Perceived Strength Alone Explains 70% of Men's Bodily Attractiveness Ratings
The study presented raters with photographs of men's bodies and had separate groups estimate either physical strength or attractiveness, finding that strength estimates alone accounted for over 70% of variance in attractiveness ratings. Adding height and leanness pushed the explained variance to 80%, and critically, the relationship was linear—the strongest men were rated most attractive with no evidence of a tapering-off or 'too much muscle' penalty, contradicting some popular theories. The authors frame this as consistent with evolutionary mate-choice mechanisms tracking cues of fighting ability and resource-holding potential. Twitter discussion largely just relayed the headline statistic (strength explaining 70%+ of attractiveness) without substantive critique appearing in the available commentary.
Discussion: 1 tweets from 1 authors · @jakozloski