Abstract
Research suggests that physical attractiveness may be associated with more permissive moral norms, which can in turn lead to the adoption of a more liberal sexual strategy. However, different predictions arise from evolutionary Life History Theory and Moral Foundations Theory. We hypothesized that self-reported physical attractiveness and moral intuitions (innate morality) mediate the relationship between somatic-parental effort (SPE) and sociosexual desire - an indicator of mating orientation. The study involved 326 women aged 19-33 years. A sequential mediation analysis was conducted. As hypothesized, higher levels of SPE were associated with higher self-reported physical attractiveness. It was also shown that self-perceived physical attractiveness was a positive indicator of innate morality and that among all moral intuitions only Authority was a negative predictor of a preference for short-term relationships. Furthermore, in the studied women SPE was a direct positive predictor only of the intuition of Sanctity/Purity. However, the relationship between physical attractiveness in women following the slow reproductive strategy and sociosexual desire was characteristic of reproductive effort rather than somatic-parental effort. However, it was found that certain relationships between variables were in particular characteristic of women with a rural background. For this reason, the obtained results in the hypothesis context are significantly limited to this specific subpopulation of women.
Keywords
From the evolutionary point of view, physical attractiveness is one of the biological indicators of genetic quality (Buss & Schmitt, 1993; Buss & Shackelford, 2008) raising the individual's reproductive chances (Jokela, 2009; Prokop & Fedor, 2011). Furthermore, physical attractiveness is a better predictor of market value for women as compared to men (Wincenciak et al., 2015).
Neuroscience research indicates that certain areas of the brain are involved in both aesthetic (physical attractiveness) and moral judgments (see Cui et al., 2019). Several psychological studies have investigated the relationship between physical attractiveness and moral character. For example Vicario and Rafal (2017) have found that people with higher body mass index – which is an important indicator of physical attractiveness (Richmond et al., 2012) – have tendency to have lower disapproval ratings for stories describing ethical violations. However, most studies refer to the physical attractiveness of the face.
Relationships between physical facial attractiveness and morality are bidirectional. On the one hand, studies have shown that, that esthetic evaluations driven by perceptual cues associated with face attractiveness involve trustworthiness (Jaeger et al., 2018) and moral judgments (Cui et al., 2019; Shtudiner et al., 2024). On the other hand, it has been found, that moral behavior affects facial attractiveness (He et al., 2024; Li et al., 2023).
Because facial attractiveness in male faces is not as important for women as is facial attractiveness in female faces for men (read further Kou et al., 2020), and in general the physical attractiveness is more important to men than to women (Buss, 1998; Meltzer et al., 2014), one can assume that the physical attractiveness of women's will be particularly important when inferring their morality.
Based on evolutionary Life History Theory and Moral Foundations Theory, this paper reports on the results of preliminary testing of the hypothesis that in women self-reported physical attractiveness and moral intuitions are mediators between somatic-parental effort and sociosexual desire, which is used in our study as a proxy for mating orientation.
Life History Theory
According to Life History Theory (LHT, Gadgil & Bossert, 1970; Pianka, 1970; Stearns, 1992), organisms exhibit preferences for specific reproductive strategies, i.e., ways to ensure offspring. So-called fast strategies prioritize reproductive effort (the total energy budget of an organism that is devoted to reproductive processes) over somatic effort (an organism's total investment in its own development) and mating (total investment in gaining sexual access to a partner) over parental effort (parental expenditure that benefits offspring), while slow strategies prioritize somatic over reproductive effort and parental over mating effort (Figueredo et al., 2012; see also Łukasik et al., 2021).
Reproductive strategies are shaped by different environmental factors, so-called environmental cues, which indicate in which direction resources should be shifted in order to maximize fitness (Brumbach et al., 2009; Ellis et al., 2009; Griskevicius et al., 2013; Volk, 2023).
Moral Foundations Theory
Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) posits that the human mind is evolutionarily equipped with moral intuitions, which emerged as a form of adaptation to the perennial social problems that humans encountered in their phylogenetic past (Haidt & Joseph, 2004; Graham et al., 2018; Graham et al., 2011; McAdams et al., 2008; Haidt & Graham, 2007; Haidt & Graham, 2009; see also Simpson, 2017). Moral intuitions operate automatically, providing a basis for an initial evaluation of human behavior. The five basic moral intuitions distinguished within MFT are Care/Harm, Fairness/Cheating, Loyalty/Betrayal, Authority/Subversion, and Sanctity (Purity)/Degradation (Haidt & Graham, 2009; Graham et al., 2011; Haidt & Joseph, 2004; see also Jarmakowski-Kostrzanowski & Jarmakowska-Kostrzanowska, 2016). Haidt and Joseph (2008) refer to this intuitive system using the terms ‘innate morality’ and ‘intuitive ethics’.
Research has shown that the psychometric measures of the slow life history strategy are positively associated with each of the five moral foundations (Gladden & Cleator, 2018). Slow LH strategists score higher in moralizing across a wide range of moral intuitions. Gladden et al. (2009) also report that slow LH strategies predict increased negative judgment of harmless moral violations, increased sensitivity to disgust, and increased negative responses to perceived moral violations of autonomy, community, and divinity. Thus, we posit the hypothesis that the somatic-parental effort and moral intuitions are positively correlated.
Sociosexuality and Life History Theory
Sociosexuality is a tendency toward behavioral promiscuity (small/restricted sociosexuality vs. large/unrestricted sociosexuality; Penke & Asendorpf, 2008), that is expressed, among other things, by the type of relationship: short-term or long-term (Meskó et al., 2014). To measure of sociosexuality, the SOI-R (revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory; Penke & Asendorpf, 2008) is broadly used. According to Penke and Asendorpf (2008, p. 1114) “Sociosexual desire is a motivational state that is characterized by heightened sexual interest and that is often accompanied by subjective sexual arousal and sexual fantasies”. Among the three SOI-R subscales, sociosexual desire is most strongly correlated with many other variables important from the LHT perspective, such as happiness (Mafra et al., 2021); sex, relationship status, educational attainment (Ciocca et al., 2024), as well as short-term vs. long-term mating orientation (Penke & Asendorpf, 2008, for more detail see Table 4).
