sábado, 4 de abril de 2015

★What are the scientific / methodological objections to the Psychology Today article "Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?" being removed from the publication?

Since the article is no longer available, a copy is reproduced below.
Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?Why black women, but not black men? 
Published on May 15, 2011 by Satoshi Kanazawa in The Scientific Fundamentalist 

There are marked race differences in physical attractiveness among women, but not among men.  Why?

Add Health measures the physical attractiveness of its respondents both  objectively and subjectively.  At the end of each interview, the  interviewer rates the physical attractiveness of the respondent  objectively on the following five-point scale:  1 = very unattractive, 2  = unattractive, 3 = about average, 4 = attractive, 5 = very attractive.   The physical attractiveness of each Add Health respondent is measured  three times by three different interviewers over seven years.

From these three scores, I can compute the latent "physical  attractiveness factor" by a statistical procedure called factor  analysis.  Factor analysis has the added advantage of eliminating all  random measurement errors that are inherent in any scientific  measurement.  The latent physical attractiveness factor has a mean of 0  and a standard deviation of 1.

  Recall that women on average are more physically attractive than men.   So women of all races are on average more physically attractive than  the "average" Add Health respondent, except for black women.  As the  following graph shows, black women are statistically no different from  the "average" Add Health respondent, and far less attractive than white,  Asian, and Native American women.




In contrast, races do not differ in physical attractiveness among men,  as the following graph shows.  Men of all races are more or less equally  less physically attractive than the "average" Add Health respondent.



This sex difference in the race differences in physical attractiveness –  where physical attractiveness varies significantly by race among women,  but not among men – is replicated at each Add Health wave (except that  the race differences among men are statistically significant, albeit  substantively very small, in Wave III).  In each wave, black women are  significantly less physically attractive than women of other races.
















It is very interesting to note that, even though black women are  objectively less physically attractive than other women, black women  (and men) subjectively consider themselves to be far more physically  attractive than others.  In Wave III, Add Health asks its respondents to  rate their own physical attractiveness subjectively on the following  four-point scale:  1 = not at all, 2 = slightly, 3 = moderately, 4 =  very.  As you can see in the following graphs, both black women and  black men rate themselves to be far more physically attractive than  individuals of other races.






What accounts for the markedly lower average level of physical  attractiveness among black women?  Black women are on average much  heavier than nonblack women.  The mean body-mass index (BMI) at Wave III  is 28.5 among black women and 26.1 among nonblack women.  (Black and  nonblack men do not differ in BMI:  27.0 vs. 26.9.)  However, this is  not the reason black women are less physically attractive than nonblack  women.  Black women have lower average level of physical attractiveness  net of BMI.  Nor can the race difference in intelligence (and the  positive association between intelligence and physical attractiveness)  account for the race difference in physical attractiveness among women.   Black women are still less physically attractive than nonblack women  net of BMI and intelligence.  Net of intelligence, black men are  significantly more physically attractive than nonblack men.

There are many biological and genetic differences between the races.   However, such race differences usually exist in equal measure for both  men and women.  For example, because they have existed much longer in  human evolutionary history, Africans have more mutations in their  genomes than other races.  And the mutation loads significantly decrease  physical attractiveness (because physical attractiveness is a measure  of genetic and developmental health).  But since both black women and  black men have higher mutation loads, it cannot explain why only black  women are less physically attractive, while black men are, if anything,  more attractive.

The only thing I can think of that might potentially explain the lower  average level of physical attractiveness among black women is  testosterone.  Africans on average have higher levels of testosterone  than other races, and testosterone, being an androgen (male hormone),  affects the physical attractiveness of men and women differently.  Men  with higher levels of testosterone have more masculine features and are  therefore more physically attractive.  In contrast, women with higher  levels of testosterone also have more masculine features and are  therefore less physically attractive.  The race differences in the level  of testosterone can therefore potentially explain why black women are  less physically attractive than women of other races, while (net of  intelligence) black men are more physically attractive than men of other  races.

(Source:  quora.com) votar

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