Averaged Faces Are Attractive, but Very Attractive Faces Are Not Average

TLDR: In this article, the authors argue that existing theory and data provide good evidence that atypical characteristics can enhance facial attractiveness, and they discuss some of the theoretical reasons why the most average facial appearance will not be ideally attractive.

Abstract: In a recent article, Langlois and Roggman (1990) argue that “attractive faces are only average” and support this theory with composite faces produced by digitized image processing. While we agree with their premise that average(d) faces should be seen as attractive, we believe there are good reasons to expect very attractive faces to be atypical in some ways. Their paper provides evidence that averaged faces are relatively attractive, but other evidence convinces us that facial attractiveness is not simply a function of the prototypicality of faces. Furthermore, the use of composite faces to study the attractiveness of averaged faces produces results that are difficult to interpret. In this commentary, we argue that existing theory and data provide good evidence that atypical characteristics can enhance facial attractiveness. We discuss some of the (1) theoretical reasons why the most average facial appearance will not be ideally attractive; (2) data that indicate that the most average facial appearance is not the most attractive; and (3) limitations and weaknesses of the method used by Langlois and Roggman.