It has been demonstrated that a slower life history strategy is positively correlated with restricted orientation (a long-term mating orientation) and negatively with unrestricted orientation (a short-term mating orientation) (Mogilski et al., 2020; Strouts et al., 2017). In summary, we hypothesize that somatic-parental effort is a negative predictor of sociosexual desire.
Slow Reproductive Strategy as a Predictor of Physical Attractiveness
The traits of physical attractiveness have been directly linked to reproductive effort as a manifestation of an individual's reproductive and genetic fitness (Buss & Schmitt, 1993). Indirectly, however, these depend on the somatic effort characteristic of the slow reproductive strategy. “Somatic effort is akin to building a bank account, whereas reproductive effort is akin to spending this account in ways that help replicate the investor's genes. However, just as people do not save money for the sake of having a savings account, organisms do not invest in somatic effort for the sake of growth, maintenance, and learning. . . . By saving for a larger bank account now, an organism can improve its reproductive success in the future’ (Griskevicius et al., 2011b, p. 1016; see also Del Giudice et al., 2015). Thus, it can be assumed that physical attractiveness not only predicts higher reproductive success or reproductive effort but may also be an indication of the somatic effort characteristic of the slow reproductive strategy. This is supported, for example, by a study (Dillon et al., 2013) in which the slow reproductive strategy was shown to be associated with physical attractiveness. According to the authors, reproduction deferral, which is characteristic of the slow LH strategy enables self-investment in somatic effort – including physical attractiveness – which consequently contributes to increased partner self-worth (mating value).
Other studies also suggest that physical attractiveness may be related to somatic effort. For example, physical attractiveness is a predictor of health (see Kowal et al., 2022) and positive correlations have been shown to exist between slow reproductive strategies and mental and physical health (Figueredo et al., 2014; see also Borráz-León et al., 2021). Recent evidence supports the notion that physical attractiveness is positively associated with following a healthy lifestyle (e.g., consuming fruits and vegetables) (Appleton et al., 2018; Cairns et al., 2020). This would seem to indicate at least some connections between physical attractiveness and somatic effort, the goal of which is, after all, the efficient functioning and survival of the organism.
Physical Attractiveness and Morality
Research reveals that more attractive women are characterized by liberal moral standards because they have a tendency to exhibit non-restrictive orientation (Amos & McCabe, 2015; Perilloux et al., 2013: Rhodes et al., 2005). However, the objective of the present study is to verify an alternative hypothesis, according to which the physical attractiveness of females – as a sign of somatic-parental effort – may be positively related to moral intuitions. To the best of our knowledge, there is little research examining the relationship between physical attractiveness and moral intuitions. Therefore, it needs to be stressed that in this case the presented inferences are of indirect nature.
A recent study has shown that very unattractive faces are perceived as more likely to commit behaviors that indicate a bad moral character (Rosa et al., 2023). Klebl et al. (2021) have reported that physically unattractive individuals are thought to exhibit a greater propensity for impure acts as compared to physically attractive ones. The authors take an evolutionary perspective in explaining this result, to the effect that physical attractiveness is linked to the degree to which individuals are perceived to present a pathogen threat. Thus, it appears that individuals with high physical attractiveness have a stronger so-called ‘behavioral immune system’ (Schaller, 2011). This could mean that in more physically attractive individuals, reactions of avoidance of harmful actions due to treating one's body as a sanctuary will be stronger than in physically less attractive individuals.
In summary, we assume that in the case of somatic-parental effort physical attractiveness is a positive predictor of innate morality.
Moral Intuitions and Human Sexuality
To the best of our knowledge, few studies have addressed the question of the relationship between moral intuitions and human sexuality. Inbar et al. (2009) demonstrated that individuals high in disgust sensitivity showed more negative intuitive moral evaluations of gay people and same-gender sexual behavior. Purity emerges as a foundation strongly associated with disapproval for certain aspects of sexuality (casual sex and using pornography), relationships and marriage (same-sex relationships, same-sex marriage, and offspring out of wedlock) (Koleva et al., 2012). Another study conducted on men using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire has found that purity moralization is associated with a lower frequency of using the services of sex workers (Silver et al., 2022).
However, although the cited studies concern Purity, it should be noted that all moral intuitions, i.e., Care, Fairness, Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity (Purity), are positively correlated with each other (see, e.g., Bretl & Goering, 2022 ; Kim et al., 2012). Thus, it can be assumed that innate morality negatively correlates with sociosexual desire.
The Present Study
Rationale and Objectives
The rationale for this study was to build on existing research and theories based on the evolutionary perspective – Life History Theory and Moral Foundations Theory – and also to expand on our understanding of the link between physical attractiveness and morality. The overarching aim of the present study is to verify the following general assumptions: 1) Self-perceived physical attractiveness is a manifestation of somatic-parental effort (SPE), and 2) Women's self-perceived physical attractiveness is associated with an increase rather than a decrease in their innate morality, which is dependent on the adopted life history strategy. In the presented study a sequential mediation analysis was conducted and the following detailed hypotheses were tested with data obtained in the present study:
H1. Somatic-parental effort (SPE) is a negative predictor of sociosexual desire (which is a proxy for long- and short-term mating orientations). H2. Self-perceived physical attractiveness is a mediator between somatic-parental effort and sociosexual desire. H2.1. Somatic-parental effort is positively associated with self-perceived physical attractiveness. H2.2. Self-perceived physical attractiveness is negatively associated with sociosexual desire. H3. Self-perceived physical attractiveness is positively associated with innate morality. H4. Innate morality is a mediator between somatic-parental effort and sociosexual desire. H4.1. Somatic-parental effort is positively associated with innate morality. H4.2. Innate morality is negatively associated with sociosexual desire. H5. Self-perceived physical attractiveness and innate morality are sequential mediators in the association between somatic-parental effort and sociosexual desire.
