It was thought that hormonal contraceptives and ovulation influence women’s preferences with regards to men. This week in Psychological Science published the results of a new study, which was much bigger than the previous one. It gives to understand are the preferences of women after hormonal therapy and what are preferences.
A study led by Ben Jones, a Professor at the Institute of neuroscience and psychology at the University of Glasgow in the UK. With his team he scored 500 heterosexual women who were shown 10 pairs of randomly selected male In each pair. women had to identify which face is more attractive. One group of women rated the faces from the point of view of the possibility of building long-term relationships. Another group came from the plans for the fleeting relationships.
Women took the test five times within five weeks. The second time they took the test 6 months later and a third time returned for testing after 2 years. The objective of the researchers was to prove the absence of the influence of hormones and ovulation on women’s preferences. It is believed that taking hormonal contraceptives, women find men’s faces, showing less of the male hormone testosterone, more attractive. Accordingly, in each pair of the male individuals had a face with more masculine features and a face with more feminine features.
Of course, prior to each round of testing, the scientists took saliva samples in order to understand the hormonal status of the tested women. The result – no correlation in preferences from the hormonal status was found. All the women were often selected faces with more masculine features. A little less so did those women who chose men for short term relationship.
Women can be calm. Neither contraception nor the menstrual cycle do not affect preferences, when it comes to men.
Study: what men like women and what influences this
Ernest Vasilevskiy