关键词: 择偶, 面孔吸引力, 生理周期, 睾酮

Abstract: Human mate preference is an important psychological, social and cultural phenomenon.Mate preference is not only influenced by social factors but also by physiological factors. Studying the underlying physiological mechanisms of mate preference can broaden the understanding on marriage for policymakers and the public. These studies also provide theoretical support and scientific guidance for the future law of marriage. The present review mainly focus on the effects of sex hormones on human mate preference on both behavior and neural mechanisms. Women's mate preferences track changes in hormone levels over the menstrual cycle. The frequently studied hormones are estradiol and progesterone. When women are in the late follicular (i.e., fertile) phase of the menstrual cycle, they prefer masculine men who demonstrated putative cues of underlying health. The preferences are thought to be adaptive because it is likely to increase offspring health,conferring genetic benefits to the offspring as well.In addition, If these women have a partner, they may increase desire for having short-term interactions with men signaling good genetic characteristics.But women who are in low fertility are more likely to choose males presenting feminine characteristics because this kinds of men are often considered as “good husbands” and “good fathers”,as well as minimize the risk of infection to herself and her offspring.Besides this,these men are willing to provide parental care and stable material support when their wives in pregnancy.Consequently, these preferences can be defined as a trade-off between ‘good gene’ and ‘good parent’,and then comes up the phenomenon called ‘The Dual Mating Strategy’.However no matter what kinds of men women choose,they aim to maximize reproductive benefits ultimately.Similarly,Men's mate preference is mainly affected by hormone,especially by testosterone. When their testosterone level is high, they increase preference for feminine women's faces,because women with feminine faces are thought to have reproductive potential and maternal desires.The model proposed by Haxby and Senior introduces the relationship between brain activity and face cognition. The results of brain imaging are used to analyze how people's brain work when individuals evaluate heterosexual face attraction, and then make mate decision.In addition, hormones may also affect the activity of the brain through neuromodulation, which in turn affects individual's assessment of facial attractiveness. Although the studies above reveal the influence of physiological mechanism on mate preference to some extent, there are still some researchers cast doubt on the effect of menstrual cycle on mate preference,and there are few studies on the influence of testosterone on mate selection. Future experiments can consider the following aspects:(1)There are existing divergent ideas about the way to assess hormonal status,thus a more accurate and convenient way to measure a woman's menstrual cycle is needed; (2)Most of the subjects in this field primarily involve western educated women.So a larger number of subjects are needed to study whether women from different cultural backgrounds have the same cyclical changes in mate preference; (3)Experimental design is needed to be perfected,for example the options should be set according to the real thoughts of the subjects; (4)Use a larger number of subjects to explore the extent to which individual differences affect the influence of hormones on mate preference.

Key words: mate preference, facial attractiveness, menstrual cycle, testosterone