1
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Shang J, Zhang Y. Influence of male's facial attractiveness, vocal attractiveness and social interest on female's decisions of fairness. Sci Rep 2024; 14:16778. [PMID: 39039258 PMCID: PMC11263343 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-67841-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2024] [Accepted: 07/16/2024] [Indexed: 07/24/2024] Open
Abstract
The present study employed dictator game and ultimatum game to investigate the effect of facial attractiveness, vocal attractiveness and social interest in expressing positive ("I like you") versus negative signals ("I don't like you") on decision making. Female participants played against male recipients in dictator game and ultimatum game while played against male proposers in ultimatum game. Results showed that participants offered recipients with attractive faces more money than recipients with unattractive faces. Participants also offered recipients with attractive voices more money than recipients with unattractive voices, especially under the positive social interest condition. Moreover, participants allocated more money to recipients who expressed positive social interest than those who expressed negative social interest, whereas they would also expect proposers who expressed positive social interest to offer them more money than proposers who expressed negative social interest. Overall, the results inform beauty premium for faces and voices on opposite-sex economic bargaining. Social interest also affects decision outcomes. However, the beauty premium and effect of social interest varies with participants' roles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junchen Shang
- Department of Medical Humanities, School of Humanities, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, China.
| | - Yizhuo Zhang
- Department of Medical Humanities, School of Humanities, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, China
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2
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Butler S. Young people on social media in a globalized world: self-optimization in highly competitive and achievement-oriented forms of life. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1340605. [PMID: 39035080 PMCID: PMC11258645 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1340605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Research investigating young people's social media use has been criticized for its limited theoretical foundations and scope. This paper elaborates young people's social media activity from a socio-ecological evolutionary perspective (SEE), where young people's online exchanges cannot be divorced from the highly competitive and achievement-oriented modern market cultures in which they live. In highly competitive and achievement-oriented forms of life, young people's social media environments are often constituted as dynamic and evolving extrinsically oriented ecological niches that afford for status and identity enhancement while also affording for peer approval, belongingness, and self-worth nested within, and subordinate to, these higher-order affordances. The extrinsic value organization of social media platforms that serve young people's status and identity-enhancement are embodied by a community of mutually interdependent criteria that are evolutionary-based, developmentally salient, and market-driven: physical attractiveness, high (educational and extracurricular) achievements, and material success. Young people's online signaling of these interdependent extrinsic criteria affords for status-allocation and self-enhancement, where each criteria becomes an arena for social competition and identity formation, enabling young people to build personal and optimal models of social success congruent with their own interests and abilities. Young people's status and identity enhancing signaling of these extrinsic criteria is moving toward increasingly idealized or perfect embodiments, informed by accelerating, short-term positive feedback processes that benefit from the technological affordances and densely rewarding peer environments instantiated on social media.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Butler
- Department of Psychology, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE, Canada
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3
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Liang F, Lei Y, He C, Zhang S, Wu H, He M, He X. The Effect of Beautification Strategies on Mating Popularity Judged by Men from the People's Republic of China. ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 2024; 53:247-261. [PMID: 37612536 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-023-02673-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2023] [Revised: 07/07/2023] [Accepted: 07/20/2023] [Indexed: 08/25/2023]
Abstract
Contemporary women frequently employ beautification strategies. The impact of such strategies, such as plastic surgery, on mating popularity in different mate contexts remains unclear. To investigate this issue, the current study conducted two experiments. In Experiment 1, beautification strategies were manipulated using three images of the same female with different conditions (natural, makeup, and plastic surgery). The results indicated that when the beautification strategies were not informed, surgical-enhanced and makeup targets were perceived as significantly more attractive, loyal, and popular among potential mates than natural targets. However, when participants were informed of the beautification strategies, both natural and makeup targets showed a significant increase in perceived loyalty and mating popularity. In contrast, surgically enhanced targets saw a reduction in these dimensions. Experiment 2 aimed to reduce the confounding effect of facial attractiveness by using vignettes. The results indicated that the mating popularity of natural targets was significantly higher than that of makeup or surgically enhanced targets, with surgically enhanced targets being the least popular. Moreover, the results revealed the mediating role of perceived loyalty in the impact of beautification strategies on long-term mating popularity. This study sheds light on the potential stigmatization and negative bias toward beautification strategies in the mating market. Additionally, it provides guidance for women who intend to enhance their mate popularity through plastic surgery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fuqun Liang
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, No. 55, West of Zhongshan Avenue, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510631, People's Republic of China
| | - Yatian Lei
- School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, People's Republic of China
| | - Chunyan He
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, No. 55, West of Zhongshan Avenue, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510631, People's Republic of China
| | - Siyue Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, No. 55, West of Zhongshan Avenue, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510631, People's Republic of China
| | - Hairu Wu
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, No. 55, West of Zhongshan Avenue, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510631, People's Republic of China
| | - Mingcheng He
- College of Education Science, Hubei Normal University, Huangshi, People's Republic of China
| | - Xianyou He
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, South China Normal University, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
- Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, No. 55, West of Zhongshan Avenue, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510631, People's Republic of China.
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4
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Liu M, Sommer W, Yue S, Li W. Dominance of face over voice in human attractiveness judgments: ERP evidence. Psychophysiology 2023; 60:e14358. [PMID: 37271749 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2021] [Revised: 04/27/2023] [Accepted: 05/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
The attractiveness of a person, a complex, and socially relevant type of information, is transmitted in many ways, not least through face and voice. However, it is unclear how the stimulus domains carrying attractiveness information interact. The present study explored the audiovisual perception of attractiveness in a Stroop-like paradigm using event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants were presented with face-voice pairs carrying congruent or incongruent attractiveness information and, in turn, judged the attractiveness level of each domain while ignoring the other. Voice attractiveness judgments were influenced by unattended face attractiveness, in terms of both, early perceptual encoding (N170, P200) as well as later evaluative stages (N400, LPC). In contrast, effects of unattended voice attractiveness on face attractiveness judgments were confined to early perceptual encoding (N170). These results demonstrate not only the interaction of multiple domains in human attractiveness perception at different processing stages but also a relative dominance of face over voice attractiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meng Liu
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
| | - Werner Sommer
- Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
- Institute for Creativity, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China
| | - Siqi Yue
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
| | - Weijun Li
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
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5
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Csajbók Z, Štěrbová Z, Brewer G, Cândea CA, De Backer CJS, Fernández AM, Fisher ML, Garcia JR, Kruger DJ, Massar K, Oberzaucher E, Quintelier KJP, van Geffen RE, Valentova JV, Varella MAC, Jonason PK. Individual Differences in How Desirable People Think They Are as a Mate. ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 2023; 52:2475-2490. [PMID: 37154879 PMCID: PMC10501943 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-023-02601-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Revised: 04/02/2023] [Accepted: 04/06/2023] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Mate value is an important concept in mate choice research although its operationalization and understanding are limited. Here, we reviewed and evaluated previously established conceptual and methodological approaches measuring mate value and presented original research using individual differences in how people view themselves as a face-valid proxy for mate value in long- and short-term contexts. In data from 41 nations (N = 3895, Mage = 24.71, 63% women, 47% single), we tested sex, age, and relationship status effects on self-perceived mate desirability, along with individual differences in the Dark Triad traits, life history strategies, peer-based comparison of desirability, and self-reported mating success. Both sexes indicated more short-term than long-term mate desirability; however, men reported more long-term mate desirability than women, whereas women reported more short-term mate desirability than men. Further, individuals who were in a committed relationship felt more desirable than those who were not. Concerning the cross-sectional stability of mate desirability across the lifespan, in men, short- and long-term desirability rose to the age of 40 and 50, respectively, and decreased afterward. In women, short-term desirability rose to the age of 38 and decreased afterward, whereas long-term desirability remained stable over time. Our results suggest that measuring long- and short-term self-perceived mate desirability reveals predictable correlates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zsófia Csajbók
- Faculty of Humanities, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | | | - Gayle Brewer
- Institute of Population Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Daniel J Kruger
- Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Karlijn Massar
- Department of Work and Social Psychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | | | - Katinka J P Quintelier
- School of Business and Economics, Management and Organisation, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | | | | | | | - Peter K Jonason
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Via Venezia, 12, 35131, Padua, PD, Italy.
