Study: First children of beautiful people tend to be girls

busybeeburns · 04-08-2006, 06:17 PM

LONDON - When Hollywood's golden couple, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, had their first child, it was a girl. When Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes had a baby, and Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin had a baby, they also were girls.

Coincidence? Perhaps not.

Research from the London School of Economics indicates that physically attractive couples are 36 percent more likely than unattractive couples to produce a girl as their first child.

The research - led by evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa and published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology - is based on the study of 3,000 young American adults in 2001 and 2002 who were taking part in an investigation called the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

After hours of face-to-face discussions, interviewers ranked the attractiveness of participants using a five-point scale ranging from "very unattractive" to "very attractive."

Asked whether rankings were subjective, Kanazawa argued that physical attractiveness is an objective quantitative measure, just like height and weight.

"Standards of beauty are both innate and culturally universal, and everybody agrees on who is beautiful and who is ugly just like they agree on who is tall and who is short," he said. The biggest factor is facial features, he said.

He said there are computer programs that can precisely measure someone's physical attractiveness.

Kanazawa then compared the percentage of boys and girls born to the participants who were very attractive with the sex ratio of babies born to everyone else. He discovered that 56 percent of first babies born to very attractive parents were girls, while fewer than half of the babies born to parents in each of the other categories were girls.

Why does this occur? Kanazawa said that the study supports the evolutionary theory that parents tend to produce offspring who benefit from their own attributes.

Parents who have traits likely to be more beneficial to boys - such as large size, strength, and aggression - are more likely to have boys. Parents who have traits likely to be more beneficial to girls - such as physical beauty - are more likely to have girls.

Kanazawa believes that men value physical appearance more than women do when seeking a partner, and so beauty, in general, is a better attribute to pass on to girls than to boys.

"Physical attractiveness is good for both men and women, but it is much better for women than for men," he said.

Mark Thomas, senior lecturer at the biology department of University College London, told the Sunday Times newspaper that Kanazawa's findings do seem to conform with research on sexual evolution.

Kanazawa said his research also explains why women, on average, are better-looking than men.

"Because physical attractiveness is heritable - and because physically attractive parents have more daughters and less attractive parents have more sons - the average level of physical attractiveness among women increases over time relative to men," he said.

"In my study I demonstrate that more men than women are average-looking, while more women than men are either attractive or very attractive," he said.

Kanazawa said that this is the evolutionary consequence of attractive women having more daughters.

Previous research by Kanazawa published in 2005 showed that parents engaged in professions such as nursing, teaching, and counseling - or those with empathetic "female" brains - were more likely to have daughters. Those engaged in more masculine professions such as math, science, and engineering were more likely to have sons.

At the time, researchers explained that babies of people with masculine professions might encounter more testosterone in the womb and so would be more likely to be male.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...ywomen-ON.html

MrLick · 04-08-2006, 08:34 PM

I guess my first child's gonna be a girl...

Listen2Coldplay · 06-08-2006, 05:54 AM

Wow, this is pretty funny. Not in a "Ha ha", that's actually funny, but more of a stupid funny. Are we supposed to actually believe there is some kind of actual real biological sense to this research?

green eyes88 · 06-08-2006, 06:20 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by mrcool011
I guess my first child's gonna be a girl...

haha

makes me think about my family- first born son, and im the only girl
is that good or bad?

Bijeli_Miš · 06-08-2006, 04:05 PM

How can they classify anyone as a beautiful or ugly?

Black Rose · 06-08-2006, 04:36 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bijeli_Miš
How can they classify anyone as a beautiful or ugly?

