Correlated perceptions and hormonal moderators of bodily, facial, and vocal attractiveness, health, and dominance

Previous research has shown that attractiveness perceptions of male body parts and modalities correlate with each other. These findings support the one ornament hypothesis, according to which individual body parts and modalities have a common underlying latent cause and vicariously function as an indicator of genetic quality during mate choice. In contrast, the multiple messages hypothesis suggests that different body parts and modalities signal distinct and non-redundant information about mate quality. This preregistered study sought to replicate and extend findings on correlated perceptions of men’s and women’s facial, bodily, and vocal attractiveness, health, and physical dominance. Also, moderating effects by sex hormone levels (testosterone, estradiol) were analysed as purported mechanisms involved in the development of sexually dimorphic characteristics influencing perceptions. Facial photos, voice recordings, and 3D body scans of 165 men and 155 women were judged separately for attractiveness, health, and physical dominance by overall 400 raters. Results showed medium-sized positive correlations for faces and bodies for all three attributes, but only few significant associations of vocal with facial or bodily judgments. Correlated perceptions showed some variation by target sex. Thus, our results are mostly in line with the one ornament hypothesis, and less so with the multiple messages hypothesis. However, no moderation effects by hormone levels aligning with hypotheses were found. Future studies should include further stimuli and examine additional hormonal variables to elucidate endocrine mechanisms.