An Evolutionary Perspective on Appearance Enhancement Behavior
- PMID: 33025291
- DOI: 10.1007/s10508-020-01745-4
An Evolutionary Perspective on Appearance Enhancement Behavior
Abstract
Researchers have highlighted numerous sociocultural factors that have been shown to underpin human appearance enhancement practices, including the influence of peers, family, the media, and sexual objectification. Fewer scholars have approached appearance enhancement from an evolutionary perspective or considered how sociocultural factors interact with evolved psychology to produce appearance enhancement behavior. Following others, we argue that evidence from the field of evolutionary psychology can complement existing sociocultural models by yielding unique insight into the historical and cross-cultural ubiquity of competition over aspects of physical appearance to embody what is desired by potential mates. An evolutionary lens can help to make sense of reliable sex and individual differences that impact appearance enhancement, as well as the context-dependent nature of putative adaptations that function to increase physical attractiveness. In the current review, appearance enhancement is described as a self-promotion strategy used to enhance reproductive success by rendering oneself more attractive than rivals to mates, thereby increasing one's mate value. The varied ways in which humans enhance their appearance are described, as well as the divergent tactics used by women and men to augment their appearance, which correspond to the preferences of opposite-sex mates in a heterosexual context. Evolutionarily relevant individual differences and contextual factors that vary predictably with appearance enhancement behavior are also discussed. The complementarity of sociocultural and evolutionary perspectives is emphasized and recommended avenues for future interdisciplinary research are provided for scholars interested in studying appearance enhancement behavior.
Keywords: Appearance enhancement behavior; Evolutionary psychology; Mating effort; Physical attractiveness; Self-promotion.
© 2020. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
Comment in
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Beautification Is More than Mere Mate Attraction: Extending Evolutionary Perspectives on Female Appearance Enhancement.Arch Sex Behav. 2022 Jan;51(1):43-47. doi: 10.1007/s10508-021-01952-7. Epub 2021 Mar 1. Arch Sex Behav. 2022. PMID: 33646473 No abstract available.
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Attractiveness Helps Women Secure Mates, But Also Status and Reproductively Relevant Resources.Arch Sex Behav. 2022 Jan;51(1):39-41. doi: 10.1007/s10508-021-01949-2. Epub 2021 Mar 5. Arch Sex Behav. 2022. PMID: 33666826 No abstract available.
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Sexual Selection and the Evolution of Human Appearance Enhancements.Arch Sex Behav. 2022 Jan;51(1):49-55. doi: 10.1007/s10508-021-01946-5. Epub 2021 Mar 15. Arch Sex Behav. 2022. PMID: 33721143 No abstract available.
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What Does Women's Facial Attractiveness Signal? Implications for an Evolutionary Perspective on Appearance Enhancement.Arch Sex Behav. 2022 Jan;51(1):67-71. doi: 10.1007/s10508-021-01955-4. Epub 2021 Mar 17. Arch Sex Behav. 2022. PMID: 33733308 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
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Enhancing the Evolutionary Science of Self-Presentation Modification.Arch Sex Behav. 2022 Jan;51(1):79-84. doi: 10.1007/s10508-021-01975-0. Epub 2021 Mar 18. Arch Sex Behav. 2022. PMID: 33738591 No abstract available.
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The Value of Integrating Evolutionary and Sociocultural Perspectives on Body Image.Arch Sex Behav. 2022 Jan;51(1):57-66. doi: 10.1007/s10508-021-01947-4. Epub 2021 Mar 9. Arch Sex Behav. 2022. PMID: 33751287 No abstract available.
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Appearance Enhancement: A Cue-Based Approach.Arch Sex Behav. 2022 Jan;51(1):73-77. doi: 10.1007/s10508-021-01957-2. Epub 2021 Jun 7. Arch Sex Behav. 2022. PMID: 34100143 No abstract available.
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Response to Commentaries: A Socioevolutionary Approach to Self-Presentation Modification.Arch Sex Behav. 2022 Jan;51(1):85-100. doi: 10.1007/s10508-021-02170-x. Epub 2021 Oct 28. Arch Sex Behav. 2022. PMID: 34713430 No abstract available.
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