When It Comes to Eyes, Lighter Isn’t Always Better |
Slightly darker eye whites in women can enhance perceived femininity and attractiveness.
Eye region color affects female attractiveness more than male attractiveness across cultures.
Facial beauty judgments often depend on cultural context and holistic perception, not simple features.
Bright, clear eyes often give the impression of youth, energy, and health. Red or yellowish eyes may suggest tiredness or illness. Blue eyes are often romanticized in films, paintings, and popular culture. And the “white of the eye” is usually assumed to be most attractive when it is as white and clear as possible. But in our recent research, we found that the story is not quite that simple.
In our study, we examined this question across a large and diverse set of faces. We studied more than 1,000 faces from several culturally distinct populations and measured subtle differences in the eye region. We looked at the colour of the iris, but also the colour of the visible tissue around the iris, often called the white of the eye or sclera. More technically, this visible area is part of the peri-iridial tissue.
We then examined whether these eye features predicted ratings of attractiveness, femininity, and masculinity. The raters judged faces from their own populations. This matters because people are usually most familiar with the range of faces they see around them. What looks normal, attractive, or unusual may depend partly on local facial variation and cultural experience.
One of the most........