- Institute of Psychology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Warsaw, Poland.
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6
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Shang J, Liu CH. The Role of Sex in the Effect of Vocal Attractiveness on Ultimatum Game Decisions. Behav Sci (Basel) 2023; 13:bs13050433. [PMID: 37232670 DOI: 10.3390/bs13050433] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2023] [Revised: 05/09/2023] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The present research investigated the role of sex in the effect of vocal attractiveness on fairness judgment in a two-person Ultimatum Game. Each participant in the game decided whether to accept offers from a proposer who was either associated with an attractive or unattractive voice. The results showed that while participants were more likely to accept fair offers, they would also accept some unfair offers that were associated with an attractive voice. This effect of vocal attractiveness was more clearly shown by female participants, although all male and female participants took longer to make a decision when an attractive voice was associated with an offer, regardless of whether the voice was from the same sex or the opposite sex. Overall, the results inform the role of sex in the effect of vocal attractiveness and further confirm the beauty premium effect on economic bargaining, where people with an attractive voice would benefit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junchen Shang
- Department of Medical Humanities, School of Humanities, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China
- College of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China
| | - Chang Hong Liu
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Poole BH12 5BB, UK
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7
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Axt JR, Yang J, Deshpande H. Misplaced Intuitions in Interventions to Reduce Attractiveness-Based Discrimination. PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN 2023; 49:527-540. [PMID: 35179056 PMCID: PMC9989229 DOI: 10.1177/01461672221074748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Individuals and organizations are increasing efforts to address discrimination. Nonexperts may lack awareness of, or are resistant to, scientifically informed strategies for reducing discrimination, instead relying on intuition. Five studies investigated the accuracy of nonexperts' intuitions about reducing discrimination concerning physical attractiveness. In Studies 1a to 1c (N = 902), participants predicted the effectiveness of six interventions to reduce attractiveness-based favoritism on a judgment task. Studies 2a and 2b (N = 6,292) investigated the effectiveness of these interventions. Although two interventions reduced discrimination, intuitions were poorly aligned with actual results; fewer than 1% of participants identified the combination of interventions that did, versus did not, impact judgment, and responses were more likely to be below than above chance when predicting each intervention's effectiveness. Although follow-up work should investigate the accuracy of intuition in other forms of discrimination, these results further stress the need for greater development and adoption of evidence-based strategies for combating discrimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jordan R Axt
- McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.,Project Implicit, Seattle, WA, USA
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8
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Roth TS, Samara I, Perea-Garcia JO, Kret ME. Individual attractiveness preferences differentially modulate immediate and voluntary attention. Sci Rep 2023; 13:2147. [PMID: 36750588 PMCID: PMC9905556 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-29240-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2022] [Accepted: 02/01/2023] [Indexed: 02/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Physical attractiveness plays a crucial role in mate choice for both men and women. This is reflected in visual attention: people immediately attend towards and look longer at attractive faces, especially when they are motivated to find a partner. However, previous studies did not incorporate real-life dating decisions. Here, we aimed to combine attentional tasks with individual attractiveness ratings and a real-life mate choice context, namely a speed-dating paradigm. We investigated whether heterosexual non-committed young adults showed biases in immediate and voluntary attention towards attractive faces and preferred dating partners. In line with previous research, we found considerable individual differences in individual attractiveness preferences. Furthermore, our results showed that men had a bias towards attractive faces and preferred dating partners in the immediate attention task, while results for women were mixed. In the voluntary attention task, however, both men and women had an attentional bias towards attractive faces and preferred dating partners. Our results suggest that individual attractiveness preferences are good predictors of especially voluntary attention. We discuss these findings from an evolutionary perspective and suggest directions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom S Roth
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, The Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK, Leiden, The Netherlands. .,Apenheul Primate Park, J.C. Wilslaan 21, 7313 HK, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. .,Animal Behaviour & Cognition, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
| | - Iliana Samara
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, The Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK, Leiden, The Netherlands.,Leiden Institute of Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Juan Olvido Perea-Garcia
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, The Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Mariska E Kret
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, The Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK, Leiden, The Netherlands.,Leiden Institute of Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, The Netherlands
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9
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Psychological flexibility and sociosexual orientation mediate the association between self-perceived attractiveness and mating effort. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-04155-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
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10
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Bassiri-Tehrani B, Nguyen A, Choudhary A, Guart J, Di Chiaro B, Purnell CA. The Effect of Wearing a Mask on Facial Attractiveness. Aesthet Surg J Open Forum 2022; 4:ojac070. [PMID: 36320221 PMCID: PMC9494328 DOI: 10.1093/asjof/ojac070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated masking in public spaces. Masks may impact the perceived attractiveness of individuals and hence, interpersonal relations. Objectives To determine if facial coverings affect attractiveness. Methods An online survey was conducted using 114 headshot images, 2 each-unmasked and masked-of 57 individuals. Two hundred and seven participants rated them on an ordinal scale from 1 (least attractive) to 10 (most attractive). Parametric and nonparametric tests were performed, as appropriate, for comparison. Results For the first quartile, the average rating increased significantly when wearing a mask (5.89 ± 0.29 and 6.54 ± 0.67; P = 0.01). For control images ranked within the fourth quartile, the average rating decreased significantly when wearing a mask (7.60 ± 0.26 and 6.62 ± 0.55; P < 0.001). In the female subgroup (n = 34), there was a small increase in average rating when masked, whereas in the male subgroup (n = 23), there was a small decrease in average rating when masked, but the change was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). For unmasked female images ranked within the first quartile, the average rating increased significantly when wearing a mask (5.77 ± 0.27 and 6.76 ± 0.36; P = 0.001). For the female subgroup with mean ratings within the fourth quartile, the average decreased significantly when wearing a medical mask (7.53 ± 0.30 and 6.77 ± 0.53; P < 0.05). For unmasked male images ranked within the first quartile, the average rating increased when wearing a medical mask but the change was not statistically significant (P > 0.05), whereas for the control male images within the fourth quartile, the average rating decreased significantly when masked (7.72 ± 0.18 and 6.50 ± 0.54; P < 0.05). Conclusions While wearing a facial covering significantly increased attractiveness for images less attractive at baseline, and decreased attractiveness for those that are more attractive at baseline; it did not cause a significant overall change in attractiveness in the study population. Level of Evidence 5
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian Bassiri-Tehrani
- Aesthetic plastic surgery fellow, The Center for Plastic Surgery at MetroDerm/Emory Aesthetic Center, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | | | | | - Jiddu Guart
