the face in the crowd paradigm.

Human visual systems have evolved to extract ecologically relevant information from complex scenery. In some cases, the face in the crowd visual search task demonstrates an anger superiority effect, where anger is allocated preferential attention. Across three studies (N = 419), we tested whether facial hair guides attention in visual search and influences the speed of detecting angry and happy facial expressions in large arrays of faces. In Study 1, participants were faster to search through clean-shaven crowds and detect bearded targets than to search through bearded crowds and detect clean-shaven targets. In Study 2, targets were angry and happy faces presented in neutral backgrounds. Facial hair of the target faces was also manipulated. An anger superiority effect emerged that was augmented by the presence of facial hair, which was due to the slower detection of happiness on bearded faces. In Study 3, targets were happy and angry faces presented in either bearded or clean-shaven backgrounds. Facial hair of the background faces was also systematically manipulated. A significant anger superiority effect was revealed, although this was not moderated by the target's facial hair. Rather, the anger superiority effect was larger in clean-shaven than bearded face backgrounds. Together, results suggest that facial hair does influence detection of emotional expressions in visual search, however, rather than facilitating an anger superiority effect as a potential threat detection system, facial hair may reduce detection of happy faces within the face in the crowd paradigm.

Papa Don't Preach? : Using Lies to Expose the Truth about Who Suppresses Female Sexuality.

The suppression of sexuality is culturally widespread, and women's sexual promiscuity, activity, and enjoyment are almost always judged and punished more harshly than men's. It remains disputed, however, to what end people suppress sexuality, and who benefits from the suppression of female sexuality. Different theories predict that women in general, men in general, women's intimate partners, or parents benefit most. Here we use the lies women and men tell-or imagine telling-about their sexual histories as an indirect measure of who is most involved in the suppression of sexuality. We asked men and women what they would reply if asked questions by their mother, father, current partner, attractive confederate, and various same- or opposite-sex friends and colleagues about their number of previous sex partners, age at first romantic kiss, age at first consensual sex, and cheating on a previous partner or spouse. By comparing the size and direction of the lies that subjects told, we tested competing predictions of several cultural and evolutionary theories concerning why female sexuality is suppressed and who is driving its suppression. We found that men and women told larger and more frequent lies to their parents, with women telling the largest and most frequent lies of all to their fathers. Additionally, the majority of lies by both men and women were in sexually conservative directions. Our findings suggest that mothers, and especially fathers, restrict female sexuality.

A multivariate analysis of women's mating strategies and sexual selection on men's facial morphology.

The strength and direction of sexual selection via female choice on masculine facial traits in men is a paradox in human mate choice research. While masculinity may communicate benefits to women and offspring directly (i.e. resources) or indirectly (i.e. health), masculine men may be costly as long-term partners owing to lower paternal investment. Mating strategy theory suggests women's preferences for masculine traits are strongest when the costs associated with masculinity are reduced. This study takes a multivariate approach to testing whether women's mate preferences are context-dependent. Women (n = 919) rated attractiveness when considering long-term and short-term relationships for male faces varying in beardedness (clean-shaven and full beards) and facial masculinity (30% and 60% feminized, unmanipulated, 30% and 60% masculinized). Participants then completed scales measuring pathogen, sexual and moral disgust, disgust towards ectoparasites, reproductive ambition, self-perceived mate value and the facial hair in partners and fathers. In contrast to past research, we found no associations between pathogen disgust, self-perceived mate value or reproductive ambition and facial masculinity preferences. However, we found a significant positive association between moral disgust and preferences for masculine faces and bearded faces. Preferences for beards were lower among women with higher ectoparasite disgust, providing evidence for ectoparasite avoidance hypothesis. However, women reporting higher pathogen disgust gave higher attractiveness ratings for bearded faces than women reporting lower pathogen disgust, providing support for parasite-stress theories of sexual selection and mate choice. Preferences for beards were also highest among single and married women with the strongest reproductive ambition. Overall, our results reflect mixed associations between individual differences in mating strategies and women's mate preferences for masculine facial traits.