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Trustworthy but not lust-worthy: context-specific effects of facial resemblance Lisa M DeBruine  1 Affiliations Expand Affiliation 1 Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada. lisa@debruine.info PMID: 16024346 PMCID: PMC1564091 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2004.3003 Free PMC article Item in Clipboard Comparative Study Trustworthy but not lust-worthy: context-specific effects of facial resemblance Lisa M DeBruine. Proc Biol Sci. 2005. Free PMC article Show details Display options Display options Format Abstract PubMed PMID Proc Biol Sci Actions Search in PubMed Search in NLM Catalog Add to Search . 2005 May 7;272(1566):919-22. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2004.3003. Author Lisa M DeBruine  1 Affiliation 1 Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada. lisa@debruine.info PMID: 16024346 PMCID: PMC1564091 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2004.3003 Item in Clipboard Full-text links CiteDisplay options Display options Format Abstract PubMed PMID Abstract If humans are sensitive to the costs and benefits of favouring kin in different circumstances, a strong prediction is that cues of relatedness will have a positive effect on prosocial feelings, but a negative effect on sexual attraction. Indeed, positive effects of facial resemblance (a potential cue of kinship) have been demonstrated in prosocial contexts. Alternatively, such effects may be owing to a general preference for familiar stimuli. Here, I show that subtly manipulated images of other-sex faces were judged as more trustworthy by the participants they were made to resemble than by control participants. In contrast, the effects of resemblance on attractiveness were significantly lower. In the context of a long-term relationship, where both prosocial regard and sexual appeal are important criteria, facial resemblance had no effect. In the context of a short-term relationship, where sexual appeal is the dominant criterion, facial resemblance decreased attractiveness. The results provide evidence against explanations implicating a general preference for familiar-looking stimuli and suggest instead that facial resemblance is a kinship cue to which humans modulate responses in a context-sensitive manner. Figures Figure 1 Other-sex transforms were made by… Figure 1 Other-sex transforms were made by applying 50% of the shape difference between a… Figure 1 Other-sex transforms were made by applying 50% of the shape difference between a participant's face and the same-sex composite face to an other-sex composite face. Transforms retained 100% of the colour information from the other-sex composite face. See Electronic Appendix A for a high resolution colour version of this image. Figure 2 The average preference for self-resemblance… Figure 2 The average preference for self-resemblance in response to the trustworthiness, long-term and short-term… Figure 2 The average preference for self-resemblance in response to the trustworthiness, long-term and short-term relationship questions for 66 men and 78 women. See this image and copyright information in PMC Similar articles Women's attractiveness judgments of self-resembling faces change across the menstrual cycle. DeBruine LM, Jones BC, Perrett DI. DeBruine LM, et al. Horm Behav. 2005 Apr;47(4):379-83. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2004.11.006. Epub 2005 Jan 25. Horm Behav. 2005. PMID: 15777803 Facial resemblance increases the attractiveness of same-sex faces more than other-sex faces. DeBruine LM. DeBruine LM. Proc Biol Sci. 2004 Oct 7;271(1552):2085-90. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2004.2824. Proc Biol Sci. 2004. PMID: 15451700 Free PMC article. Discriminating males and unpredictable females: males differentiate self-similar facial cues more than females in the judgment of opposite-sex attractiveness. Zhuang JY, Zhang S, Xu J, Hu D. Zhuang JY, et al. PLoS One. 2014 Mar 3;9(3):e90493. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090493. eCollection 2014. PLoS One. 2014. PMID: 24594644 Free PMC article. Social perception of facial resemblance in humans. DeBruine LM, Jones BC, Little AC, Perrett DI. DeBruine LM, et al. Arch Sex Behav. 2008 Feb;37(1):64-77. doi: 10.1007/s10508-007-9266-0. Arch Sex Behav. 2008. PMID: 18157627 Review. Neural and behavioral responses to attractiveness in adult and infant faces. Hahn AC, Perrett DI. Hahn AC, et al. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2014 Oct;46 Pt 4:591-603. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.08.015. Epub 2014 Sep 6. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2014. PMID: 25199981 Review. See all similar articles Cited by 40 articles Kin recognition and perceived facial similarity. Hansen F, DeBruine LM, Holzleitner IJ, Lee AJ, O'Shea KJ, Fasolt V. Hansen F, et al. J Vis. 2020 Jun 3;20(6):18. doi: 10.1167/jov.20.6.18. J Vis. 2020. PMID: 32579674 Free PMC article. Pleasant body odours, but not genetic similarity, influence trustworthiness in a modified trust game. Lobmaier JS, Probst F, Fischbacher U, Wirthmüller U, Knoch D. Lobmaier JS, et al. Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 25;10(1):3388. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-60407-6. Sci Rep. 2020. PMID: 32099082 Free PMC article. Enhanced Memory for Fair-Related Faces and the Role of Trait Anxiety. Park G, Marsh BU, Johnson EJ. Park G, et al. Front Psychol. 2019 Apr 16;10:760. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00760. eCollection 2019. Front Psychol. 2019. PMID: 31057449 Free PMC article. The More Similar, the Healthier: The Effect of Perceived Parent-Child Facial Resemblance on Parental Physical Health. Yu Q, Guo Y, Zhang L, Chen J, Du X, Wei X, Zhou Z, Liu S, Gao X. Yu Q, et al. Front Psychol. 2019 Jan 11;9:2739. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02739. eCollection 2018. Front Psychol. 2019. PMID: 30687190 Free PMC article. Judging Others by Your Own Standards: Attractiveness of Primate Faces as Seen by Human Respondents. Rádlová S, Landová E, Frynta D. Rádlová S, et al. Front Psychol. 2018 Dec 11;9:2439. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02439. eCollection 2018. Front Psychol. 2018. PMID: 30618913 Free PMC article. 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