- Postgraduate year 2 resident, Division of General Surgery, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
| | - Bianca Di Chiaro
- Postgraduate year 3 resident, Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Loyola University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Chad A Purnell
- Corresponding Author: Dr Chad A. Purnell, Division of Plastic Reconstructive & Cosmetic Surgery, University of Illinois College of Medicine, 811 S Paulina St, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. E-mail:
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11
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Sculley J, Watkins CD. The Great Porn Experiment V2.0: Sexual Arousal Reduces the Salience of Familiar Women When Heterosexual Men Judge Their Attractiveness. ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 2022; 51:3071-3082. [PMID: 35790609 PMCID: PMC9363392 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-022-02317-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Revised: 02/18/2022] [Accepted: 02/24/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Pornography has become widely accessible in recent years due to its integration with the Internet, generating social scientific and moralistic debate on potential "media effects," given correlations between consumption and various sexual traits and behaviors. One popular public debate (Wilson, 2012) claimed that exposure to Internet pornography has addictive qualities that could impact men's sexual relationships, underpinned by the "Coolidge effect," where males are sexually motivated by the presence of novel mates. As claims about Internet and sexual addictions are scientifically controversial, we provide a direct experimental test of his proposal. Adapting a paradigm used to examine "Coolidge-like" effects in men, we examined the extent to which exposure to images of pornographic actresses altered men's attractiveness ratings of (1) familiar faces/bodies on second viewing and (2) familiar versus novel women's faces/bodies. Independent of slideshow content (pornographic versus clothed versions of same actress), heterosexual men were less attracted to familiar bodies, and homosexual men were less attracted to familiar women (faces and bodies), suggesting that mere visual exposure to attractive women moderated men's preferences. However, consistent with one of our preregistered predictions, heterosexual but not homosexual men's preferences for familiar versus novel women were moderated by slideshow content such that familiar women were less salient on the attractiveness dimension compared to novel women when sexual arousal was greater (pornographic versus clothed slideshows). In sum, our findings demonstrate that visual exposure/sexual arousal moderates attractiveness perceptions, albeit that much greater nuance is required considering earlier claims.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jordan Sculley
- Division of Psychology and Forensic Sciences, Abertay University, Bell Street, Dundee, DD11HG, UK
| | - Christopher D Watkins
- Division of Psychology and Forensic Sciences, Abertay University, Bell Street, Dundee, DD11HG, UK.
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12
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Wang X, Chen H, Chen Z. Women's Self-Objectification Under Competition When They Believe Sex Is Power. ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 2022; 51:2837-2854. [PMID: 35861947 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-022-02335-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2021] [Revised: 04/01/2022] [Accepted: 04/02/2022] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Competitions are ubiquitous and their psychological consequences for women have not received sufficient attention. For this research, we tested whether competition, in either work settings or a broader form of competition for resources, would interact with the sex is power belief to result in self-objectification among women. This prediction was confirmed by a series of studies (N = 1416), including correlational studies, a quasi-experiment, and fully controlled experiments, with samples including company employees, MBA students with work experience, college students currently competing in a job market, and Mechanical Turkers. Competition (or a sense of competition) as a feature of the working environment (Study 1), a real state in life (Study 2), or a temporarily activated state (Studies 3-5) resulted in self-objectification among women who believe sex is power (Study 1) or who enter such a mindset (Studies 2-5). This effect further impaired the pursuit of personal growth (Studies 4 and 5).
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Affiliation(s)
- Xijing Wang
- Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Hao Chen
- Department of Social Psychology, Nankai University, Tianjin, China
- Research Centre for Greater Bay Area Social Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zhansheng Chen
- Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong, 999077, China.
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13
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Shapir OM, Shtudiner Z. Beauty is in the eye of the employer: Labor market discrimination of accountants. Front Psychol 2022; 13:928451. [PMID: 35967655 PMCID: PMC9372560 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.928451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2022] [Accepted: 06/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
This research investigates labor market discrimination based on physical appearance in Israel’s Certified Public Accountant firms. Using a survey questionnaire, we showed that accountants in managerial positions prefer to hire more physically attractive candidates. This beauty premium is larger among the five biggest Certified Public Accountant firms and can be explained by the perception that attractive candidates possess essential traits for becoming successful accountants. An important implication of our results is that even among accounting firms, where professionalism is well defined, discrimination against candidates based on traits such as physical appearance can ineffectively eliminate suitably qualified interns.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Zeev Shtudiner
- Department of Economics and Business Administration, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
- *Correspondence: Zeev Shtudiner,
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14
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Ma Q, Cheng L, Qiu W, Pei G. Role effect on beauty premium: Female as proposer may gain more fairness. Psych J 2022; 11:691-706. [PMID: 35654562 DOI: 10.1002/pchj.543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Revised: 01/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Beauty premium permeates every aspect of life. However, whether females' roles, as proposers or as recipients/responders, have an influence on the marginal effect of beauty remains unclear and was explored in the current study. Dictator game and ultimate game were employed to investigate the effect of females' roles on beauty premium from males. Participants played against female recipients and proposers in Study 1. Linear regression models of social preferences with respect to female attractiveness showed a strongly positive marginal effect of beauty, and the effect was significantly higher when participants played against female recipients than female proposers. Study 2 with ultimate games only was conducted for further testing the effect of strategic behavior on beauty premium. A probabilistic method was established to handle issues on comparison between participants' behaviors as proposers and as recipients/responders. The results of these studies suggest that there are significant money forgone differences between females as proposers and as recipients/responders financially regardless of the strategy-or-not decision difference. All the findings indicate that the beauty premium varies with female roles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qingguo Ma
- School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.,Institute of Neuromanagement Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
| | - Lu Cheng
- School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Wenwei Qiu
- College of Economics & Management, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Guanxiong Pei
- Research Center for Current Artificial Intelligence Theory, Zhejiang Lab, Hangzhou, China
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15