The hypothetical dependency model is shown in Figure 1.
Hypothetical Dependency Model.
Materials and Methods
Participants
The study involved 342 women. The participants were all Polish, recruited from Subcarpathian region in south-eastern Poland. In the sample, 53% of the participants were pedagogy students (N = 192) and 44% studied for a nursing degree (N = 150). The majority of the participants (68%) came from rural areas, 8% from towns with populations of up to 10,000, 13% from towns with populations between 10,000 and 100,000, 10% were from cities with populations between 100,000 and 500,000 and the remaining 1% were from cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants. The results for 326 female participants, aged between 19 and 33, were analyzed (Mage = 21.02, SD = 1.67). The medians of age in the first group (pedagogy students) and the second group (nursing students) were 21 and 20, respectively. Two individuals (0.6%) did not provide their age and 4 (1.2%) failed to provide their social background.
Procedure
The participants completed a set of self-report instruments detailed below. The study was anonymous. All participants provided written informed consent prior to the study and were debriefed in person. They were assured of anonymity and informed that participation was voluntary and could be terminated at any time. The first page of the survey explained the objectives of the study and data protection regulations. The questionnaires were administered collectively during class hours, with the consent of the institution in which the participants studied. All students had voluntarily agreed to participate. Research was organized in groups and the procedure took approximately 35 min to complete.
Measures
Reproductive and Somatic-Parental Effort
The Mini-K (Figueredo et al., 2006; Polish adaptation by Jonason et al., 2013; cf. Łukasik et al., 2021) is a 20-item short-form measure of the ALHB (Arizona Life History Battery) assessing several domains of social and sexual behavior. Participants provided responses on a scale from −3 (strongly disagree) to +3 (strongly agree). The Mini-K is originally used to study the reproductive life history strategy (LHS)
Item no. 9 (‘I have a close and warm relationship with my own children’) was removed as irrelevant due to the participants’ young age (the young women in our sample had no children). The omega coefficient reflecting the internal consistency of the scale was .62.
Moral Foundation Intuitions
The MFQ-PL – Moral Foundations Questionnaire – measures universal moral intuitions (Graham et al., 2009; Haidt & Graham, 2009; Graham et al., 2011; adapted from Jarmakowski-Kostrzanowski & Jarmakowska-Kostrzanowska, 2016). The MFQ is a self-report measure that assesses individual priorities in moral decision-making across the five foundations described in Moral Foundations Theory. The MFQ-PL consists of two parts and 30 items across 5 subscales. In the first part, the participants provide responses on a scale from 0 (not at all relevant) to 5 (extremely relevant). In the second part, they respond on a scale from 0 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The internal consistency of the subscales in the present research was as follows: Care/Harm ω = .68; Fairness/Cheating ω = .61; Loyalty/Betrayal ω = .56; Authority/Subversion ω = .58; Purity/Sanctity/Degradation ω = .64. The obtained indicators were lower than in the study of Graham et al. (2011), but closer to the internal consistency indices (alphas) in other studies (Rodriguez-Ferreiro & Barberia, 2017; Glover et al., 2014).
For the purposes of the present study, a single factor of INNATE MORALITY was used. This decision was based on Haidt and Joseph's (2008) use of the term ‘innate morality’ to describe an autonomous, intuitive system of moral judgments of evolutionary origin. Furthermore, positive intercorrelations exist between the various types of moral intuitions (e.g., Bretl & Goering, 2022; Kim et al., 2012), which supports the use of a single factor.
Another two factors distinguished for the purposes of the study were Individualizing Foundations and Binding Foundations, the existence of which is assumed by Moral Foundations Theory (Graham et al., 2011; see also Glover et al., 2014). The two factors were used to examine the mediating effect of innate morality, if any, in verifying the model of relationships between variables.
Physical Attractiveness
The Body Esteem Scale (BES; Franzoi & Shields, 1984 in the Polish adaptation by Lipowska & Lipowski, 2013) consists of 35 items grouped in three subscales: Sexual Attractiveness, Weight Concern; and Physical Condition. Participants read items related to various body parts and bodily functions (e.g., body scent, nose, appetite, sex organs) and indicate how they feel about them on a scale from 1 (strong negative feelings) to 5 (strong positive feelings). The internal consistency of the subscale was as follows: Sexual Attractiveness ω = .82, Weight Concern ω = .90, and Physical Condition ω = .85. In this study, body evaluation was treated as an indicator of self-perceived physical attractiveness (see Bale & Archer, 2013; Ozimek et al., 2023). The present study also distinguished a single factor of PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS, as such a global measure is very often used in studies on self-perceived attractiveness (e.g., Tan et al., 2024; Mowen et al., 2022).
Sociosexual Desire
The SOI-R (revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory; Penke & Asendorpf, 2008 in the Polish adaptation by Jankowski, 2016) assesses individuals’ openness to uncommitted sexual relationships. Individuals who are more willing to engage in short-term relationships (e.g., preferring sexual intercourse without emotional commitment, having multiple partners over a short period of time) show so-called unrestricted sociosexuality, while those who prefer long-term relationships (are less willing to engage in casual sex and prefer commitment and emotional intimacy) show so-called restricted sociosexuality. Responses are provided on a 9-point Likert scale (1 = never, 9 = at least once a day). A higher score indicates less restrictive sociosexuality, while a lower score indicates more restrictive sociosexuality.
On the SOI-R-D, which consists of items 7–9, a higher score indicates a higher level of sociosexual desire. The reliability of the scale is ω = .89. For this reason, higher levels of sociosexual desire can be taken as an empirical proxy for short-term mating orientation.
