Objectives

Humans have evolved a behavioral system that responds to perceptual cues suggesting the existence of a pathogenic threat in other individuals and the environment. While previous investigations have reported that individuals’ sexual preferences are influenced by a pathogen threat, the empirical support for face preference is mixed (i.e., the association of pathogenic threat and individuals’ preferences for masculine and/or feminine faces is equivocal). The COVID-19 pandemic provides the opportunity to investigate the association of pathogenic threat and men’s and women’s preferences for sexual dimorphism of faces in the opposite sex in a real-world pathogenic situation.

Methods

Data were collected during COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020) from men and women in the United States, and women in Iran, on preferences for masculinity in men’s faces using women participants, and femininity in women’s faces using men.

Results

Results showed that concern about an actual pathogenic threat (i.e., contracting COVID-19) predicts men’s preference for female facial femininity, but not women’s preference for male facial masculinity (for both U.S. and Iranian women).

Conclusion

By using an actual pathogenic threat, our results support previous findings that men’s preferences for female faces are shifted to less feminine faces under pathogenic threat. Moreover, our results provide support for the distinction between the behavioral immune system and pathogen disgust, at least for men’s preference for feminine female faces.

中文翻译：

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对感染 COVID-19 的担忧预示着男性对女性面部女性气质的偏好，而不是女性对男性面部男性气质的偏好

目标

人类已经进化出一种行为系统，该系统可以响应知觉线索，暗示其他个体和环境中存在致病威胁。虽然先前的调查报告说个体的性偏好受到病原体威胁的影响，但对面部偏好的经验支持是混合的（即，病原体威胁与个人对男性和/或女性面孔的偏好之间的关联是模棱两可的）。COVID-19 大流行提供了一个机会，可以在现实世界的致病情况下调查致病威胁与男性和女性对异性面孔的性别二态性偏好之间的关联。

方法

数据是在 COVID-19 大流行期间（2020 年 3 月）从美国男性和女性以及伊朗女性收集的，关于使用女性参与者对男性面部男性气质的偏好，以及使用男性对女性面部女性气质的偏好。

结果

结果表明，对实际致病威胁（即感染 COVID-19）的担忧预示着男性对女性面部女性气质的偏好，而不是女性对男性面部男性气质的偏好（对于美国和伊朗女性）。

结论

通过使用实际的致病威胁，我们的结果支持先前的发现，即男性对女性面孔的偏好在致病威胁下转移到女性面孔较少。此外，我们的结果为行为免疫系统和病原体厌恶之间的区别提供了支持，至少对于男性对女性女性面孔的偏好而言。