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Geniole SN, Proietti V, Robinson BA, Bird BM, Watson NV, Bonin PL, Goldfarb B, Carré JM. Relatively rapid effects of testosterone on men's ratings of female attractiveness depend on relationship status and the attractiveness of stimulus faces. Horm Behav 2022; 142:105174. [PMID: 35468319 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.105174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2020] [Revised: 04/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Attractiveness judgements influence desires to initiate and maintain romantic relationships. Testosterone also predicts relationship initiation and maintenance; such effects may be driven by the hormone's modulation of attractiveness judgements, but no studies have investigated causal (and situation-dependent) effects of the hormone on these judgements. Using a placebo-controlled cross-over design, our preregistered analyses revealed order- and relationship- dependent effects: single heterosexual men judged the women as more appealing when testosterone was administered first (and placebo second), but marginally less appealing when placebo was administered first (and testosterone second). In a more complex model incorporating the women's attractiveness (as rated by an independent set of observers), however, we show that testosterone increases the appeal of women -but this effect depends upon the men's relationship status and the women's attractiveness. In partnered men (n = 53) who tend to derogate attractive alternatives (by rating them as less appealing), testosterone countered this effect, boosting the appeal of these attractive alternatives. In single men (n = 53), conversely, testosterone increased the appeal of low-attractive women. These differential effects highlight the possibility of a newly discovered mechanism whereby testosterone promotes male sexual reproduction through different routes depending on relationship status, promoting partner up- rather than down-grading when partnered and reducing choosiness when single. Further, such effects were relatively rapid [within 85 (±5) minutes], suggesting a potential non-genomic mechanism of action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shawn N Geniole
- Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, 100 College Drive, North Bay, Ontario P1B8L7, Canada; Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse 5, 1160 Vienna, Austria; Department of Psychology, University of the Fraser Valley, 33844 King Road, Abbotsford, British Columbia V2S 7M8, Canada
| | - Valentina Proietti
- Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, 100 College Drive, North Bay, Ontario P1B8L7, Canada; Department of Psychology, Trinity Western University, 7600 Glover Road, Langley, British Columbia V2Y1Y1, Canada
| | - Brittney A Robinson
- Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, 100 College Drive, North Bay, Ontario P1B8L7, Canada
| | - Brian M Bird
- Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Dr, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada
| | - Neil V Watson
- Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Dr, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada
| | - Pierre L Bonin
- Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Sudbury, Ontario, 935 Ramsey Lake Rd, Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6, Canada
| | - Bernard Goldfarb
- Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Sudbury, Ontario, 935 Ramsey Lake Rd, Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6, Canada
| | - Justin M Carré
- Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, 100 College Drive, North Bay, Ontario P1B8L7, Canada.
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16
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Workman CI, Smith KM, Apicella CL, Chatterjee A. Evidence against the "anomalous-is-bad" stereotype in Hadza hunter gatherers. Sci Rep 2022; 12:8693. [PMID: 35610269 PMCID: PMC9130266 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-12440-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2022] [Accepted: 04/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
People have an "anomalous-is-bad" stereotype whereby they make negative inferences about the moral character of people with craniofacial anomalies like scars. This stereotype is hypothesized to be a byproduct of adaptations for avoiding pathogens. However, evidence for the anomalous-is-bad stereotype comes from studies of European and North American populations; the byproduct hypothesis would predict universality of the stereotype. We presented 123 Hadza across ten camps pairs of morphed Hadza faces-each with one face altered to include a scar-and asked who they expected to be more moral and a better forager. Hadza with minimal exposure to other cultures chose at chance for both questions. Hadza with greater exposure to other cultures, however, expected the scarred face to be less moral and a better forager. These results suggest the anomalous-is-bad stereotype may be culturally shared or learned erroneously through associations with population-level differences, providing evidence against a universal pathogen avoidance byproduct hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clifford I Workman
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
- Penn Brain Science Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
- Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
| | - Kristopher M Smith
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99163, USA.
| | - Coren L Apicella
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Anjan Chatterjee
- Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- Penn Brain Science Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
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17
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Blake KR. Attractiveness Helps Women Secure Mates, But Also Status and Reproductively Relevant Resources. ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 2022; 51:39-41. [PMID: 33666826 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-021-01949-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2021] [Revised: 02/04/2021] [Accepted: 02/08/2021] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Khandis R Blake
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, 3010, Australia.
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18
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Parada-Fernández P, Herrero-Fernández D, Jorge R, Comesaña P. Wearing mask hinders emotion recognition, but enhances perception of attractiveness. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2022; 184:111195. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2021.111195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Revised: 04/26/2021] [Accepted: 08/09/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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19
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Davis AC, Arnocky S. Response to Commentaries: A Socioevolutionary Approach to Self-Presentation Modification. ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR 2022; 51:85-100. [PMID: 34713430 DOI: 10.1007/s10508-021-02170-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2021] [Revised: 09/28/2021] [Accepted: 09/28/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Adam C Davis
- Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Steven Arnocky
- Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, 100 College Drive, North Bay, ON, P1B 8L7, Canada.
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20
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Zhang L, Chen W, Liu M, Ou Y, Xu E, Hu P. Light makeup decreases receivers' negative emotional experience. Sci Rep 2021; 11:23802. [PMID: 34893652 PMCID: PMC8664826 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-03129-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2021] [Accepted: 11/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Makeup is widely used in modern society and has a positive effect on perceived attractiveness. However, little is known about the other possible outcomes of makeup use. In this study, we investigated whether makeup enhances a receiver's emotional experience. Dynamic faces with or without makeup are presented in Experiments 1 and 2. Participants were asked to imagine themselves video chatting with a target person (expresser) with different expressions: neutral, angry, sad, or happy, and then to appraise their own subjective emotional experience. Emotional valence, arousal, and willingness to communicate were also assessed in Experiment 2. The results showed that makeup improved perceived facial attractiveness and increased the willingness to communicate. More importantly, it revealed that wearing makeup could weaken receivers' negative experiences arising from the angry and sad conditions, which is not the case for the non-makeup condition, but could not affect the happy contagion. Furthermore, incremental changes in the amount of makeup were not accompanied by incremental changes in emotional appraisal (valence and arousal). Overall, we found that makeup may affect emotional contagion and interpersonal communication. Whether the alleviated negative experience due to makeup is adaptive may need further discussion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ling Zhang
- Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China
| | - Wenfeng Chen
- Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China
| | - Menghan Liu
- Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China
| | - Yuxiao Ou
- Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China
| | - Erjia Xu
- Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China
| | - Ping Hu
- Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China.
