Data from: Cues of upper body strength account for most of the variance in men’s bodily attractiveness

Evolution equips sexually reproducing species with mate choice mechanisms
that function to evaluate the reproductive consequences of mating with
different individuals. Indeed, evolutionary psychologists have shown that
women’s mate choice mechanisms track many cues of men’s genetic quality
and ability to invest resources in the woman and her offspring. One
variable that predicted both a man’s genetic quality and his ability to
invest is the man’s formidability (i.e. fighting ability or resource
holding power/potential). Modern women, therefore, should have mate choice
mechanisms that respond to ancestral cues of a man’s fighting ability. One
crucial component of a man’s ability to fight was his upper body strength.
Here we test how important physical strength is to men’s bodily
attractiveness. Three sets of photographs of men’s bodies were shown to
raters who estimated either their physical strength or their
attractiveness. Estimates of physical strength determined over 70% of
men’s bodily attractiveness. Additional analyses showed that tallness and
leanness were also favored, and – along with estimates of physical
strength – accounted for 80% of men’s bodily attractiveness. Contrary to
popular theories of men’s physical attractiveness, there was no evidence
of a non-linear effect; the strongest men were the most attractive in all
samples.