Data Analysis
An a priori power analysis was conducted using G*Power version 3.1.9.7 (Faul et al., 2007) for sample size estimation. For statistical analysis, the package SPSS ver. 22 was used along with macro-PROCESS v.3.5 (Hayes, 2018) for regression analysis, and model 6 with a bootstrap procedure with 5000 replicates. Outliers were excluded according to the Mahalanobis distance measure relying on the usually recommended cutoff (i.e., p < 0.001; Mahalanobis, 1960; Penny, 1996). Missing data were filled using a multiple imputation algorithm with five substitutions (see Pedersen et al., 2017). The Kolmogorov–Smirnov test showed that the variables did not have a normal distribution and therefore non-parametric statistics were used. Because of the limitations and biases of the α coefficient (see Trizano-Hermosilla & Alvarado, 2016) the internal consistency of the scales was estimated with McDonald's Omega (McDonald, 1999; see also Hayes & Coutts, 2020) using JASP Version 0.14 (https://jasp-stats.org/). For model testing purposes, means were calculated for the following variables: Somatic-Parental Effort (SPE), Sociosexual Desire (DESIRE), the BES subscales including Sexual Attractiveness (SEXUAL), Weight Concern (WEIGHT), and Physical Condition (PHYSICAL), as well as the MFQ subscales including Care (CARE), Fairness (FAIRNESS), Loyalty (LOYALTY), Authority (AUTHORITY), and Sanctity (SANCTITY). Factor analysis was also performed using the Principal Components method with oblimin rotation and Keiser normalization in order to 1) extract the general factors Innate Morality – the variable Innate Morality (Table 1A and Table 1B, see Supplementary Materials) and Self-Perceived Physical Attractiveness – PhATR (Table 2A, see Supplementary Material) and 2) two MF factors: the Individualizing Foundations Factor – INDIVID and the Binding Foundations factor – BINDING (Table 3A, see Supplementary Materials).
Results
With a significance criterion of α = .05 and power = .95, the minimum sample size for detecting a medium effect of f² = .15 is N = 75 for one-tailed linear multiple regression: a fixed model with 3 predictors and a single regression coefficient. Thus, the obtained sample size of N = 326 is more than adequate to test the study hypothesis.
The maximum proportion of missing data was 2.6% for all responses. Nine subjects were excluded from further analysis due to missing responses in one or more SOC subscales or complete non-response on the SOI-R-D (missing data ranged from 8.7% to 42.3%). Seven individuals were also excluded as outliers according to the Mahalanobis distance measure Finally, analysis involved results from 326 individuals (Łukasik & Wołpiuk-Ochocińska, 2021).
The factor INNATE MORALITY explained 57.7% of the variance (KMO = .763, χ2 = 576.134, df =10, p < .001), the factors INDIVID (Individualizing Foundations) and BINDING (Binding Foundations) together explained 75.3% of the variance (KMO = .763, χ2 = 576.134, df =10, p < .001), including CARE, FAIRNESS and AUTHORITY, LOYALTY, SANCTITY, respectively. The PhATR factor explained 74.6% of the variance (KMO = .718, χ2 = 366.338, df = 3, p < .001). Collinearity analysis of the predictors entered into the model did not indicate any problems with tolerance ranging from .887 to .996 and VIF from 1.034 to 1.128.
Descriptive Statistics
Table 1 presents descriptive statistics for the variables. As the age of the respondents did not correlate with any of the variables, it was excluded from further analyses. Somatic-parental effort (SPE) was correlated with most of the variables included in the model. In line with previous results (e.g., Glover et al., 2014), intercorrelations were obtained between the MFQ subscales: the two individualizing foundations (i.e., Care and Fairness) were correlated with each other. Similarly, the three binding foundations (Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity) were closely correlated with one another. Intercorrelations were also obtained between the Body Esteem Scale subscales coinciding with original results (Franzoi & Shields, 1984). In addition, SPE was negatively correlated with sociosexual desire, indicating restricted orientation, which is consistent with findings from other studies on the relationship between life history strategies and sociosexuality (e.g., Figueredo et al., 2013; Kruger & Fisher, 2008; Strouts et al., 2017). The three moral intuitions with the highest means were: care, fairness, sanctity, which is consistent with the results reported from 67 countries to the effect that women rate these moral intuitions particularly highly (Atari et al., 2022; see also a study on a Polish sample by Jach et al., 2023).
Descriptive Statistics and Intercorrelations Between Variables Included in This Study (N = 326).
Note. Spearman's rho, p < 0.05*, p < 0.01**, two-tailed. Variables: SPE - somatic-parental effort; Moral intuitions: CARE – Care/Harm; FAIRNESS – Fairness/Cheating; LOYALTY – Loyalty/Betrayal; AUTHORITY – Authority/Subversion; SANCTITY – Sanctity/Degradation; Body Esteem Scale: SEXUAL – Sexual Attractiveness; WEIGHT– Weight Concern; PHYSICAL – Physical Condition; DESIRE – sociosexual desire (restricted/unrestricted orientation); INNATE MORALITY – innate morality; BINDING – Binding Foundations, INDIVID – Individualizing Foundations; PhATR – self-perceived physical attractiveness.
Regression Analysis – General Model
The objective of the first part of analysis of the obtained results was to verify the general model of relationships between the variables shown in Figure 1.
In the first analysis, SPE was included as an independent variable, DESIRE (sociosexual desire; restricted/unrestricted orientation) as a dependent variable, and PhATR (self-perceived physical attractiveness) and INNATE MORALITY as mediators. The results of the analysis are presented in Figure 2.
Physical Attractiveness and Innate Morality as Mediators Between Somatic-Parental Effort and Sociosexual Desire.