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21
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Brustkern J, Heinrichs M, Walker M, Schiller B. Facial threat affects trust more strongly than facial attractiveness in women than it does in men. Sci Rep 2021; 11:22475. [PMID: 34795328 PMCID: PMC8602253 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-01775-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2021] [Accepted: 11/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Trust is essential in initiating social relationships. Due to the differential evolution of sex hormones as well as the fitness burdens of producing offspring, evaluations of a potential mating partner's trustworthiness likely differ across sexes. Here, we explore unknown sex-specific effects of facial attractiveness and threat on trusting other-sex individuals. Ninety-three participants (singles; 46 women) attracted by the other sex performed an incentivized trust game. They had to decide whether to trust individuals of the other sex represented by a priori-created face stimuli gradually varying in the intensities of both attractiveness and threat. Male and female participants trusted attractive and unthreatening-looking individuals more often. However, whereas male participants' trust behavior was affected equally by attractiveness and threat, female participants' trust behavior was more strongly affected by threat than by attractiveness. This indicates that a partner's high facial attractiveness might compensate for high facial threat in male but not female participants. Our findings suggest that men and women prioritize attractiveness and threat differentially, with women paying relatively more attention to threat cues inversely signaling parental investment than to attractiveness cues signaling reproductive fitness. This difference might be attributable to an evolutionary, biologically sex-specific decision regarding parental investment and reproduction behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johanna Brustkern
- Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Freiburg, Stefan-Meier-Str. 8, 79104, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Markus Heinrichs
- Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Freiburg, Stefan-Meier-Str. 8, 79104, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Mirella Walker
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Basel, Missionsstrasse 60/62, 4055, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Bastian Schiller
- Laboratory for Biological and Personality Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Freiburg, Stefan-Meier-Str. 8, 79104, Freiburg, Germany.
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22
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The benefits of beauty – Individual differences in the pro-attractiveness bias in social decision making. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-021-02366-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
AbstractWhile there already is a huge body of research examining the advantages and disadvantages of physical attractiveness in social and economic decisions, little research has been made to explore the role of individual differences in social decision-making with regard to beauty. To close this scientific gap, we conducted a multiparadigm online study (N = 210; 52% females) in which participants were asked to make decisions in four different economic games facing differently attractive counterparts. Additionally, the personality trait agreeableness was assessed to test for individual differences in decision-making. In exploratory analyses, we also assessed which facet of agreeableness is the most appropriate to predict individual differences in the various economic games. In the study, we were able to replicate the finding of a beauty premium and a plainness penalty but did not find any support for the idea of a beauty penalty. Furthermore, evidence for an opposite-sex advantage was found, which was greater when men were facing women than the other way around. While agreeableness as an overall trait influenced decision making across various paradigms, interactions of distinct facets of agreeableness with the partners’ attractiveness remain heterogeneous and ambiguous. This underlines the importance of integrating the specificity of certain traits in experimental research and the necessity of combining them with different social situations.
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23
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Singh M. The Sympathetic Plot, Its Psychological Origins, and Implications for the Evolution of Fiction. EMOTION REVIEW 2021. [DOI: 10.1177/17540739211022824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The sympathetic plot—featuring a goal-directed protagonist who confronts obstacles, overcomes them, and wins rewards—is ubiquitous. Here, I propose that it recurs because it entertains, engaging two sets of psychological mechanisms. First, it triggers mechanisms for learning about obstacles and how to overcome them. It builds interest by confronting a protagonist with a problem and induces satisfaction when the problem is solved. Second, it evokes sympathetic joy. It establishes the protagonist as an ideal cooperative partner pursuing a goal, appealing to mechanisms for helping. When the protagonist succeeds, they receive rewards, and audiences feel sympathetic joy, an emotion normally triggered when beneficiaries triumph. The capacities underlying the sympathetic plot evolved for learning and cooperation before being co-opted for entertainment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manvir Singh
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, France
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24
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Kellie DJ, Blake KR, Brooks RC. Behind the makeup: The effects of cosmetics on women's self‐objectification, and their objectification by others. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Dax J. Kellie
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre University of New South Wales Sydney 2052 Australia
| | - Khandis R. Blake
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre University of New South Wales Sydney 2052 Australia
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences University of Melbourne Melbourne 3011 Australia
| | - Robert C. Brooks
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre University of New South Wales Sydney 2052 Australia
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25
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Hockey A, Donovan CL, Christine Overall N, Kate Barlow F. Body Image Projection Bias in Heterosexual Romantic Relationships: A Dyadic Investigation. PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN 2021; 48:987-1004. [PMID: 34189994 DOI: 10.1177/01461672211025202] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Guided by projection bias perspectives, this article sought to advance understanding of the associations between body image and relationship and sexual satisfaction within heterosexual romantic relationships. Across two studies, both members of heterosexual dating and/or married couples reported on their body image, perceptions of partner's attraction to the self, own attraction toward the partner, and relationship satisfaction. Study 2 also incorporated measures of participants' body mass index (BMI) and sexual satisfaction. Across both studies, women with poorer body image perceived their partner to be less attracted to them (irrespective of their partner's actual attraction to them, or how attracted they were to their partner), which in turn was associated with lower relationship and sexual satisfaction. For men, attraction to their partner was consistently associated with their own relationship satisfaction. Results demonstrate that projection biases are a possible mechanism through which body image is associated with romantic relationship and sexual satisfaction, and hint at the particular relevance of appearance-related projection biases for women's relationship and sexual satisfaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allanah Hockey
- Griffith University, Mount Gravatt, Queensland, Australia
| | | | | | - Fiona Kate Barlow
- The School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia
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26
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Spence C. The scent of attraction and the smell of success: crossmodal influences on person perception. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2021; 6:46. [PMID: 34173932 PMCID: PMC8233629 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-021-00311-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2021] [Accepted: 06/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
In recent decades, there has been an explosion of research into the crossmodal influence of olfactory cues on multisensory person perception. Numerous peer-reviewed studies have documented that a variety of olfactory stimuli, from ambient malodours through to fine fragrances, and even a range of chemosensory body odours can influence everything from a perceiver's judgments of another person's attractiveness, age, affect, health/disease status, and even elements of their personality. The crossmodal and multisensory contributions to such effects are reviewed and the limitations/peculiarities of the research that have been published to date are highlighted. At the same time, however, it is important to note that the presence of scent (and/or the absence of malodour) can also influence people's (i.e., a perceiver's) self-confidence which may, in turn, affect how attractive they appear to others. Several potential cognitive mechanisms have been put forward to try and explain such crossmodal/multisensory influences, and some of the neural substrates underpinning these effects have now been characterized. At the end of this narrative review, a number of the potential (and actual) applications for, and implications of, such crossmodal/multisensory phenomena involving olfaction are outlined briefly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles Spence
- Crossmodal Research Laboratory, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Anna Watts Building, Oxford, OX2 6BW, UK.
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27
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The creepy, the bad and the ugly: exploring perceptions of moral character and social desirability in uncanny faces. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-021-01452-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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28
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Skov M, Nadal M. The nature of beauty: behavior, cognition, and neurobiology. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2020; 1488:44-55. [DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14524] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2020] [Revised: 10/05/2020] [Accepted: 10/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Martin Skov
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre Denmark
- Decision Neuroscience Research Cluster Copenhagen Business School Frederiksberg Denmark
| | - Marcos Nadal
- Human Evolution and Cognition Group Department of Psychology University of the Balearic Islands Palma Spain
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29
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Love HL, Gunderman RB. Guarding Against Implicit Bias: Attractiveness. J Am Coll Radiol 2020; 18:622-623. [PMID: 33129767 DOI: 10.1016/j.jacr.2020.10.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2020] [Revised: 10/03/2020] [Accepted: 10/06/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Harrison L Love
- Department of Radiology, Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana
| | - Richard B Gunderman
- Chancellor's Professor, Radiology, Pediatrics, Medical Education, Philosophy, Liberal Arts, Philanthropy, and Medical Humanities and Health Studies at Indiana University. He is also John A Campbell Professor of Radiology and in 2019-21 serves as Bicentennial Professor at Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana.
