Skip to main page content
Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2005 May 7;272(1566):919-22.
doi: 10.1098/rspb.2004.3003.

Trustworthy but not lust-worthy: context-specific effects of facial resemblance

Lisa M DeBruine  1
Affiliations
Free PMC article
Comparative Study

Trustworthy but not lust-worthy: context-specific effects of facial resemblance

Lisa M DeBruine. Proc Biol Sci. .
Free PMC article

Abstract

If humans are sensitive to the costs and benefits of favouring kin in different circumstances, a strong prediction is that cues of relatedness will have a positive effect on prosocial feelings, but a negative effect on sexual attraction. Indeed, positive effects of facial resemblance (a potential cue of kinship) have been demonstrated in prosocial contexts. Alternatively, such effects may be owing to a general preference for familiar stimuli. Here, I show that subtly manipulated images of other-sex faces were judged as more trustworthy by the participants they were made to resemble than by control participants. In contrast, the effects of resemblance on attractiveness were significantly lower. In the context of a long-term relationship, where both prosocial regard and sexual appeal are important criteria, facial resemblance had no effect. In the context of a short-term relationship, where sexual appeal is the dominant criterion, facial resemblance decreased attractiveness. The results provide evidence against explanations implicating a general preference for familiar-looking stimuli and suggest instead that facial resemblance is a kinship cue to which humans modulate responses in a context-sensitive manner.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Other-sex transforms were made by applying 50% of the shape difference between a participant's face and the same-sex composite face to an other-sex composite face. Transforms retained 100% of the colour information from the other-sex composite face. See Electronic Appendix A for a high resolution colour version of this image.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The average preference for self-resemblance in response to the trustworthiness, long-term and short-term relationship questions for 66 men and 78 women.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by 40 articles

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources

Feedback