Abstract
Facial symmetry is known to contribute to facial attractiveness. Thus, introducing asymmetries in faces could alter the perception of faces viewed as less attractive (e.g., Rhodes et al., 1998; 1999). Nonetheless, partially occluded asymmetric frontal faces can be perceived as more attractive than non-occluded frontal faces (e.g., Kamatani et al., 2021; Miyazaki & Kawahara, 2016; Orghian & Hidalgo, 2020). Sadr and Krowicki (2019) proposed that the loss of symmetry caused by facial occlusion may contribute to the amplification of attractiveness. In profile, viewers can see only one side (right or left half) of the face and thus viewing profiles should function similarly to the partial occlusion of frontal faces, resulting in an amplification of attractiveness in profile relative to frontal face ratings. To examine this possibility, we compared the attractiveness of frontal with that of right- and left-profile images of males and females at each level of attractiveness (low, middle, and high) and examined whether attractiveness could be amplified by altering the viewing direction from the frontal view to the profile view. We predicted that profiles would be perceived as more attractive than frontal faces of low attractiveness because low-attractiveness frontal faces are often characterized by asymmetric facial contours or unbalanced facial features. The results revealed that female profiles were rated as more attractive than frontal faces of low attractiveness, whereas male profiles were rated as less attractive than frontal faces of high attractiveness. The present results demonstrated that the same amplification occurred in the attractiveness rating of female profiles as in partial occluding of frontal faces. Moreover, we suggested that favorable features that contribute to attractiveness were robustly maintained in female profiles, whereas equivalent favorable features did not contribute to the perception of attractiveness in male profiles.