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30
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Swipe right for surgical residency: Exploring the unconscious bias in resident selection. Surgery 2020; 168:724-729. [DOI: 10.1016/j.surg.2020.05.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2020] [Revised: 05/16/2020] [Accepted: 05/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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31
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Does the Quality of Mating Competitors Affect Socio-Political Attitudes? An Experimental Test. ADAPTIVE HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND PHYSIOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s40750-020-00151-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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32
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Abstract
A first step towards personalized medicine is to consider whether, for some disorders, the safest and most effective treatment of women needs to differ from standard guideline recommendations developed on the basis of clinical trials conducted, for the most part, in men. A second step is to consider how women’s reproductive stages—pre-pubertal years, menstrual phases, pregnancy trimesters, lactation and postpartum periods, menopausal and postmenopausal/aging status—affect the optimal choice of treatment. This review focuses on these two steps in the treatment of psychosis, specifically schizophrenia. It discusses genetics, precursors and symptoms of schizophrenia, reproductive and associated ethical issues, antipsychotic drug response and adverse effects, substance abuse, victimization and perpetration of violence, and issues of immigration and of co-morbidity. The conclusions, while often based on clinical experience and theoretical considerations rather than strictly on the evidence of randomized controlled trials, are that clinical recommendations need to consider clinical and role differences that exist between men and women and make appropriate correction for age and reproductive status.
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34
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A sense of unfairness reduces charitable giving to a third-party: Evidence from behavioral and electrophysiological data. Neuropsychologia 2020; 142:107443. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2019] [Revised: 03/22/2020] [Accepted: 03/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
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35
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Female Self-Sexualization Covaries with Mate Value but Not Mate Availability. ADAPTIVE HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND PHYSIOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s40750-020-00133-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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36
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Blake KR, Brooks R, Arthur LC, Denson TF. In the context of romantic attraction, beautification can increase assertiveness in women. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0229162. [PMID: 32155157 PMCID: PMC7064170 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2019] [Accepted: 01/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Can beautification empower women to act assertively? Some women report that beautification is an agentic and assertive act, whereas others find beautification to be oppressive and disempowering. To disentangle these effects, in the context of romantic attraction we conducted the first experimental tests of beautification—on psychological and behavioral assertiveness. Experiment 1 (N = 145) utilized a between-subjects design in which women used their own clothing, make-up, and accessories to adjust their appearance as they normally would for a “hot date” (beautification condition) or a casual day at home with friends (control condition). We measured implicit, explicit, and behavioral assertiveness, as well as positive affect and sexual motivation. Experiment 2 (N = 40) sought to conceptually replicate Experiment 1 using a within-subject design and different measures of assertiveness. Women completed measures of explicit assertiveness and assertive behavioral intentions in three domains, in whatever clothing they were wearing that day then again after extensively beautifying their appearance. In Experiment 1, we found that women demonstrated higher psychological assertiveness after beautifying their appearance, and that high sexual motivation mediated the effect of beautification on assertive behavior. All effects were independent of positive affect. Experiment 2 partially replicated Experiment 1. These experiments provide novel insight into the effects of women’s appearance-enhancing behaviors on assertiveness by providing evidence that beautification may positively affect assertiveness in women under some circumstances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Khandis R. Blake
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Environmental and Earth Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- * E-mail:
| | - Robert Brooks
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Environmental and Earth Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Lindsie C. Arthur
- Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, London School of Economics, London, United Kingdom
| | - Thomas F. Denson
- School of Psychology, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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37
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Lobmaier JS, Probst F, Fischbacher U, Wirthmüller U, Knoch D. Pleasant body odours, but not genetic similarity, influence trustworthiness in a modified trust game. Sci Rep 2020; 10:3388. [PMID: 32099082 PMCID: PMC7042344 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-60407-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2019] [Accepted: 02/06/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Identifying trustworthy partners is an important adaptive challenge for establishing mutually cooperative relationships. Previous studies have demonstrated a marked relationship between a person's attractiveness and his apparent trustworthiness (beauty premium). Kin selection theory, however, suggests that cues to kinship enhance trustworthiness. Here we directly tested predictions of the beauty premium and kin selection theory by using body odours as cues to trustworthiness. Body odours reportedly portray information about an individuals' genotype at the human leucocyte antigen system (HLA) and thus olfactory cues in body odours serve as a promising means for kin recognition. Ninety men played trust games in which they divided uneven sums of monetary units between two male trustees represented by their body odour and rated each body odour for pleasantness. Half of the odours came from HLA-similar men (suggesting closer kin) and half from HLA dissimilar men (suggesting non-kin). We found that the amount of money the players transferred was not related to HLA-similarity, but to the pleasantness of the trustee's body odour. By showing that people with more pleasant body odours are trusted more than people with unpleasant body odour we provide evidence for a "beauty-premium" that overrides any putative effect of kin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janek S Lobmaier
- Department of Social Neuroscience and Social Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
| | - Fabian Probst
- Department of Social Neuroscience and Social Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Urs Fischbacher
- Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- Thurgau Institute of Economics, Kreuzlingen, Switzerland
| | - Urs Wirthmüller
- Universitätsinstitut für Klinische Chemie, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Daria Knoch
- Department of Social Neuroscience and Social Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
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Zogmaister C, Durante F, Mari S, Crippa F, Volpato C. Measuring objectification through the Body Inversion Paradigm: Methodological issues. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0229161. [PMID: 32074127 PMCID: PMC7031944 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2019] [Accepted: 01/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Objectification occurs when a person is perceived and/or treated like an object. With the present work, we overview the available measures of objectification and present a series of studies aimed at investigating the validity of the task of inverted body recognition proposed by Bernard and colleagues (2012), which might potentially be a useful cognitive measure of objectification. We conducted three studies. Study 1 (N = 101) is a direct replication of Bernard et al.'s study: participants were presented with the same photos of sexualized male and female targets used in the original research. Study 2a (N = 100) is a conceptual replication: we used different images of scantily dressed male and female models. Finally, in Study 2b (N = 100), we investigated a boundary condition by presenting to participants photos of the same models as in Study 2a, but fully dressed and non-sexualized. Using mixed-effects models for completely-crossed classified data structures, we investigated the relationship between the inversion effect and the stimulus' asymmetry, sexualization and attractiveness, and the perceivers' self-objectification, sexism, and automatic woman-human association. Study 1 replicated the original results, showing a stronger inversion effect for male photos. However, no difference between male and female stimuli emerged in either Study 2a or 2b. Moreover, the impact of the other variables on the inversion effect was highly unstable across the studies. These aspects together indicate that the inversion effect depends on the specific set of stimuli and limits the generalizability of results collected using this method.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Zogmaister
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca,
Milan, Italy
- * E-mail:
| | - Federica Durante
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca,
Milan, Italy
| | - Silvia Mari
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca,
Milan, Italy
| | - Franca Crippa
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca,
Milan, Italy
| | - Chiara Volpato
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca,
Milan, Italy
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Status anxiety mediates the positive relationship between income inequality and sexualization. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:25029-25033. [PMID: 31767766 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1909806116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Income inequality generates and amplifies incentives, particularly incentives for individuals to elevate or maintain their status, with important consequences for the individuals involved and aggregate outcomes for their societies [R. G. Wilkinson, K. E. Pickett, Annu. Rev. Sociol. 35, 493-511 (2009)]. Economically unequal environments intensify men's competition for status, respect, and, ultimately, mating opportunities, thus elevating aggregate rates of violent crime and homicide [M. Daly, M. Wilson, Evolutionary Psychology and Motivation (2001)]. Recent evidence shows that women are more likely to post "sexy selfies" on social media and that they spend more on beautification in places where inequality is high rather than low [K. R. Blake, B. Bastian, T. F. Denson, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 115, 8722-8727 (2018)]. Here we test experimentally for causal links between income inequality and individual self-sexualization and status-related competition. We show that manipulating income inequality in a role-playing task indirectly increases women's intentions to wear revealing clothing and that it does so by increasing women's anxiety about their place in the social hierarchy. The effects are not better accounted for by wealth/poverty than by inequality or by modeling anxiety about same-sex competitors in place of status anxiety. The results indicate that women's appearance enhancement is partly driven by status-related goals.
