城市化程度影響我們性選擇偏好

Fancy butch men? Then you probably live in the city: Urban life makes us more attracted to masculine males and feminine women.

當今社會哪種長相對異性更有吸引力呢？是更中性化的長相還是性別特徵明顯的長相呢？最近有研究發現，這種人類的性選擇偏好受城市化程度的影響。生活在工業化、城市化程度高的地區的人更喜歡性別特徵明顯的異性。

In a world of supermodels and Hollywood heart throbs, it's easy to assume many of us want our men to be manly and our women girlish and womanly.

在這樣一個超模、好萊塢影星風靡全球的時代裏，我們顯然會認爲人們都喜歡男人更man，女人更柔。

But new research suggests that, rather than being a sexual selection preference that has evolved over hundreds of years, it's a relatively new habit that has only emerged in modern, urbanised societies.

但是一項新的研究表明，與已經進化了上百年的性選擇偏好不同，在當今這個現代化、城市化程度頗高的社會中，出現了一種相對較新的性選擇偏好。

A team of psychologists found that people in small-scale, more rural societies instead have a preference for more netural, or least ‘sex-typical’ features.

心理學家發現生活在規模較小的鄉村地區的人更喜歡長相中性化或是性別特徵相對沒有那麼突出的人。

The researchers, which also included anthropologists and biologists led by Brunel University London, surveyed 12 populations around the world, from the primitive to the highly developed.

包括倫敦布魯內爾大學的人類學家、生物學家在內的研究人員，調查了世界範圍內從原住民地區到高度發達地區的12個人羣。

Surprisingly, only in the most industrialised and urbanised environments did people hold the well-worn opinion that highly feminine women, and highly masculine men are attractive.

令人吃驚的是，結果顯示，只有生活在工業化和城市化程度最高的地區的人才認爲女性化特徵顯著的女性和男性化特徵顯著的男性有吸引力。

Lecturer in psychology at Brunel University London, Andrew Clark, said: ‘We digitally morphed masculine and feminine faces from photographs of people to find out what choices people from small-scale societies made.

在倫敦布魯內爾大學的心理學講座上，安德魯·克拉克說：“我們利用電子技術變換了人們照片中男性化和女性化的面孔，爲的是研究生活在規模較小的地區的人們的選擇。”

‘We found that they didn't place the same emphasis on 'sex typicality', that is, on highly feminine women and highly masculine men.

“我們發現他們並沒有將選擇重點放在‘性別典型性’（即女性更具女性化特徵、男性更具男性化特徵）上。”

In fact, they often favoured the neutral face, and sometimes the least ‘sex-typical’ one.’

“事實上，他們更喜歡那些中性化的面孔，有時甚至是最不具性別典型性的那張面孔。”

The team also found that the perception that masculine males appear aggressive increased with urbanisation.

該研究團隊還發現城市化程度越高，男性化特徵顯著的男性會被認爲越有攻擊性。

A total of 962 participants were shown sets of three opposite-sex composite, and digitally-manipulated photos.

研究人員給962名被試呈現幾組包括經電腦處理過的三張異性照片。

For each set of photographs, representing different ethnic groups, participants were asked which face was most attractive and which appeared most aggressive.

各組照片呈現的是不同種族的人羣，被試被要求從中選出最有吸引力和看起來最有攻擊性的面孔。

‘This data challenges the theory that exaggerated sex-specific traits were important for social and sexual selection in ancestral environments,’ added Dr Clark.

“由此得到的結果對之前的理論提出了質疑，這種理論認爲在原始的環境中鮮明、突出的性別特徵對社會和性別選擇至關重要。”克拉克博士說。

‘Preferences for sex typical faces are a novel phenomenon of modern environments. It's probably not a consistent thread in human history.’

“對性別特徵顯著的面孔的偏好是現代社會的一個新現象。這可能不是人類歷史上始終如一的一種偏好。”

The team suggest that highly developed environments with large, dense populations may have exposed individuals to a greater range of unfamiliar faces, providing the opportunity - and perhaps motive - to discover subtle relationships between facial traits and behaviour.

該研究團隊還表示，高度發達、人口稠密的地區可能因爲能使人接觸到大量的不熟悉面孔，而爲人們發現面孔特徵和行爲之間的微妙關係提供了一種機會或者動機。

The findings are published in the journal PNAS.

該研究結果發表在《美國國家科學院院刊》上。