Indeed, 'Beautiful' like 'coolness' is something which can't be measured. Someone someone says is beautiful could be ugly to someone else

green eyes88 · 06-08-2006, 04:50 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave S
Indeed, 'Beautiful' like 'coolness' is something which can't be measured. Someone someone says is beautiful could be ugly to someone else

actually, there is a general agreement on what makes a preson beautiful or ugly. It's basicly that ppl who are more simetrical are more attarctive. And there's a certain ratio in which the parts of your body )including your face, are suppose to divide. It's that number 1.618.
like here:

(i think this is what they meant in the article)

a face that fits this ratio would be more atractive... as would a semetrical face...

there were studies that proved this where they took a bunch of ppl, different ppl, and gave them pictures and they were asked to rate them from the most attractive to the least attractive, and the results were very similiar, and fit what i said

nessadb4 · 06-08-2006, 09:51 PM

what about David and Victoria Beckham?Gwen and Gavin?
Just curious.....

Bijeli_Miš · 06-08-2006, 11:20 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by green eyes88
actually, there is a general agreement on what makes a preson beautiful or ugly. It's basicly that ppl who are more simetrical are more attarctive. And there's a certain ratio in which the parts of your body )including your face, are suppose to divide. It's that number 1.618.
like here:

(i think this is what they meant in the article)

a face that fits this ratio would be more atractive... as would a semetrical face...

there were studies that proved this where they took a bunch of ppl, different ppl, and gave them pictures and they were asked to rate them from the most attractive to the least attractive, and the results were very similiar, and fit what i said

Indeed there are some universal beauty standards, but it's only part of what we consider beauty.Atleast the same weight carries the cultural perception of what is beautiful, and of course there are our own peronal preferences.
I personally see 100 times more beautiful girls in a bus to school, than thoose presented in Miss contests.Btw, beauty is more than just raw physical attraction, like how polite person is, and such.
Btw, to me, Chris' face doesn't seem too simetrical really.

green eyes88 · 07-08-2006, 06:53 AM

it is rather semetrical

but the point is that beauty is subjective, but in a way, u can "measure" the attractiveness of a person.

brandon313 · 07-08-2006, 08:01 AM

how does nature decide who is attractive or not....haha thats so dumb

anniep_93 · 07-08-2006, 08:06 AM

I will be offended if my first born is a boy now

weedy_gonzalez · 07-08-2006, 01:18 PM

i`m my parent`s 1st born and i`m a girl and i guess they were good lookin (my mom had guys chasing after her).

so if it`s true than i should have a daughter too. we`ll see in a few months

weedy_gonzalez · 07-08-2006, 01:20 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by nessadb4
what about David and Victoria Beckham?Gwen and Gavin?
Just curious.....

i`m not sure about victoria beckham being attractive

bart · 07-08-2006, 03:38 PM

I think you will have a boy.... I just do... a son to look out for you !
we will see... and you will call him chirs I think !

