Singh & Young (1995) Bring breasts into mix Role of breasts not well understood evolutionarily Develop shortly prior to puberty; in all other primates, breast enlargement tied to lactation All other things being equal, small breasts may indicate extreme youth, with larger breasts showing reproductive capability

Judgment of Breasts Variety of factors involved in attractiveness, vis-à-vis reproduction judgments Low et al. (1987) indicate sexual appeal of breasts depends on: overall body fat, waist size, thickness of arms and legs

Study 100 undergrad males, average=20.9 yrs 0-20 Likert scale for: attractiveness, healthiness, feminine looking, kindness and understanding, willingness for short-term relationship, willingness for long-term relationship. Also, estimate age. Figures

Results 2 (body size) x 2 (WHR) x 2 (breast size) factorial design Main effects of body weight, breast size, and interactions of body weight x breast size, weight x WHR, and weight x breast size x WHR were all significant

In General Slender figures rated higher than heavy figures Small WHR rated higher than large WHR Large breasts rated higher than small breasts Heavy high WHR figures were judged least attractive

Effect of Breast Size Dependent on body size Large breasts increased attractiveness of slender, high WHR figure over small breasted, slender, high WHR figure But no similar effect found for heavy figures

Age Estimates

Relationship

Second Study Large/small breasts and larger/smaller waists and hips, but with WHR held constant at male undergrads, mean age 21.6 yrs

Figures

Results

Furnham, Dias & McClelland (1998) Basically, replication of Singh & Young (1995) Used male and female subjects British

General Findings Very similar results Body, breast, and WHR sizes all interactively influence judgments of attractiveness, femininity, healthiness, willingness for relationship, and age estimates

Sex of Rater Not much difference in ratings for male and female subjects Females gave higher ratings to larger breasted figures, whereas males favoured smaller breasted figures –Contradicts a variety of studies’ findings from 1980s As with Singh’s early studies, shows high consensus between sexes as to ideal shape

Breasts’ Role Large breasts increased attractiveness ratings for both slender and heavy figures, provided they had low WHR If anything, role of breasts in increasing attractiveness was even less pronounced in this study

Furnham, Swami & Shah (2006) 36 new line drawn stimuli Ethnicity more ambiguous Two breast sizes (average, large), three body weights (under, average, over), six WHR levels ( ) Systematically vary thickness of arms and legs to remove confounds b/t body weight and WHR Ratings for attractiveness, femininity, health, and fecundity

Some of the Stimuli

Methods 80 males, 78 females British undergrads Same basic testing format as all the other university-based studies

General Findings Body weight and WHR had significant effect on ratings for all attributes Effect sizes shows WHR accounts for more variance in data than body weight Breast size alone had no significant effects; does have interactive effect with WHR and body weight

Results a, b physical attractiveness c, d healthiness

Results e, f femininity g, h reproductive capacity

Female/Male Ratings Female subjects showed preference for figures with larger breasts; males’ preference for smaller breasted figures Corresponds to Furnham et al.’s (1998) findings Possibly due to current cultural trend Increased numbers of women getting breast implants and clothing designs to increase bust size Larger breast size stimuli might identify optimal preference shared by sexes

Stimuli Artifacts? WHR explaining more variance than body weight agrees with other line drawing studies, but differs from many studies using photographs or 3D images of women Unlike Furnham et al. (1998) these results found large breasts enhance ratings of heavier figures across all WHRs; more pronounced for higher WHR May be due to these figures; larger breasts enhances curve between breast and hips