Human's cognitive ability to assess facial cues from photographs : a study of sexual selection in the Bolivian Amazon
Undurraga, Eduardo A. (Brandeis University (Waltham, Estats Units d'Amèrica). Heller School for Social Policy and Management)
Eisenberg, Dan T. A. (Northwestern University (Evanston, Estats Units d'Amèrica). Department of Anthropology)
Magvanjav, Oyunbileg (Brandeis University (Waltham, Estats Units d'Amèrica). Heller School for Social Policy and Management)
Wang, Ruoxue (Brandeis University (Waltham, Estats Units d'Amèrica). Department of Psychology)
Leonard, William R. (Northwestern University (Evanston, Estats Units d'Amèrica). Department of Anthropology)
McDade, Thomas W. (Northwestern University (Evanston, Estats Units d'Amèrica). Department of Anthropology)
Reyes-García, Victoria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Nyberg, Colleen (Northwestern University (Evanston, Estats Units d'Amèrica). Department of Anthropology)
Tanner, Susan (University of Georgia (Athens, Estats Units d'Amèrica). Department of Anthropology)
Huanca, Tomás (Centro Boliviano de Investigación y de Desarrollo Socio Integral (San Borja, Bolívia))
Godoy, Ricardo A. (Brandeis University (Waltham, Estats Units d'Amèrica). Heller School for Social Policy and Management)
Tsimane' Amazonian Panel Study (TAPS). Bolivia Study Team

Data:	2010
Resum:	Background: Evolutionary theory suggests that natural selection favors the evolution of cognitive abilities which allow humans to use facial cues to assess traits of others. The use of facial and somatic cues by humans has been studied mainly in western industrialized countries, leaving unanswered whether results are valid across cultures. Methodology/Principal Findings: Our objectives were to test (i) if previous finding about raters' ability to get accurate information about an individual by looking at his facial photograph held in low-income non western rural societies and (ii) whether women and men differ in this ability. To answer the questions we did a study during July-August 2007 among the Tsimane', a native Amazonian society of foragers-farmers in Bolivia. We asked 40 females and 40 males 16-25 years of age to rate four traits in 93 facial photographs of other Tsimane' males. The four traits were based on sexual selection theory, and included health, dominance, knowledge, and sociability. The rating scale for each trait ranged from one (least) to four (most). The average rating for each trait was calculated for each individual in the photograph and regressed against objective measures of the trait from the person in the photograph. We found that (i) female Tsimane' raters were able to assess facial cues related to health, dominance, and knowledge and (ii) male Tsimane' raters were able to assess facial cues related to dominance, knowledge, and sociability. Conclusions/Significance: Our results support the existence of a human ability to identify objective traits from facial cues, as suggested by evolutionary theory.
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; Versió publicada
Publicat a:	PloS one, Vol. 5, Issue 6 (June 2010) , p. e11027, ISSN 1932-6203

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011027
PMID: 20543956

10 p, 141.2 KB

El registre apareix a les col·leccions:
Documents de recerca > Documents dels grups de recerca de la UAB > Centres i grups de recerca (producció científica) > Ciències > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Articles publicats