Mirror, Mirror: Who's the Most Symmetrical?

Aug. 19, 2008— -- In the nightclub, some people select whom they approach based on the person's body. Others might wait to see how they look on the dance floor.

But, according to a new study, they're both checking out the same thing.

Body symmetry has a major effect on perceived attractiveness, and that symmetry can show itself in features ranging from body size and facial attractiveness to dancing ability, the study concludes. Over time, humans may have evolved in ways to figure out who we choose to pursue as a partner.

"Symmetry reflects good development," said lead study author William Brown, co-director of the Centre for Culture and Evolutionary Psychology at Brunel University in the United Kingdom.

"In animals with two sides that were designed by natural selection to be symmetrical, subtle departures from perfect symmetry may reflect poor development or exposure to stress," he said. "In many species, the degree of departure from perfect symmetry is related to poor health, lower survival and fewer offspring."

Researchers did full-body scans of 40 men and 37 women, using a 3-D optical body scanner. Removing the heads from the images, they had 87 evaluators judge the attractiveness of the bodies.

The investigators found that bodies with higher levels of asymmetry were judged less attractive by the evaluators.

While the asymmetry in the bodies may have been invisible to the naked eye, the researchers speculate that humans may be conditioned to detect these subtleties to determine the fitness of potential mates through more obvious signs -- like dance moves, face and body size.

"More obvious signals are what animals easily detect and are, thus, conspicuous indicators of developmental quality," Brown said. "Thus, it is not necessary for animals to perceive these subtle asymmetries."

He said that asymmetries also tend to have a large impact on a person's attractiveness.

"Previous studies have shown that symmetrical males have more masculine faces," Brown said. "Males with more symmetrical bodies are faster runners, better dancers, have more pleasing body odor, more attractive faces and more attractive voices."