The main factor of male attractiveness for women has been identified

Women, when evaluating faces of potential partners, place greater importance on signals of possible threat than on physical attractiveness. This conclusion was reached by an international team of scientists. The work was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (PID).

Evolutionary psychology has long studied how people choose partners. Masculine features of a male face - broad jaw, pronounced brow ridges, more angular proportions - are usually associated with high testosterone levels, good health, and "quality" genes. However, the same traits can signal dominance and a tendency towards aggression, turning partner choice into a compromise between potential benefit and safety.

A team of researchers led by Huilin Zhu from Southwest University and Yue Wu from Shaanxi Normal University decided to find out exactly how women combine these contradictory signals. Scientists hypothesized that risk avoidance plays a primary role compared to the search for "good genes".

In a series of four experiments, which involved more than 480 women in total, the researchers used both computer-modified and real photographs of male faces.

Participants were either asked to choose the more attractive face from a pair, or to rate faces on scales of attractiveness, aggressiveness, and masculinity, as well as consider them in the context of short-term and long-term relationships.

The results were consistent. If a face was perceived as aggressive, women more often preferred a more feminized version, regardless of the overall attractiveness of the original face. Conversely, with a low level of perceived aggression, masculinity enhanced attractiveness, especially if the face was initially considered beautiful. This effect was most pronounced when choosing a partner for long-term relationships, where safety and reliability prove to be particularly important.

The authors interpret these data as a manifestation of a "risk priority strategy": first, the brain assesses potential threat, and only if it seems minimal do benefit signals, such as masculinity and attractiveness, come into play. This strategy aligns well with evolutionary theories, according to which physical safety has historically been of key importance for women due to the high cost of reproduction and childcare.