評論
打印
Science and technology
科學與技術
Sexual selection
性選擇
Hunkier than thou
強于汝
Scientists are finally succeeding where so many men have failed: in understanding why women find some guys handsome and others hideous.
科學家終于發現女性在評判男性的臭與美時大多數男性失敗在哪了。
WHEN it comes to partners, men often find women's taste fickle and unfathomable.
在選擇配偶時，男性發現女性的品味經常起伏不定，難以理解。
But ladies may not be entirely to blame.
然而我們卻不能將這一問題完全怪罪在女性身上。
A growing body of research suggests that their preference for certain types of male physiognomy may be swayed by things beyond their conscious control—like prevalence of disease or crime—and in predictable ways.
因為越來越多的研究顯示女性對于男性某些特定相貌的偏愛可能受制于其意識控制以外的事物—比如流行疾病或者犯罪—并且影響方式可以被預測。
Masculine features—a big jaw, say, or a prominent brow—tend to reflect physical and behavioural traits, such as strength and aggression.
像寬大的下巴或者突出的眉骨這些陽剛性的特征總是可以反映出諸如力量以及進攻性這些生理和行為上的特點。
They are also closely linked to physiological ones, like virility and a sturdy immune system.
而這些同樣與生育能力以及強健的免疫系統等生理特點有著密切的聯系。
The obverse of these desirable characteristics looks less appealing.
但是這些令人羨慕的特點卻有著不太受歡迎的負面影響。
Aggression is fine when directed at external threats, less so when it spills over onto the hearth.
比如進攻性在攘外時確實有著尚佳額表現，但是卻難以用來處理家庭生活。
Sexual prowess ensures plenty of progeny, but it often goes hand in hand with promiscuity and a tendency to shirk parental duties or leave the mother altogether.
而強勁的性能力確實能保證后代的繁衍生息，但是往往導致私生活的不檢點以及拋棄妻兒而不盡贍養之責。
So, whenever a woman has to choose a mate, she must decide whether to place a premium on the hunk's choicer genes or the wimp's love and care.
所以無論何時何代女性在選擇配偶時都必須在高大威猛的大男人和體貼關愛的小男人之間做出抉擇。
Lisa DeBruine, of the University of Aberdeen, believes that today's women still face this dilemma and that their choices are affected by unconscious factors.
來自阿伯丁大學的麗薩.德布魯因認為當今的女性仍然面臨這種兩難境地而且他們的選擇會受到非意識因素的影響。
In a paper published earlier this year Dr DeBruine found that women in countries with poor health statistics preferred men with masculine features more than those who lived in healthier societies.
在今年早期發表的一份論文中德布魯因博士發現與生活在衛生狀況較好的社區中的婦女相比來自衛生狀況較差國家的婦女更鐘情于那些擁有陽剛外表特征的男性。
Where disease is rife, this seemed to imply, giving birth to healthy offspring trumps having a man stick around long enough to help care for it.
在疾病連連的地區，這一點暗示了生育更加健康的后代要比嫁一個整天能夠伴你左右并提供細心呵護的男人更重要。
In more salubrious climes, therefore, wimps are in with a chance.
而在一些相對安逸的地區，小男人 便因此有了一定的機會。
Now, though, researchers led by Robert Brooks, of the University of New South Wales, have taken another look at Dr DeBruine's data and arrived at a different conclusion.
目前，由新南威爾斯大學的羅伯特.布魯克斯率領的研究者對于德布魯因博士的數據有著另一種理解并得出一個不同的結論，
They present their findings in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.
并將所發些的結果發表在了《皇家協會會刊》上。
Dr Brooks suggests that it is not health-related factors, but rather competition and violence among men that best explain a woman's penchant for manliness.
布魯克斯博士認為與其說是涉及健康的相關因素不如說男人之間的競爭和暴力可以最好地解釋女性對于男子氣概的追捧。
The more rough-and-tumble the environment, the researcher's argument goes, the more women prefer masculine men, because they are better than the softer types at providing for mothers and their offspring.
研究者辯解道，環境越是惡劣，女性就越發地選擇陽剛型男子，因為與稍顯溫和的男性相比更具男人氣概的男子在贍養妻兒方面更能勝任。
An unhealthy relationship
一個不健康的關系
Since violent competition for resources is more pronounced in unequal societies, Dr Brooks predicted that women would value masculinity more highly in countries with a higher Gini coefficient, which is a measure of income inequality.
由于不平等社會更容易發生為爭奪資源的暴力競爭，布魯克斯博士預測在基尼系數較高國家的婦女可能更看重男人陽剛的一面。
And indeed, he found that this was better than a country's health statistics at predicting the relative attractiveness of hunky faces.
而事實上，他發現通過這種方法比利用一個國家的健康狀況統計數據能夠更好地預測一張標致的臉龐是否具有吸引力。
The rub is that unequal countries also tend to be less healthy.
問題是收入不平等國家的人口健康狀況也不會太好。
So, in order to disentangle cause from effect, Dr Brooks compared Dr DeBruine's health index with a measure of violence in a country: its murder rate.
