Breasts are sexually dimorphic physical characteristics, and they are enlarged post-puberty suggesting that they have been driven by sexual selection to signal fertility and residual reproductive value. Although different hypotheses have attempted to explain why men are attracted to women’s breasts, the role that ecology plays in men’s perceptions of women’s breasts has been limited. The current study used an ecologically harsh prime to investigate if ecological harshness influenced men’s perceptions of women’s breast size, ptosis (i.e., sagginess), and intermammary distance. Men were primed with an ecological harsh prime (i.e., economy uncertainty) and asked to rate women whose breast size, ptosis, and intermammary distance (i.e., cleavage) had been manipulated. Ecological harshness only influenced men’s perceptions of women’s breasts for reproductive success. Overall, men rated women with larger breasts as more attractive, fertile, healthier, reproductively successful, and likely to befriend. The study contributes to the overall literature on men’s perceptions of women’s breasts and suggests that ecological harshness may influence men's perceptions of women's reproductive success.

乳房是性二态性的生理特征，并且在青春期后会变大，表明它们是由性选择驱动的，以表明生育能力和剩余生殖价值。尽管尝试使用不同的假设来解释为什么男人被吸引到女性的乳房上，但是生态在男人对女性的乳房的感知中所起的作用是有限的。当前的研究使用了一种生态严酷的质数来研究生态严酷性是否会影响男人对女性乳房大小，上睑下垂（即下垂）和胸间距离的看法。男性接受了生态严酷的灌注（即经济不确定性）的灌装，并要求对已经操纵了乳房大小，上睑下垂和乳房间距离（即乳沟）的女性进行评分。生态严酷性仅影响男人对女性乳房获得生殖成功的看法。总体而言，男性对乳房较大的女性的评价是，女性更有吸引力，更肥沃，更健康，生殖成功并且很可能成为朋友。该研究为有关男性对女性乳房的感知的整体文献做出了贡献，并提出生态严酷性可能会影响男性对女性生殖成功的感知。