Study on Facial Symmetry

[ivan.kuk]

People often think that a more symmetrical face is always more attractive, but research hasn’t consistently supported that idea. This study suggests why the results have been mixed.
The researchers proposed that symmetry only makes a face more attractive if it also makes the face look more normal or typical. To test this, they altered Chinese male faces to change both how symmetrical and how normal they looked, then asked participants to rate how symmetrical, normal, and attractive the faces appeared.
They found that symmetry can have two opposite effects on attractiveness:

• Sometimes, making a face more symmetrical actually reduced attractiveness because it made the face look less normal or natural.
• Other times, increased symmetry made the face look more orderly, which increased the sense of normality and raised attractiveness.

Overall, how “normal” a face looks turned out to be the key factor. Symmetry affects attractiveness mainly by changing how normal the face appears. This helps explain why past studies disagreed—symmetry isn’t automatically attractive; it depends on whether it improves or harms the face’s sense of normality.

Normality mediates the effect of symmetry on facial attractiveness

Although symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism are usually considered important to facial attractiveness, there are mixed findings regarding wh…

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