Next, the researchers set out to determine whether genes or the environment was a bigger influence on how people perceived attractiveness. In other words, they wanted to figure out what accounted for the 52 percent disagreement rate they saw in the first part of the study.

For each twin pair, the researchers compared the preferences of one twin to those of the other, to determine how similar they were. Then, they compared the similarity of all of the identical twins’ preferences to those of the fraternal twins, Germine said.

If the identical twin pairs had preferences that were more similar than those of the fraternal twin pairs, it would suggest that genes play a bigger role, Germine said. But if the identical twins’ preferences were not more similar to each other, it would suggest the environment plays a larger role, she said.

The researchers used standard calculations, that are often used in twin studies, to figure out the relative influence of the participants’ genetics and their environments on their ratings of people’s attractiveness. They concluded that people’s individual environments accounted for most (78 percent) of the differences in how people perceived attractiveness.

And even for each twin in a pair, a person’s individual environment is unique, the researchers said.

For example, even though twins share a lot of their environment because they usually grow up together in the same house, their individual environments — including their friends, what they see in the media and their first relationship — differ enough to give each twin an individual perception of attractiveness, Germine said. Previous research has shown that if people see a face and associate it with something positive, they tend to find that face more attractive, she added.

The researchers noted that shared environments (as opposed to individual environments) may still play a role in influencing people’s preferences, but for this study, the population included was not very diverse.

Curated by Erbe
Original Article