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Ronay R, Oostrom JK, Lehmann-Willenbrock N, Mayoral S, Rusch H. Playing the trump card: Why we select overconfident leaders and why it matters. THE LEADERSHIP QUARTERLY 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2019.101316] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Olivera-La Rosa A, Arango-Tobón OE, Ingram GP. Swiping right: face perception in the age of Tinder. Heliyon 2019; 5:e02949. [PMID: 31872122 PMCID: PMC6909076 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2019] [Revised: 11/18/2019] [Accepted: 11/25/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
With an estimated 50 million or more users worldwide, Tinder has become one of the most popular mobile dating applications. Although judgments of physical attractiveness are assumed to drive the "swiping" decisions that lead to matches, we propose that there is an additional evaluative dimension driving behind these decisions: judgments of moral character. With the aim of adding empirical support for this proposition, we critically review the most striking findings about first impressions extracted from faces, moral character in person perception, creepiness, and the uncanny valley, as they apply to Tinder behavior. Drawing on this research and the evolutionary theory of biological markets, we formulate several hypotheses that offer directions for future studies of Tinder and other dating apps. We conclude that research on face perception of novel targets supports the plausibility of moral character as a potential factor affecting the swiping decisions and subsequent behavior of Tinder users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Olivera-La Rosa
- Department of Psychology and Social Sciences, Universidad Católica Luis Amigó. Transversal 514A #67B 90, Medellín, Colombia
- Human Evolution and Cognition Group, associated group to IFISC (University of the Balearic Islands – CSIC), Carr. de Valldemossa, km 7,5, Palma de Mallorca, 07122, Spain
| | - Olber Eduardo Arango-Tobón
- Department of Psychology and Social Sciences, Universidad Católica Luis Amigó. Transversal 514A #67B 90, Medellín, Colombia
| | - Gordon P.D. Ingram
- Department of Psychology, Universidad de Los Andes, Cra. 1 #18a-12, Bogotá, Colombia
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Yang Q, Zhu B, Zhang Q, Wang Y, Hu R, Liu S, Sun D. Effects of Male Defendants' Attractiveness and Trustworthiness on Simulated Judicial Decisions in Two Different Swindles. Front Psychol 2019; 10:2160. [PMID: 31616349 PMCID: PMC6775219 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2019] [Accepted: 09/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The present study aimed to examine the effects of male defendants' facial appearance (attractiveness and trustworthiness) on judicial decisions in two different swindles. We selected the following four categories of faces by manipulating facial attractiveness and trustworthiness simultaneously: the attractive and trustworthy face; the attractive but untrustworthy face; the unattractive but trustworthy face; and the unattractive and untrustworthy face. A total of six hundred and sixty-three participants across two studies were asked to make conviction-related judgments and penalty-related decisions for the defendants after they were randomly assigned to one of the four categories of faces. In Experiment 1, we used a blind-date swindle and found a "beauty penalty" for physically attractive defendants among females. Specifically, female participants were more likely to issue a guilty verdict to better-looking male defendants. Additionally, this "beauty-penalty effect" was merely observed in the untrustworthy condition. In Experiment 2, we used a telecommunication swindle, and the results showed that facial trustworthiness significantly predicted punishment magnitude and sentence decisions. Moreover, an exploratory analysis revealed that the disgust evoked by the faces partially mediated the relationship between facial trustworthiness and the assignment of criminal penalties. Taken together, these findings indicated that facial attractiveness and trustworthiness played different roles in judicial decisions. Importantly, the effect of facial attractiveness on judicial decisions differed as the detailed criminal circumstances of the offenses changed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qun Yang
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Bing Zhu
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Qian Zhang
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yuchao Wang
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Ruiheng Hu
- Mental Health Center, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Shengmin Liu
- Department of Psychology, Huzhou Normal University, Huzhou, China
| | - Delin Sun
- Duke-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States
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Why Be Generous? Tests of the Partner Choice and Threat Premium Models of Resource Division. ADAPTIVE HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND PHYSIOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s40750-019-00117-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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Kellie DJ, Blake KR, Brooks RC. What drives female objectification? An investigation of appearance-based interpersonal perceptions and the objectification of women. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0221388. [PMID: 31442260 PMCID: PMC6707629 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0221388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2018] [Accepted: 08/06/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research finds that both men and women perceive sexualized women as lacking in certain human qualities such as mental capacity and moral status. The mechanism underlying this effect, however, is unclear. The present two studies test how appearance-based judgements affect the degree to which a broad sample of women are objectified. In Study 1 (N = 279), full-body images of women wearing different clothing outfits were rated by male and female participants on perceived attractiveness, sexual intent and age. In Study 2, male and female participants (N = 1,695) viewed these same images from Study 1 and rated them on two dimensions of objectification (agency and patiency). We analyzed associations between these dimensions of objectification and the averaged appearance-based perceptions from Study 1. We find that women perceived as more open to casual sex are attributed less mental capacity and less moral status. We also find that participants tend to associate attractiveness with greater mental and moral status in women, but we find only limited evidence that perceived age influences objectification. Our findings suggest that although positive attractiveness biases may mitigate the amount a woman is objectified, greater female objectification may be prompted by observers' negative stereotypes of promiscuous women.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dax J. Kellie
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - Khandis R. Blake
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - Robert C. Brooks
- Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
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Number of friends and self-perception among Jamaican children: the role of attractiveness and fluctuating asymmetry. J Biosoc Sci 2019; 52:184-197. [DOI: 10.1017/s0021932019000373] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
AbstractThe role that physical attractiveness and fluctuating asymmetry (FA), a measure of developmental instability, play in self-perception and peer associations were explored in a well-studied cohort of Jamaican children using a novel research paradigm where subjects were already known to each other for extensive periods of time. The results showed that how attractive a child was perceived by others was significantly positively correlated with self-ratings of attractiveness. Contrary to findings from WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) samples, the study found a reversal in the sex differences in self-perceived attractiveness and self-esteem, where Jamaican females rate themselves more attractive and report higher self-esteem than do males. Attractiveness also predicts overall popularity, as measured by desirability as a friend and the percentage of peers who choose an individual as a friend. Attractive individuals of both sexes were chosen more often as ‘friends’. A significant correlation was also found between an individual’s FA and the average FA of those chosen as friends. However, the effect was primarily due to preferences by males for female friends possessing similar levels of FA, which could be an effective strategy in reducing future mating effort.
