Brittany Poeppe | Assistant Arts + Life Editor

On Thursday September 24, Marie-Joëlle Estrada visited Buena Vista University to give an ACES presentation about the evolutionary perspectives of what’s hot and what’s not. Estrada teaches at the University of Rochester, and she received a doctorate in Social Psychology. She noted that most of us care a lot about what’s hot and what’s not, and then spoke about attraction.

Estrada talked about the science of attraction, noting that attraction itself has different parts. People can have an attractive face, body, or even an attractive scent. Estrada showed a series of women’s faces in her presentation and asked the participants to choose the most attractive face. Many people chose the faces that were in the middle. Estrada explained that from an evolutionary perspective, humans find women who have 20-30% baby-facedness more attractive. She explained that baby-facedness is the appearance of looking youthful while still showing signs of maturity like thinner cheeks and a broader smile.

Estrada also talked about men, noting that some men have dominant features like a square jaw, while other men are more baby-faced. She explained that men who have strong, dominant features like a square jaw have higher levels of testosterone. Those men are healthy men with good genetics because they can afford to have high levels of testosterone.

Most people are attracted to a certain waist-to-hip (WTH) ratio. Estrada explained that from an evolutionary perspective, most humans prefer women with a 0.7 WTH and men with a 0.8.

Estrada discussed the scent of attractiveness from a genetic, evolutionary standpoint. She explained that women are not usually attracted to men who have similar major histocompatibility complexes (MHC). Women described similar scents as like a father or brother’s.

Estrada ended the presentation by talking about misattribution, in which a person thinks their sweaty palms, increased heart rate, and nervousness are because of another person. She joked about helping students with their dating lives, suggesting that students take their dates to amusement parks, horror or funny movies, or to the gym. Estrada suggested that the students might benefit from misattribution.

“I’m not saying drug your date,” Estrada said, drawing a few laughs from around the room.

Sophomore Shelby Pittenger attended the event, and she said it was something she hadn’t really thought of before.

“I thought it was interesting. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but it was pretty cool to learn about from a different perspective.”

Photo by Brittany Poeppe