所以為了澄清效應產生的原因，布魯克斯博士將德布魯因博士的健康指數與反映一個國家暴力事件水平的謀殺案發率進行了對比。
Again, he found that his chosen indicator predicts preference for facial masculinity more accurately than the health figures do.
他再次發現其所選擇的指標要比人口健康狀況指數更準確地放映女性對于男性外在陽剛特性的偏愛。
However, in a rejoinder published in the same issue of the Proceedings, Dr DeBruine and her colleagues point to a flaw in Dr Brooks's analysis: his failure to take into account a society's overall wealth.
然而，德布魯因博士及其同事在《皇家協會會刊》上發表了關于此問題的回復，他們指出布魯克斯博士的分析存在一個缺點：這就是他沒有將一個社會群體的所有財富考慮在內。
When she performed the statistical tests again, this time controlling for GNP, it turned out that the murder rate's predictive power disappears, whereas that of the health indicators persists.
德布魯因博士再次進行了統計學驗證，其結果是謀殺案發率的預測性消失了而人口健康狀況指數的卻依然存在。
In other words, the prevalence of violent crime seems to predict mating preferences only in so far as it reflects a country's relative penury.
換句話說，就目前而言利用暴力犯罪的流行程度來預測擇偶偏好只適用于一個相對拮據的國家。
The statistical tussle shows the difficulty of drawing firm conclusions from correlations alone.
這些統計學上的爭辯顯示僅從相關性難以得出確鑿的結論。
Dr DeBruine and Dr Brooks admit as much, and agree the dispute will not be settled until the factors that shape mating preferences are tested directly.
德布魯因博士和布魯克斯博士都非常贊同這一點，并且一致認為只有在形成擇偶偏好的因素被直接驗證后才能消除雙方的分歧。
Another recent study by Dr DeBruine and others has tried to do just that.
由德布魯因博士及其他成員主導的另一個研究就是為了嘗試這方面的驗證。
Its results lend further credence to the health hypothesis.
這項研究的結果加強了健康偏好假說的可信性。
This time, the researchers asked 124 women and 117 men to rate 15 pairs of male faces and 15 pairs of female ones for attractiveness.
這次，研究者邀請124名女士及117名男士給15對男性面孔圖片及15對女性面孔圖片的魅力程度進行評級。
Each pair of images depicted the same set of features tweaked to make one appear ever so slightly manlier than the other or more feminine.
每一對面孔都具有相同的外貌特征，只是如果圖片上是男性的面孔，則其中一幅略顯陽剛，而如果是女性的面孔，其中一幅則略顯柔美。
Some were also made almost imperceptibly lopsided.
有些面孔則呈現出一邊倒的情況使得難以分辨差異。
Symmetry, too, indicates a mate's quality because in harsh environments robust genes are needed to ensure even bodily development.
由于在嚴酷的環境下優良的基因可以為后代的生理發育帶來保障，所以外貌的對稱性同樣被作為擇偶的標準。
Next, the participants were shown another set of images, depicting objects that elicit varying degrees of disgust, such as a white cloth either stained with what looked like a bodily fluid, or a less revolting blue dye.
接下來，參與者會觀看一系列讓人感覺惡心程度不一的圖片，例如一塊沾有貌似體液或者不太讓人反感的藍色色塊的白布。
Disgust is widely assumed to be another adaptation, one that warns humans to stay well away from places where germs and other pathogens may be lurking.
由于反感情緒被廣泛認為是另一種適應，它可以警告人類遠離那些可能潛伏著細菌和病原體的地方。
So, according to Dr DeBruine's hypothesis, people shown the more disgusting pictures ought to respond with an increased preference for masculine lads and feminine lasses, and for the more symmetrical countenances.
所以，根據德布魯因博士的假設，觀看了較多讓人反感的圖片的人群應該會更偏向于選擇陽剛的小伙子和柔美的小姑娘以及面貌對稱性較高的圖片。
That is precisely what happened when they were asked to rate the same set of faces one more time.
當被要求重新給這些圖片進行評級時所得出的結果還是一樣。
But it only worked with the opposite sex; the revolting images failed to alter what either men or women found attractive about their own sex.
但是，這只對給異性面貌圖片進行評級時有效。令人反感的圖片無法改變男性或者女性給同性面貌圖片評級的結果。
This means sexual selection, not other evolutionary mechanisms, is probably at work.
這意味著驗證過程中產生效果的是性選擇而不是其他進化機制。
More research is needed to confirm these observations and to see whether other factors, like witnessing violence, bear on human physiognomic proclivities.
還需要更多的研究來證實這些觀點并確定是否還有其他諸如目睹暴力等因素會對人類以貌取人的傾向產生影響。
For now, though, the majority of males who do not resemble Brad Pitt may at least take comfort that this matters less if their surroundings remain spotless.
目前看來，對于絕大多數長得不夠布拉德.皮特的男士們來說至少可以松一口氣了，因為只要你保持清潔，長得像不像布帥哥倒也沒什么。