In the first step, a direct effect was analyzed for SPE predicting DESIRE (sociosexual desire). The relationship between SPE and sociosexual desire was negative and significant (β = –.56, SE = .17, t = –3.18, p = .002, 95% CL [–0.90, −0.21]). Women who scored higher on SPE had lower scores on sociosexual desire. The overall effect (B = –.53, SE = .17, t = –3.12, p = .002, 95% CL [– 0.86, −0.19]) indicates the existence of partial mediation. These results corroborate hypothesis H1, according to which somatic-parental effort is a negative predictor of sociosexual desire.
A statistically significant sequential mediation occurred between SPE, self-perceived physical attractiveness, innate morality and sociosexual desire (B = –.02, BootSE = .016, Boot 95% CL [–.06, –.002]. Women with greater somatic and parental effort showed higher overall self-perceived physical attractiveness (corroborating H2.1), which was a positive predictor of greater overall innate morality (corroborating H3), which was in turn a predictor of lower sociosexual desire (corroborating H4.2).
The other mediators: SPE, PhATR, DESIRE and SPE, INNATE MORALITY, and DESIRE were found to be statistically insignificant. Thus, the obtained results bear out hypothesis H5 stating that self-perceived physical attractiveness and innate morality are sequential mediators in the relationship between SPE and sociosexual desire, but did not confirm the remaining hypotheses (H2, H2.2, H4, and H4.1) confirming the mediation of self-perceived physical attractiveness and innate morality between somatic-parental effort and sociosexual desire).
Regression Analysis – Detailed Model
The aim of the second part of result analysis was to verify the relationships between the specific variables presented in Figure 1. First, two aspects of innate morality were considered: Individualizing Foundations and Binding Foundations, followed by three aspects of physical attractiveness: Sexual Attractiveness, Physical Condition, and Weight Concern.
Individualizing Foundations and Binding Foundations
The first step of analysis involved the mediation of Individualizing Foundations and Binding Foundations between SPE, physical attractiveness, and sociosexual desire. No mediation effect was shown for Individualizing Foundations; only direct effects were identified: SPE and Individualizing Foundations were found to be negative predictors of sociosexual desire.
For the mediator Binding Foundations (Figure 3), the direct effect of SPE on sociosexual desire was again negative and significant: (β = –.55, SE = .17, t = –3.13, p = 0.002, 95% CL [–.89, –.20]). Two mediations were shown to exist, the first being SPE, self-perceived physical attractiveness, and sociosexual desire: B = .12, BootSE = .06, Boot 95% CL [.007, .24], indicating that women with higher SPE scored higher on physical attractiveness, which was in turn positively linked to sociosexual desire.
Self-perceived Physical Attractiveness and Binding Foundations as Mediators Between Somatic-Parental Effort (SPE) and Sociosexual Desire.
The second (sequential) mediation involved: SPE, self-perceived physical attractiveness, Binding Foundations, and DESIRE: B = –.04, BootSE = .02, Boot 95% CL [–.08., –.001], which means that female subjects with higher SPE scores showed higher self-perceived physical attractiveness, which was in turn a predictor of higher binding moral intuitions, related to lower sociosexual desire. The direct effect of SPE on sociosexual desire was significant and negative: β = –.55, SE = .17, t = −3.12, p = .002; 95% CL [ –.89, –.20]. The overall effect was also significant and negative: B = –.53, SE = .17, t = –3.12, p = .002, 95% CL [– .86, –. 19].
In order to test which aspects of individualizing and binding intuitions are mediators, further serial regression models were created. The aspects of Care and Fairness that belong to individualizing morality were not shown to be mediators. Instead, Care, albeit not a mediator, was found to be directly related to sociosexual desire: the relationship was negative and significant (β = –.26, SE = .13, t = –1.99, p = .05, 95% CL [–.52, –.003]). This means that female respondents scoring higher on Care showed lower levels of sociosexual desire. For Binding Foundations (Table 2), self-perceived physical attractiveness was found to be positively related to Loyalty, but this was not shown to have an effect on sociosexual desire. In contrast, Authority was found to be a mediator between self-perceived physical attractiveness and sociosexual desire. That is, women with higher somatic-parental effort were characterized by greater self-perceived physical attractiveness, which is in turn associated with greater respect for authority figures, and this in turn may have an inhibitory effect on sociosexual desire (β = –.04, BootSE = .02, CL [–.08, –.01]. Furthermore, Sanctity (Purity) mediated between SPE and sociosexual desire β = –.09, BootSE = .05, CL[ –.20, –.01]. Thus, women with greater SPE were characterized by a greater tendency to treat their bodies as temples, with the associated suppressive effect on sociosexual desire. The mediation of other aspects of innate morality was not statistically significant.
Direct and Indirect Mediations in Serial Regression Analysis. Variables: Binding Foundations and Body Self-Esteem Aspects.
Note. SPE – somatic-parental effort; PhATR – self-perceived physical attractiveness; Binding Foundations: LOYALTY, AUTHORITY, SANCTITY; body self-esteem aspects: SEXUAL – sexual attractiveness, PHYSICAL – Physical Condition; DESIRE – sociosexual desire.
Self-Perceived Physical Attractiveness
More serial regression models were conducted to test which aspects of self-perceived physical attractiveness mediated between SPE and sociosexual desire. Regression analysis results are presented in Table 2. Of the three aspects of self-perceived physical attractiveness, two, i.e., Sexual Attractiveness (SEXUAL) and Physical Condition (PHYSICAL), were mediators related to innate morality. Also two mediation effects were found in the case of sexual attractiveness. In the first one, women who showed greater SPE scored higher on sexual attractiveness, which was related to greater sociosexual desire (β = .09, BootSE = 0.5, Boot 95% CL [.003, .19]. In the second one, women with higher SPE were characterized by greater sexual attractiveness, which was in turn related to greater innate morality, which was a predictor of lower sociosexual desire β = –.02, BootSE = .01, Boot 95% CL [–.05, –.004].
