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The Role of Body Weight, Waist-to-Hip Ratio, and Breast Size in Judgments of Female Attractiveness

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Abstract

It was demonstrated by Singh and Young (1995)that morphological features such as overall body fatdistribution measured by waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) andbreast size, influence judgments of femaleattractiveness, age, and desirability for relationships. Thepresent study was a replication and extension of thatresearch, using both male and female participants. Theresults supported the general findings of the original study, and as predicted, the effect of breastsize on attractiveness judgments depended on overallbody fat and WHR. The significance of interactionswithin the different morphological features whichdetermine female attractiveness were noted. Overall,there were surprisingly few sex differences. Results arediscussed in terms of the socio-biological theoriescurrently popular in the literature.

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Authors
  1. Adrian Furnham
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  2. Melanie Dias
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  3. Alastair McClelland
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Furnham, A., Dias, M. & McClelland, A. The Role of Body Weight, Waist-to-Hip Ratio, and Breast Size in Judgments of Female Attractiveness. Sex Roles 39, 311–326 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018810723493

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