04-08-2006, 06:17 PM	#1
busybeeburns mr coldplaying himself Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 46,331 My Mood: Location: test Gender: Country: Seen CP: 20 times Fav. CP album: X&Y Fav. CP song: GPASUYF Fav. CP member: Chat posts: 4 Thanks given: 1,547 Thanked 932 Times in 418 Posts	Study: First children of beautiful people tend to be girls LONDON - When Hollywood's golden couple, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, had their first child, it was a girl. When Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes had a baby, and Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin had a baby, they also were girls. Coincidence? Perhaps not. Research from the London School of Economics indicates that physically attractive couples are 36 percent more likely than unattractive couples to produce a girl as their first child. The research - led by evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa and published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology - is based on the study of 3,000 young American adults in 2001 and 2002 who were taking part in an investigation called the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. After hours of face-to-face discussions, interviewers ranked the attractiveness of participants using a five-point scale ranging from "very unattractive" to "very attractive." Asked whether rankings were subjective, Kanazawa argued that physical attractiveness is an objective quantitative measure, just like height and weight. "Standards of beauty are both innate and culturally universal, and everybody agrees on who is beautiful and who is ugly just like they agree on who is tall and who is short," he said. The biggest factor is facial features, he said. He said there are computer programs that can precisely measure someone's physical attractiveness. Kanazawa then compared the percentage of boys and girls born to the participants who were very attractive with the sex ratio of babies born to everyone else. He discovered that 56 percent of first babies born to very attractive parents were girls, while fewer than half of the babies born to parents in each of the other categories were girls. Why does this occur? Kanazawa said that the study supports the evolutionary theory that parents tend to produce offspring who benefit from their own attributes. Parents who have traits likely to be more beneficial to boys - such as large size, strength, and aggression - are more likely to have boys. Parents who have traits likely to be more beneficial to girls - such as physical beauty - are more likely to have girls. Kanazawa believes that men value physical appearance more than women do when seeking a partner, and so beauty, in general, is a better attribute to pass on to girls than to boys. "Physical attractiveness is good for both men and women, but it is much better for women than for men," he said. Mark Thomas, senior lecturer at the biology department of University College London, told the Sunday Times newspaper that Kanazawa's findings do seem to conform with research on sexual evolution. Kanazawa said his research also explains why women, on average, are better-looking than men. "Because physical attractiveness is heritable - and because physically attractive parents have more daughters and less attractive parents have more sons - the average level of physical attractiveness among women increases over time relative to men," he said. "In my study I demonstrate that more men than women are average-looking, while more women than men are either attractive or very attractive," he said. Kanazawa said that this is the evolutionary consequence of attractive women having more daughters. Previous research by Kanazawa published in 2005 showed that parents engaged in professions such as nursing, teaching, and counseling - or those with empathetic "female" brains - were more likely to have daughters. Those engaged in more masculine professions such as math, science, and engineering were more likely to have sons. At the time, researchers explained that babies of people with masculine professions might encounter more testosterone in the womb and so would be more likely to be male. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...ywomen-ON.html

04-08-2006, 08:34 PM	#2
MrLick How I Made My Millions Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 26,002 My Mood: Location: Spokane. Gender: Country: Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 58 Thanked 41 Times in 19 Posts	I guess my first child's gonna be a girl... __________________ Even after all this time, the Sun never says to the Earth: "You owe me". Look at what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky.

06-08-2006, 06:20 AM	#4
green eyes88 Coldplayer Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 5,105 Location: london Gender: Country: Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Quote: Originally Posted by mrcool011 I guess my first child's gonna be a girl... haha makes me think about my family- first born son, and im the only girl is that good or bad? __________________ watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEWC9SiZao8 it's hilarious

06-08-2006, 04:05 PM	#5
Bijeli_Miš A rather unrealistic guy Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 5,320 Location: In a place where you don't Gender: Country: Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	How can they classify anyone as a beautiful or ugly? __________________ http://img475.imageshack.us/img475/6244/ffavzo8.gif

06-08-2006, 04:36 PM	#6
Black Rose Bear with me Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 47,534 My Mood: Location: A strangeland under the iron sea where hopes & fears can make the night train be in perfect symmetry Gender: Country: Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 6 Thanked 105 Times in 83 Posts	Quote: Originally Posted by Bijeli_Miš How can they classify anyone as a beautiful or ugly? Indeed, 'Beautiful' like 'coolness' is something which can't be measured. Someone someone says is beautiful could be ugly to someone else __________________ You could take a picture of something you see In the future where will I be? You could climb a ladder up to the sun Or write a song nobody had sung Or do something that's never been done

06-08-2006, 05:54 AM	#3
Listen2Coldplay Coldplayer Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 107 Location: Riverview, Michigan Gender: Country: Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Wow, this is pretty funny. Not in a "Ha ha", that's actually funny, but more of a stupid funny. Are we supposed to actually believe there is some kind of actual real biological sense to this research?

