caa a22 4500 606231099 CHVBK 20210128101218.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150801xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10508-015-0516-2 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10508-015-0516-2 The Role of Breast Size and Areolar Pigmentation in Perceptions of Women's Sexual Attractiveness, Reproductive Health, Sexual Maturity, Maternal Nurturing Abilities, and Age [Elektronische Daten] [Barnaby Dixson, Melanie Duncan, Alan Dixson] Women's breast morphology is thought to have evolved via sexual selection as a signal of maturity, health, and fecundity. While research demonstrates that breast morphology is important in men's judgments of women's attractiveness, it remains to be determined how perceptions might differ when considering a larger suite of mate relevant attributes. Here, we tested how variation in breast size and areolar pigmentation affected perceptions of women's sexual attractiveness, reproductive health, sexual maturity, maternal nurturing abilities, and age. Participants (100 men; 100 women) rated images of female torsos modeled to vary in breast size (very small, small, medium, and large) and areolar pigmentation (light, medium, and dark) for each of the five attributes listed above. Sexual attractiveness ratings increased linearly with breast size, but large breasts were not judged to be significantly more attractive than medium-sized breasts. Small and medium-sized breasts were rated as most attractive if they included light or medium colored areolae, whereas large breasts were more attractive if they had medium or dark areolae. Ratings for perceived age, sexual maturity, and nurturing ability also increased with breast size. Darkening the areolae reduced ratings of the reproductive health of medium and small breasts, whereas it increased ratings for large breasts. There were no significant sex differences in ratings of any of the perceptual measures. These results demonstrate that breast size and areolar pigmentation interact to determine ratings for a suite of sociosexual attributes, each of which may be relevant to mate choice in men and intra-sexual competition in women. Springer Science+Business Media New York, 2015 Breast size nationallicence Areolar pigmentation nationallicence Attractiveness nationallicence Sexual selection nationallicence Dixson Barnaby Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, 2052, Sydney, NSW, Australia aut Duncan Melanie School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand aut Dixson Alan School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand aut Archives of Sexual Behavior Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 44/6(2015-08-01), 1685-1695 0004-0002 44:6<1685 2015 44 10508 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-015-0516-2 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-015-0516-2 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Dixson Barnaby Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, 2052, Sydney, NSW, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Duncan Melanie School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Dixson Alan School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Archives of Sexual Behavior Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 44/6(2015-08-01), 1685-1695 0004-0002 44:6<1685 2015 44 10508