Facial adiposity, attractiveness, and health : a review

dc.contributor.authorDe Jager, Stefan
dc.contributor.authorCoetzee, Nicoleen
dc.contributor.authorCoetzee, Vinet
dc.date.accessioned2019-10-16T11:29:45Z
dc.date.available2019-10-16T11:29:45Z
dc.date.issued2018-12-21
dc.description.abstractThe relationship between facial cues and perceptions of health and attractiveness in others plays an influential role in our social interactions and mating behaviors. Several facial cues have historically been investigated in this regard, with facial adiposity being the newest addition. Evidence is mounting that a robust link exists between facial adiposity and attractiveness, as well as perceived health. Facial adiposity has also been linked to various health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, blood pressure, immune function, diabetes, arthritis, oxidative stress, hormones, and mental health. Though recent advances in the analysis of facial morphology has led to significant strides in the description and quantification of facial cues, it is becoming increasingly clear that there is a great deal of nuance in the way that humans use and integrate facial cues to form coherent social or health judgments of others. This paper serves as a review of the current literature on the relationship between facial adiposity, attractiveness, and health. A key component in utilizing facial adiposity as a cue to health and attractiveness perceptions is that people need to be able to estimate body mass from facial cues. To estimate the strength of the relationship between perceived facial adiposity and body mass, ameta-analysis was conducted on studies that quantified the relationship between perceived facial adiposity and BMI/percentage body fat. Summary effect size estimates indicate that participants could reliably estimate BMI from facial cues alone (r = 0.71, n = 458).en_ZA
dc.description.departmentBiochemistryen_ZA
dc.description.departmentGeneticsen_ZA
dc.description.departmentMicrobiology and Plant Pathologyen_ZA
dc.description.departmentPsychologyen_ZA
dc.description.librarianam2019en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorshipDepartment of Higher Education and Training (DHET) Research Development Grant and a National Research Foundation (NRF) Competitive Programme for Rated Researchers (99078).en_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://www.frontiersin.org/Psychologyen_ZA
dc.identifier.citationde Jager S, Coetzee N and Coetzee V (2018) Facial Adiposity, Attractiveness, and Health: A Review. Frontiers in Psychology 9:2562. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02562.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn1664-1078 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02562
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/71867
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherBioMed Centralen_ZA
dc.rights© 2018 de Jager, Coetzee and Coetzee. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).en_ZA
dc.subjectFacial adiposityen_ZA
dc.subjectAttractivenessen_ZA
dc.subjectPerceived healthen_ZA
dc.subjectHealth outcomesen_ZA
dc.subjectPercentage body faten_ZA
dc.subjectMeta-analysisen_ZA
dc.subjectBody mass index (BMI)en_ZA
dc.titleFacial adiposity, attractiveness, and health : a reviewen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA

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