Two mediations were obtained for Physical Condition. In the first one, women with higher SPE were characterized by better Physical Condition, which was positively correlated with innate morality, and innate morality was in turn negatively associated with sociosexual desire β = –.02, BootSE = .01, Boot 95% CL [–.06, –.003]. In the second mediation, women with higher SPE were in better physical condition, which predicted greater sociosexual desire (β = .11, BootSE = .54, Boot 95% CL [.01, .22].
Additional Analyses
An additional non-parametric Spearman rho correlation analysis was conducted for the respondents’ socio-geographic background (village, town of up to 10,000 inhabitants, etc.). This was due to the fact that one's social background is correlated with various aspects of morality (Haidt et al., 1993) as well as physical attractiveness (Benzeval et al., 2013; Macintyre & West, 1991). The obtained results primarily reveal a positive correlation between somatic-parental effort and self-reported physical attractiveness in women with a rural background for all three aspects of physical attractiveness: Sexual Attractiveness (rho = .240, p < .001), Weight Concern (rho = .303, p < .001), and Physical Condition (rho = .229, p = .001, n = 221). In turn, women from large cities (100,000–500,000 inhabitants) revealed a correlation between SPE and physical condition rho = 450, p = .013 (n = 30) (Table 4A, see Supplemantary Materials).
In women with a rural background positive correlations were found between SPE and all three constitutive intuitions of Binding Foundations: Loyalty rho = .142, p = .034; Authority rho = .144, p = .032; and Sanctity (Purity) rho = .135, p = .045 (Table 4A, see Supplemantary Materials).
Moreover, results indicate positive correlations between physical attractiveness and Binding Foundations in women with a rural background (rho = .221, p = .001) and small towns of up to 10,000 inhabitants (rho = .471, p = .015, n = 26) (Table 4B, see Supplemantary Materials). Of the physical attractiveness variables, only Weight Concern was found to be a (negative) predictor of sociosexual desire in women with a rural background (rho = –.151, p = .025) (Table 4A, see Supplemantary Materials).
Furthermore, negative correlations were obtained between Binding Foundations and sociosexual desire in women with a rural background, and specifically between Authority and Sancitity/Purity and sociosexual desire (rho = –.149, p = .026 and rho = .–187, p = .005, respectively) as well as in women from larger towns, in particular in the case of Care (rho = –.521, p = .038), Authority (rho = –.556, p = .025) and Sanctity/Purity (rho = –.607, p = .013, n = 16). In women from large cities (100,000–500,000), negative predictors of sociosexual desire were the intuitions of Care (rho = – .450, p = .013) and Sanctity/Purity (rho = –.418, p = .022, n = 30) (Table 4A, see Supplemantary Materials).
In terms of the direct relationship between SPE and sociosexual desire, negative correlations were found in women with a rural background (rho = –.162, p = .016) and a statistical tendency was identified in women from large cities (rho = –.342, p = .064, n = 30) (Table 4A, see Supplemantary Materials). However, due to the small sample sizes in the studied categories except for the ‘rural’ category, the other results should be treated with caution.
Discussion
The overall aim of the study was to verify two general assumptions: 1) Self-perceived physical attractiveness is a manifestation of somatic-parental effort (SPE), and 2) Women's self-perceived physical attractiveness is associated with an increase rather than a decrease in the innate morality factor, which is dependent on the adopted life history strategy. To verify these general assumptions, we have developed nine specific hypotheses.
The results corroborated the hypothesis (H1) that somatic-parental effort is a negative predictor of sociosexual desire, which is consistent with previous research (Mogilski et al., 2020; Kruger, 2017; Strouts et al., 2017). It was confirmed that the slow reproductive strategy is positively correlated with physical attractiveness (H2.1), which is in line with other study and the interpretation that physical attractiveness is a manifestation of somatic-parental effort (Dillon et al., 2013). The results also bore out the hypothesis (H5) that self-perceived physical attractiveness and innate morality are sequential mediators in the association between somatic-parental effort and sociosexual desire. Thus indeed, in women exhibiting the slow reproductive strategy self-perceived physical attractiveness is positively associated with innate morality (H3), while innate morality is a negative predictor of sociosexual desire (H4.2). The results did not confirm the general assumption that somatic-parental effort is associated with increased morality. Moreover, further analyses revealed complex relationships between the variables. Hypothesis verification results are presented in Table 3.
Verification of Hypotheses H1–H5 and Additional Results for Specific Variables.
Note. The table contains references to hypotheses for the model containing the variables SPE (somatic-parental effort), PhATR (physical attractiveness), INNATE MORALITY, DESIRE (left column; see also Figure 1) and the results obtained for the more specific variables: PhATR: - self-perceived Sexual Attractiveness, Physical Condition, Weight Concern; Binding Foundations: Loyalty, Authority, Sanctity/ Purity (right column).
Analyses showed that not all moral intuitions serve as mediators (see H5, H3, H4.2), but only those forming Binding Foundations (Authority, Loyalty, Sanctity). More specifically, in the tested model the mediator is Authority. Thus, in the studied women exhibiting the slow reproductive strategy, higher self-perceived physical attractiveness is associated with higher levels of Authority, and this intuition is in turn a predictor of lower levels of sociosexual desire.
Self-Perceived Physical Attractiveness as a Mediator Between SPE and Sociosexual Desire
In verifying hypotheses that self-perceived physical attractiveness mediates the association between somatic-parental effort and sociosexual desire (H2 and H2.1, H2.2) it was confirmed that SPE is positively correlated with physical attractiveness (H2.1), but only with two of its three aspects: Sexual Attractiveness (SEXUAL) and Physical Condition (PHYSICAL). In contrast to hypothesis H2.2, both of these aspects of physical attractiveness are correlated not negatively, but positively, with sociosexual desire, which indicates a preference for short-term relationships. Two mediations, i.e., SPE→SEXUAL→INNATE MORALITY→DESIRE and SPE→PHYSICAL→INNATE MORALITY→DESIRE, show that the addition of the mediator INNATE MORALITY changes this pattern, resulting in a tendency to engage in long-term relationships.
