The Importance of Physical Attractiveness to the Mate Choices of Women and Their Mothers

The Nonlinear and Gender-Related Relationships of Face Attractiveness and Typicality With Perceived Trustworthiness

Perceived trustworthiness is one of the most important facial traits in social interaction. To elucidate how facial trustworthiness is assessed by others and its relationship to other facial traits would have significant theoretical and practical implications. Prior studies have shown that perceived attractiveness and typicality of a face may contribute to trustworthiness judgments; i.e., trustworthy faces are always the typical and attractive ones. Here, by conducting judgments of facial traits (i.e., trustworthiness, attractiveness, and typicality) on the same set of faces, we revealed a more profound relationship among these facial traits. First, we found that trustworthiness judgments did not always peak at the average face, in contrast to previous research. Second, trustworthiness exhibited a nonlinear relationship with attractiveness and typicality: Men relied more on typicality when judging a face as untrustworthy or neutral, whereas women relied more on typicality when judging a face as untrustworthy but more on attractiveness when judging a face as trustworthy. Third, women and men may utilize different traits to evaluate face trustworthiness: The relationship between trustworthiness and typicality judgments was closer in men than in women, whereas women counted on face attractiveness more than men did to evaluate face trustworthiness. These findings demonstrate that judging the trustworthiness of a face is a more complex process than previously thought, which may lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying highly flexible and sophisticated social interactions in humans.

Romantic relationship and psychological wellbeing: the experiences of young individuals with visual impairment

PURPOSE

The sense of vision plays a dominant role in entering a romantic partnership. However, the romantic experiences of individuals with visual impairment have received scant research attention. The study aimed to describe the lived romantic experiences of young adults with visual impairment from various cultural backgrounds and to understand the implications of these experiences on their psychological wellbeing.

METHOD

The study was conducted in the Israeli multicultural society. We conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 24 Jewish and Arab adults (aged 18-40 years) with visual impairment about their romantic experiences and the meanings they attribute to these experiences. We used an inductive thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Singlehood seemed to be a distressing situation for the Muslim female participants compared to the Jewish participants. Having a romantic partner contributed to the participants' self-acceptance and psychological well-being, especially for Muslim individuals.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings demonstrate the intersection of lifelong disability, gender, and culture in the context of romantic relationships. The findings also highlight the need to support the romantic opportunities and experiences of young individuals with visual impairment, especially those from Arab society.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATIONYoung adults with visual impairment often face physical and social barriers in entering and maintaining a romantic relationship.Having a romantic partner contributes to the self-acceptance and psychological wellbeing of young adults with visual impairment.Rehabilitation practitioners should take into consideration personal and environmental factors, such as gender and cultural background, when providing support in a romantic and intimate relationship, for individuals with lifelong disabilities.Rehabilitation practitioners should also engage family members, especially from religious families, to support their relatives with visual impairment in developing a romantic relationship.