Cross-cultural perception of strength, attractiveness, aggressiveness and helpfulness of Maasai male faces calibrated to handgrip strength

Scientific Reports. 2024. Vol. 14. Article 5880.

Marina L. Butovskaya, Rostovstseva V., Mezentseva A., Kavina A., Rizwan M., Shi Y., Vilimek V.

Previous research has demonstrated that Maasai and Europeans tend to align in their ratings of the
physical strength and aggressiveness of Maasai male faces, calibrated to hand grip strength (HGS).
However, perceptions of attractiveness of these faces differed among populations. In this study,
three morphs of young Maasai men created by means of geometric morphometrics, and depicting the
average sample and two extrema (± 4 SD of HGS), were assessed by men and women from Tanzania,
Czech Republic, Russia, Pakistan, China, and Mexico (total sample = 1540). The aim of this study was to
test cross-cultural differences in the perception of young Maasai men’s composites calibrated to HGS,
focusing on four traits: physical strength, attractiveness, aggressiveness, and helpfulness. Individuals
from all six cultures were able to distinguish between low, medium, and high HGS portraits. Across
all study populations, portrait of Maasai men with lower HGS was perceived as less attractive,
more aggressive, and less helpful. This suggests that people from diverse populations share similar
perceptions of physical strength based on facial shape, as well as attribute similar social qualities
like aggressiveness and helpfulness to these facial images. Participants from all samples rated the
composite image of weak Maasai men as the least attractive.

Keywords: Maasai, attractiveness, hand grip strength, Geometric morphometrics, Composite portraits

Publication based on the results of: Interactions between homoarchical and heterarchical cultures in varying historical contexts (2024)