According to the obtained results, although the slow reproductive strategy is associated with a greater tendency for long-term relationships, women who perceive themselves as physically attractive do not tend to prefer such relationships; just on the contrary, they tend to prefer short-term ones. Thus, despite the slow reproductive strategy, the studied women exhibit the well-know correlation between physical attractiveness and a tendency for short-term relationships (Amos & McCabe, 2015; Perilloux et al., 2013: Rhodes et al., 2005). This result seems to indicate reproductive effort and is inconsistent with the general hypothesis that in women following the slow reproductive strategy physical attractiveness is a manifestation of SPE. Only the ‘inclusion’ of innate morality causes a shift towards long-term relationships, which suggests that moral intuitions are akin to a switch altering relations between physical attractiveness and sociosexual desire in women exhibiting the slow reproductive strategy.
However, in women who exhibit higher levels of somatic-parental effort, only intuition Authority was found to mediate between physical attractiveness and sociosexual desire. It has been shown that the moral intuition Authority is associated with a lower risk of abuse (Fundinho & Ferreira-Alves, 2023). This suggests that attachment to norms, social order, and conformity to authorities as social figures determining acceptable social norms, may help avoid situations in which sexual attractiveness could trigger sexual abuse.
However, surprisingly, there is no correlation between physical attractiveness and the intuition of Sanctity. Sanctity (Purity) is defined as treating one's body as a temple (Graham et al., 2013; Koleva et al., 2012). Thus, it may be expected that since physical attractiveness refers to external appearance and is a predictor of health (see Kowal et al., 2022), then tending to one's appearance, taking care of one's body by means of a healthy diet, weight control, and improved fitness, etc. will correlate with that intuition. This issue should be the subject of further research.
Innate Morality as a Mediator Between SPE and Sociosexual Desire
Hypothesis H4 posits that INNATE MORALITY is a mediator between somatic-parental effort and sociosexual desire in the sense that SPE is a positive predictor of INNATE MORALITY (H4.1), which is in turn a negative predictor of sociosexual desire (H4.2). The last hypothesis (H4.2) was again corroborated, and hypothesis H4.1 was further elucidated in the sense that SPE is a positive predictor of the intuition of Purity (Sanctity), which is in turn a negative predictor of sociosexual desire.
The results indicate that the intuition of Purity (Sanctity) is directly linked to the slow reproductive strategy and that intuition implies a weaker preference for sociosexual desire. As disgust sensitivity is more strongly associated with judgments in the domain of purity than with moral judgments in any other moral domain (Wagemans et al., 2018), it may be assumed that women exhibiting greater SPE may experience stronger repulsion in response to the risk of biological or social pollution. As Gladden et al. (2009) argue, disgust sensitivity is a form of somatic effort to maintain health in slow life history individuals, as it enables the avoidance of contagion and disease.
Limitations
First, an additional analysis taking into account variable the social background of participants showed that the most important correlations were found for women with a rural background (Table 4A and Table 4B, see Supplementary Materials), Specifically, this pertains to binding moral intuitions. For this reason, we want to emphasize that the results obtained in the context of the hypotheses set are limited by the socio-social specifics of the sample studied.
It should be emphasized that the studied young women came from the Subcarpathian Province, an area of Poland traditionally considered conservative. Surveys of the political views show that in rural areas more individuals declare right-wing inclinations compared to the general Polish population (Centre for Public Opinion Research, 2024), and the Subcarpathian region features the greatest proportion of individuals belonging to a religious denomination (Polish Central Statistical Office, 2021). Nilsson et al. (2020) indicate that binding intuitions are positively related to both traditional religiosity and conservative political views. Binding Foundations are rooted in the need for groups to promote social order and cohesion (Malka et al., 2016), which seems to be particularly characteristic of rural communities.
The presented study indicates that in women with a rural background the slow reproductive strategy is associated with all components of Binding Foundations: the intuitions of Loyalty, Authority, and Purity (Sanctity). The studied women with a rural background revealed a positive correlation between SPE and all three components of physical attractiveness. Moreover, a positive correlation was found between physical attractiveness and binding intuitions in women with a rural background, while Authority and Sanctity (Purity) were identified as negative predictors of sociosexual desire.
It appears that binding moral intuitions have a stronger influence on women's behavior in rural settings compared to other environments, particularly regarding the intuitions of Authority and Sanctity (Purity). This finding aligns with the results of a meta-analysis of urban-rural differences in moral intuitions conducted by Castilla-Estévez (2025). The author suggests that these differences can be attributed to a heightened concern for a community-oriented shared identity and the increased threat of pathogens in harsher rural environments, as opposed to urban areas.
The concurrence of Binding Foundations and a more restrictive sociosexual orientation points to a preference for long-term relationships. However, in the studied women, sociosexual desire is additionally influenced by moral intuitions emphasizing the role of social hierarchy, attachment to tradition (Authority), and a low risk of infection/pathogen contamination (Sanctity). Binding Foundations are rooted in the need for groups to promote social order and cohesion (Malka et al., 2016), which seems to be particularly characteristic of rural communities (Avery et al., 2021). Studies also show that the moral codes of individuals with conservative political views are characterized by a dominance of binding intuitions (Gladden & Cleator, 2018; Graham et al., 2011) and a more traditional approach to sexual behavior (Hatemi et al., 2017). Thus, it may be posited that in the family environment of the studied women sociosexual desire was moderated by Binding Foundations, which reflect the conservative norms of the rural environment.
