Average Always Most Beautiful When It Comes to Female Faces

You'll be surprised by the facial features men perceive as most attractive in women and why they're considered desirable features in a potential partner.

What makes a person beautiful differs from one person to the other. However, in a recent article published in the journal PLOS ONE, it has been noticed that both genders see facial symmetry as attractive in females, but facial averageness and maturity tend to impact men's perception of attractiveness, according to medicaldaily.

In a 2013 study published in the journal Psychological Science, it has been noticed that from a biological perspective, facial features are the key to the biological signal that indicates our health. Hence, attractiveness means something different to both genders.

Scientists from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain thus explored the importance of facial attractiveness as well as facial features. With 266 female undergraduate students from the university, aged 18 to 30, recruited to finalise the "self-perceived attractiveness component" of the study, about 44 heterosexual men studied only the women's pictures to arrive at their conclusions. Hence, they studied "facial fluctuating asymmetry (Facial FA), which measures the deviation from bilateral symmetry attributed to the participant; facial averageness, which is the closeness of a face to the population average; facial sexual dimorphism, which is femininity; and facial maturity, which is youthfulness," according to medicaldaily.

Hence, the scientists used real faces, not digitally manipulated ones, in which the female participants were asked to stare straight into the camera with a neutral expression in black and white, so that they can bring down the effect of color information.

Both men and women found that facial symmetry is preferable while choosing a mate, as it signifies developmental stability, according to bustle.

Moreover, "men's perceptions of the pictured women were also influenced by two other traits: averageness and youthfulness. Surprisingly, men preferred faces that were closer to the average face of the population, rather than more "unique." Science has a reason for this, too - averageness is linked to heterozygosity... Essentially, high heterozygosity means lots of genetic variability,while low heterozygosity means little genetic variability, and can be attributed to things like inbreeding...," according to bustle.

Two things that attract men include "averageness and youthfulness". Faces that look average, rather than unique, are preferred, mainly because "averageness" is linked to heterozygosity. It means a lot of genetic variability, even as lower heterozygosity means less genetic variability, and can be linked to inbreeding.