Posted: Mon 03 Nov 2008 00:48 Post subject: Attractive fathers do not pass their looks on to sons
This "study" did not specify what traits are "attractive" versus "unattractive."
Quote:
Attractive fathers do not pass their looks on to sons
By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 31/10/2008
Telegraph, UK
Psychologists have found that while both parents influence the
attractiveness of their daughters, male attractiveness is not inherited.
Handsome men with masculine looks are likely to pass on masculine
features, but not facial attractiveness. Prof David Perrett and Prof
Elisabeth Cornwell, of the University of St Andrews, also said that a
mother's beauty made no difference to the attractiveness of her sons as
adults.
The theory suggests it is not unusual for attractive parents to produce
a beautiful daughter while failing to pass on the same good looks to a son.
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While many celebrity mothers produce stunning daughters - such as Goldie
Hawn and her daughter Kate Hudson or Jerry Hall and her daughter Georgia
- the same is not necessarily true of celebrity fathers.
Sean Stewart, the son of Rod Stewart and his first wife Alana, would
probably be judged less attractive than his model sister Kimberly.
Prof Perrett said it has previously been suggested that a woman could
increase her own reproductive success by choosing a "sexy" mate whose
genes would be passed on to male offspring, making them irresistible to
the next generation.
But the new study, published in the current edition of the journal
Animal Behaviour, contradicts the theory.
He said: "We checked to see if male and female facial traits are
inherited. For the male line, we find that facial masculinity conforms
to the rule 'like father - like son'. Masculine dads have masculine sons.
"But we did not find any evidence that facial attractiveness is passed
from father to son.
"We are perplexed as to why we did not find any evidence for the
inheritance of attractiveness in males, through either the female or
male parent.
"The answer may be because women vary considerably in the extent to
which they find masculinity attractive.
"We know that attractive feminine women show a strong preference for
masculine male faces for long-term partners."
The researchers studied the family photo albums of students, collecting
images of over 100 females and 100 males and their respective biological
parents taken over several years.
The photos of each student, father and mother were rated separately for
attractiveness, and for femininity/masculinity.
They found evidence that attractiveness passed from both father and
mother to daughter, and also that attractive fathers were more likely to
produce attractive, feminine daughters, whether the mother was
attractive or not.
Earlier research in America found that attractive parents were 26 per
cent more likely to have a daughter than a son as their first child - a
statistic apparently borne out by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's first
child.
In that study the researches concluded that "beautiful parents have more
daughters than ugly parents".
This article does not make a great deal of sense, especially since I have witnessed many sons that look like their father, not that I am good judge of male attractiveness, there are many guys that have player looks thanks to their dad.
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