In explaining the intuitions of Sanctity and Authority in the studied women, historical data point to low standards of living in the Polish countryside. In 1918, when Poland regained its independence after 123 years of partitions, living conditions in rural areas were dismal: peasant children were malnourished, medical care was predominantly based on traditional medicine, and food was scarce in the early spring as the winter supplies were running out (Juchcińska-Giłka, 2012). The poor economic and health situation of Poland was aggravated by the Nazi occupation of the country during World War II. Housing and health conditions were also dire after the war ended as popular access to health care was not yet fully implemented, in 1950 37% of rural houses were thatched, and in 1974 only 4–5% of rural houses were equipped with a bathroom and water closet as compared to 50% in cities (Szpak, 2018). Such living conditions are conducive to the activation of the behavioral immunological system as well as the moral intuitions of Sanctity (Purity) and Authority (Atari et al., 2022).
The studies also have other limitations. The second limitation of the study is the young age of women in our sample (Mage = 21.02). This means that the variables important for determining reproductive strategy, such as the number of children or age at first childbirth (Chisholm, 1993, 1999; Griskevicius et al., 2011a; Griskevicius et al., 2011b; Sýkorová & Flegr, 2021) could not be considered. For this reason, item no. 9 (I have a close and warm relationship with my own children’) was removed from the Mini-K, as it was not diagnostic. In future studies, the sample group should be expanded to include different age ranges so that this variable could be investigated as an indicator of somatic-parental effort.
Besides, age is important for assessing physical attractiveness. From an evolutionary point of view, the self-perception of attractiveness traits reflects messages received from others indicating the evolutionary importance of those traits (Wade & Cooper, 1999). The body is more important for women's vs. men's self-perceived attractiveness (Wade & Cooper, 1999), because in women attractiveness predicts higher reproductive success (Jokela, 2009; Pflüger et al., 2012; Rhodes et al., 2005). Since it has been shown that with increasing age faces are perceived by others as less attractive (He et al., 2021), it can be assumed that over time negative changes in self-perceived attractiveness also take place. This, in turn, may be linked to changes in innate morality.
Third, all women in the sample were college students, and educational aspirations are known to correlate with the slow reproductive strategy (Purzycki et al., 2018). These aspirations also show that the respondents belonged to a group of females allocating their resources to somatic-parental effort, which puts a restriction on the generalizability of our results.
The fourth limitation is the correlational nature of the study, which does not allow for the inference of causal relationships between the variables (Jeon, 2015). It would therefore be advisable to apply either experimental or longitudinal forms of research in future studies.
Five, the sample size was too small to analyze the effect of the respondents’ social background. The strongest statistical relationships were found for women with a rural background, who were the most numerous group in the sample. For this reason, further analyses should involve a sample large enough to enable analyses taking into account different social background categories.
Conclusion
Based on evolutionary Life History Theory and Moral Foundations Theory, this paper reports on the results of preliminary testing of the hypothesis that in women self-perceived physical attractiveness is positively linked to moral intuitions and long-term mating orientation if they allocate resources to somatic-parental effort (SPE). In previous interpretations and studies, physical attractiveness has been treated as a biological indicator of an organism's genetic quality. The research presented here indicates that greater SPE is associated with higher self-reported physical attractiveness. However, the relationship between self-perceived physical attractiveness – considering its three dimensions – and sociosexual desire seems characteristic of reproductive rather than somatic effort. Self-perceived physical attractiveness was also found to be a positive indicator of innate morality while moral intuitions were a negative predictor of preference for short-term relationships. This suggests that the moral intuitions of Authority and Purity (Sanctity) induce a shift to restrictive sociosexual desire, i.e., a tendency to engage in long-term relationships. On the other hand, as regards the hypothesis that women following the slow reproductive strategy are guided by stronger innate morality, such a direct association was identified only for the intuition of Purity (Sanctity). However, since most women surveyed originated from rural areas, the results are significantly limited to this specific subpopulation. Thus, in interpreting the findings, we emphasized specific historical and social contexts.
Supplemental Material
sj-docx-1-evp-10.1177_14747049251349052 - Supplemental material for Self-Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Moral Intuitions as Mediators Between Somatic-Parental Effort and Mating Orientation
Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-evp-10.1177_14747049251349052 for Self-Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Moral Intuitions as Mediators Between Somatic-Parental Effort and Mating Orientation by Andrzej Łukasik and Anna Wołpiuk-Ochocińska in Evolutionary Psychology
Supplemental Material
sj-docx-2-evp-10.1177_14747049251349052 - Supplemental material for Self-Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Moral Intuitions as Mediators Between Somatic-Parental Effort and Mating Orientation
Supplemental material, sj-docx-2-evp-10.1177_14747049251349052 for Self-Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Moral Intuitions as Mediators Between Somatic-Parental Effort and Mating Orientation by Andrzej Łukasik and Anna Wołpiuk-Ochocińska in Evolutionary Psychology
Supplemental Material
sj-docx-3-evp-10.1177_14747049251349052 - Supplemental material for Self-Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Moral Intuitions as Mediators Between Somatic-Parental Effort and Mating Orientation
Supplemental material, sj-docx-3-evp-10.1177_14747049251349052 for Self-Perceived Physical Attractiveness and Moral Intuitions as Mediators Between Somatic-Parental Effort and Mating Orientation by Andrzej Łukasik and Anna Wołpiuk-Ochocińska in Evolutionary Psychology
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
We thank all the participants for their efforts in our study.
Ethical Considerations
The current study was authorized by the Bioethical Review Board of the University of Rzeszow prior to the data collection (No. 5/02/2019). All subjects gave their written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. All methods were carried out by relevant guidelines and regulations. We explained to the participants that the research adopts the principle of voluntary participation, and all collected data will be kept strictly confidential. All subjects gave their written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
Author Contributions
Andrzej Łukasik and Anna Wołpiuk-Ochocińska designed and developed the project; Andrzej Łukasik wrote the main manuscript text, conducted the data analysis; Andrzej Łukasik and Anna Wołpiuk-Ochocińska collected the data; Anna Wołpiuk-Ochocińska reviewed the logical, prepared tables and figures. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship. The authors received financial support for the cost of publication of the article from the funds of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Psychology, Medical College, University of Rzeszow.,
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Data Availability Statement
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References
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