06-08-2006, 04:50 PM	#7
green eyes88 Coldplayer Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 5,105 Location: london Gender: Country: Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Quote: Originally Posted by Dave S Indeed, 'Beautiful' like 'coolness' is something which can't be measured. Someone someone says is beautiful could be ugly to someone else actually, there is a general agreement on what makes a preson beautiful or ugly. It's basicly that ppl who are more simetrical are more attarctive. And there's a certain ratio in which the parts of your body )including your face, are suppose to divide. It's that number 1.618. like here: (i think this is what they meant in the article) a face that fits this ratio would be more atractive... as would a semetrical face... there were studies that proved this where they took a bunch of ppl, different ppl, and gave them pictures and they were asked to rate them from the most attractive to the least attractive, and the results were very similiar, and fit what i said __________________ watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEWC9SiZao8 it's hilarious

06-08-2006, 09:51 PM	#8
nessadb4 Coldplayer Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 4 Location: Washington State Gender: Country: Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	hmmm? what about David and Victoria Beckham?Gwen and Gavin? Just curious.....

06-08-2006, 11:20 PM	#9
Bijeli_Miš A rather unrealistic guy Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 5,320 Location: In a place where you don't Gender: Country: Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Quote: Originally Posted by green eyes88 actually, there is a general agreement on what makes a preson beautiful or ugly. It's basicly that ppl who are more simetrical are more attarctive. And there's a certain ratio in which the parts of your body )including your face, are suppose to divide. It's that number 1.618. like here: (i think this is what they meant in the article) a face that fits this ratio would be more atractive... as would a semetrical face... there were studies that proved this where they took a bunch of ppl, different ppl, and gave them pictures and they were asked to rate them from the most attractive to the least attractive, and the results were very similiar, and fit what i said Indeed there are some universal beauty standards, but it's only part of what we consider beauty.Atleast the same weight carries the cultural perception of what is beautiful, and of course there are our own peronal preferences. I personally see 100 times more beautiful girls in a bus to school, than thoose presented in Miss contests.Btw, beauty is more than just raw physical attraction, like how polite person is, and such. Btw, to me, Chris' face doesn't seem too simetrical really. __________________ http://img475.imageshack.us/img475/6244/ffavzo8.gif

07-08-2006, 06:53 AM	#10
green eyes88 Coldplayer Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 5,105 Location: london Gender: Country: Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	it is rather semetrical but the point is that beauty is subjective, but in a way, u can "measure" the attractiveness of a person. __________________ watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEWC9SiZao8 it's hilarious

07-08-2006, 08:01 AM	#11
brandon313 Amsterdam or bust Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 520 Location: Raleigh NC Gender: Country: Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	how does nature decide who is attractive or not....haha thats so dumb __________________ http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...313/diego2.jpg W E R D E R B R E M E N

07-08-2006, 08:06 AM	#12
anniep_93 Hello =] Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 3,218 Location: Where beer does flow and men chunder Gender: Country: Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I will be offended if my first born is a boy now __________________

07-08-2006, 01:18 PM	#13
weedy_gonzalez divalicious diva Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 11,609 Location: hackney, london Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	i`m my parent`s 1st born and i`m a girl and i guess they were good lookin (my mom had guys chasing after her). so if it`s true than i should have a daughter too. we`ll see in a few months __________________ `I have to pee but when I come back I`d really like to continue talking about this conversation`

07-08-2006, 01:20 PM	#14
weedy_gonzalez divalicious diva Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 11,609 Location: hackney, london Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Quote: Originally Posted by nessadb4 what about David and Victoria Beckham?Gwen and Gavin? Just curious..... i`m not sure about victoria beckham being attractive __________________ `I have to pee but when I come back I`d really like to continue talking about this conversation`

07-08-2006, 03:38 PM	#15
bart Something truly special Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 19,147 My Mood: Location: Barcelona Gender: Country: Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 15 Thanked 12 Times in 6 Posts	I think you will have a boy.... I just do... a son to look out for you ! we will see... and you will call him chirs I think ! __________________ Work in progress........... "Small club, with a small mentality" !! Mancini will always have my utmost respect and admiration...... Thank you Mancini. Thank you for everything. The King is dead. Long live the King The Daddy of the pub thread !!!