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Gouda-Vossos A, Brooks RC, Dixson BJW. The Interplay Between Economic Status and Attractiveness, and the Importance of Attire in Mate Choice Judgments. Front Psychol 2019; 10:462. [PMID: 30949084 PMCID: PMC6437035 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00462] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2018] [Accepted: 02/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Desirable characteristics of "opposite sex others," such as physical attractiveness and economic status, can influence how individuals are judged, and this is different for men and women. However, under various social contexts where cues of higher or lower economic status is suggested, sex differences in judgments related to mate choice have not been fully explored. In two studies, ratings of economic status and attractiveness were quantified for male and female targets that were presented under various social contexts. Study 1 assessed judgments (n = 1,359) of images of nine male and nine female targets in different sized groups containing only opposite-sex others (i.e., group size). While we found no significant effects of group size on male and female attractiveness, target female economic status increased when surrounded by two or more men. An ad hoc analysis controlling for the attire of the targets (business or casual) found that the association between target female economic status and group size occurred when females were in business attire. Study 2 investigates this effect further by presenting images of 12 males and 12 females, in higher and lower status attire (i.e., business and casual clothing) and measured judgments of attractiveness and economic status among women and men (n = 1,038). Consistent with the results of Study 1, female economic status was only affected when women were in business attire. However, female economic status decreased when in the presence of other men in business attire. There were no sex differences in judgments of economic status when judging stimuli in casual attire. Additionally, negative associations between attractiveness and economic status were found for males presented in casual attire. We discuss these results in the light of evolutionary sexual conflict theory by demonstrating how the asymmetrical importance of status between men and women can influence mate choice judgments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amany Gouda-Vossos
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Robert C. Brooks
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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Oren C, Shamay-Tsoory SG. Women's fertility cues affect cooperative behavior: Evidence for the role of the human putative chemosignal estratetraenol. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2019; 101:50-59. [PMID: 30408723 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.10.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2018] [Revised: 10/25/2018] [Accepted: 10/26/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies demonstrating that women's body odor during ovulation is perceived as more attractive suggest that exposure to women's chemosignals of high fertility increases mating motivation. Building on previous evidence showing that cooperative behaviors are perceived as attractive, in the current study we investigated whether chemosignals of women's fertility affect men's tendency to behave cooperatively. In the first experiment we found that in the presence of women's body odor during ovulation, men increase their tendency to apply a cooperative strategy, while their tendency to apply an individualistic strategy decreases. To examine the mechanism underlying this effect, we tested a different sample of men exposed to the putative human pheromone estratetraenol (estra-1,3,5(10),16-tetraen-3-ol) or to a control solution. Exposure toestratetraenol compared with control yielded strikingly similar effects of increased cooperation. The results indicate that women's chemosignals of high fertility increase mating motivation among man, encouraging them to act in a cooperative manner toward others, a response that may highlight their attractive qualities and thus attract mates. We further conclude that estratetraenol may serve as one of the biological agents that mediate the behavioral effects of women's chemosignals of fertility on social behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Oren
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel.
| | - Simone G Shamay-Tsoory
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
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Allen MS, McRae K, Walter EE. Anti-doping rule violations in sport: The attractive leniency effect and attributions of guilt and punishment. Body Image 2019; 28:76-80. [PMID: 30594002 DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2018.12.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2018] [Revised: 12/23/2018] [Accepted: 12/23/2018] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
The attractive-leniency effect predicts that more attractive people are perceived as less guilty and less deserving of punishment compared to less attractive people. This closely aligned conceptual replication study sought to explore athlete physical attractiveness, sex, and anti-doping rule violation severity (ADRV) as factors contributing to attributions of guilt and punishment. After initial pilot testing, 411 participants (135 men, 276 women; Mage = 20.30, SD = 4.69 years) were shown one of eight vignette-photograph pairings that differed in sex (male/female), ADRV severity (serious/minor), and physical attractiveness (high/low). Participants were asked to provide attributions of guilt, severity of punishment, and most appropriate course of action (sport-related punishment). Analyses of variance showed that attributions of guilt and punishment were related to ADRV severity, but there were no significant main or interaction effects for physical attractiveness on any of the outcome variables. Follow-up sensitivity analyses provided some evidence that less attractive athletes are afforded harsher punishments (reflecting a longer suspension from sport) than more attractive athletes, but this finding was not robust. Overall, the findings of this initial research indicate that an attractive leniency effect is likely to be trivial or negligible in the context of anti-doping rule violations in sport.
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Mate value at a glance: Facial attractiveness reveals women's waist-to-hip ratio and men's household income. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2018.07.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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South Palomares JK, Young AW. Facial and self-report questionnaire measures capture different aspects of romantic partner preferences. Br J Psychol 2018; 110:549-575. [PMID: 30270430 DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2018] [Revised: 08/02/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Romantic relationship researchers often use self-report measures of partner preferences based on verbal questionnaires. These questionnaires show that partner preferences involve an evaluation in terms of underlying factors of vitality-attractiveness, status-resources, and warmth-trustworthiness. However, when people first encounter a potential partner, they can usually derive a wealth of impressions from their face, and little is known about the relationship between verbal self-reports and impressions derived from faces. We conducted four studies investigating potential parallels and differences between facial impressions and verbal self-reports. Study 1 showed that when evaluating highly variable everyday face images in a context that does not require considering them as potential partners, participants can reliably perceive the traits and factors that are related to partner preferences. However, despite being capable of these nuanced evaluations, Study 2 found that when asked to evaluate images of faces as potential romantic partners, participants' preferences become dominated by attractiveness-related concerns. Study 3 confirmed this dominance of facial attractiveness using morphed face-like images. Study 4 showed that attractiveness dominates partner preferences for faces even when task instructions imply that warmth-trustworthiness or status-resources should be of primary importance. In contrast to verbal questionnaire measures of partner preferences, evaluations of faces focus heavily on attractiveness, whereas questionnaire self-reports tend on average to prioritize warmth-trustworthiness over attractiveness. Evaluations of faces and verbal self-report measures therefore capture different aspects of partner preferences.
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