Bald and Bad?

Men's baldness stigma: A mixed methods international survey

Men's baldness can be structurally stigmatized. For example, commercialized psychology research medicalizes it as a distressing "disease." A mixed-methods survey on baldness stigma among 357 balding men (49% from Central- and South- America, Africa, Asia) was conducted. Qualitative and quantitative responses were content analyzed into two approximate sets: those (1) impacted by baldness stigma versus (2) those resisting baldness stigma. (1) The former included about half who had internalized baldness stigma agreeing it was disadvantageous (44%) and reporting distress (39-45% e.g. "[I] dread the future"). Participants reported baldness was stigmatized structurally (68%; e.g. "[it's a] humiliating image") and were attempting to combat their baldness largely via "treatments" (57%). (2) The latter participant response set resisted baldness stigma by reporting minimal distress, and structural stigma whilst accepting baldness (33-61%). Psychosocial and evidence-based support is needed to help some men resist baldness stigmatization.

Astragalus membranaceus and Cinnamomum cassia Stimulate the Hair Follicle Differentiation-Related Growth Factor by the Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway

Astragalus membranaceus and Cinnamomum cassia are used as spices and flavorful ingredients, or medicinal herbs with pharmacological effects. In this study, the hair-growth-promoting effects of the YH complex, a newly developed formula consisting of membranaceus and C. cassia, are investigated with the prediction of its molecular mechanism. The target gene of the YH complex was about 74.8% overlapped with the gene set of 'Hair growth' on the GO Biological Process database. The oral administration of the YH complex promoted hair regrowth and increased hair-shaft thickness in depilated hair loss mice. In addition, the anagen/telogen hair follicle ratio was significantly increased by the YH complex. The growth factors affecting the growth of hair follicles were dose-dependently increased by treatment with the YH complex. The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway expressions in skin tissues were apparently increased by the administration of the YH complex. In conclusion, the YH complex consisting of A. membranaceus and C. cassia induced hair follicle differentiation and preserved the growing-anagen phase by increasing growth factors and the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, leading to the restoration of hair loss. The YH complex can be a remedy for hair loss diseases, such as alopecia areata, androgenetic alopecia, telogen effluvium, and chemotherapy-induced alopecia.

Preference for Averaging in East Asian Faces: A Source of Potential Guidance in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

Background

Relatively little research has been done on the application of objective tools in guiding Ethnic Plastic Surgery in Asian patients. The evolutionary psychology theory of koinophilia, or love of average features, presents the basis for a solution to build a foundation for crowd-sourced East Asian aesthetic standards.

Objectives

The authors hypothesize that the averaged composite face in a cohort will be viewed as significantly more attractive than their respective cohort.

Methods

Cohorts were created based on the gender of the individual in the photograph (40 females and 40 males of East Asian descent). Two surveys were created, 1 for the female cohort and the other for the male. The surveys assessed the aesthetic preference of each photograph using a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 7. Surveys were distributed using the popular crowdsourcing program Amazon Mechanical Turk (Amazon, Seattle, WA).

Results

The authors received 875 respondents for the male cohort survey and 876 respondents for the female cohort survey. For both the female and male cohorts, the composite images had a statistically significantly higher rating (P < .001) than the mean of the other images. Among other significant demographic findings, when considering both ethnicity and location of residence, Asian raters living in Asia preferred the composite significantly more than Asian raters living in North America (P < .001).

Conclusions

Raters' preference for the composite average face is in concordance with the evolutionary psychology literature. Thus, this study affirms the utility of using facial composites to guide surgeons in identifying aesthetic standards for patients of East Asian descent.

Predictors and Moderators of Quality of Life in Male Users of Anti-Aging Products

For most individuals, changes occurring during the aging process may cause dissatisfaction and concerns regarding body image, with implications on quality of life (QoL). The aim of this study was to assess the contribution of sociodemographic and psychological variables and the type of anti-aging products/treatments on men's QoL, as well as to evaluate the moderating role of aging perceptions in the relationship between psychological morbidity and QoL. This study used a cross-sectional design and included a sample of 111 male participants who used anti-aging cosmetic products/aesthetic treatments. Participants were assessed on body image, self-esteem, psychological morbidity, aging perceptions, traits of perfectionism, and QoL. Results suggested that psychological morbidity and perceptions of the aging process as chronic negatively contributed to QoL, and emotional representations of aging moderated the relationship between psychological morbidity and QoL. According to the findings, psychological intervention programs to improve QoL should focus on men with higher levels of psychological morbidity and more negative emotional responses to the aging process.

A Crowdsourced Evaluation of Facial Averageness and Attractiveness

BACKGROUND

Evolutionary psychologists have demonstrated that humans are attracted to individuals who possess average anatomy for the population.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to prove that a composite of average facial features would be more attractive to raters than the cohort utilized to create the composite.

METHODS

The male and female cohorts each consisted of 41 standardized frontal-view monochrome photographs, with 1 composite image derived from the other 40 real images. Amazon Mechanical Turk, a widely used crowdsourcing platform, was utilized to obtain ratings of images ranging from 1 to 7, with 1 and 7 being least and most attractive, respectively. The strength of the preference for the composite over the real images was assessed by the difference between the mean rating of the composite and real images.

RESULTS

In total, 870 and 876 respondents were recruited to rate the male and female cohorts, respectively. For the male and female cohorts, the composite image was rated significantly higher than the rest of the cohort overall and across all ages, genders, and countries of residence (all P < 0.0001). For both cohorts, the strength of the preference was significantly higher for European respondents and lower for South American and nonbinary respondents (all P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

This study reveals that average facial anatomy is perceived as most attractive across all demographics, a finding that is hoped to serve as a stepping stone for further studies leading to objective cosmetic quantifications and integrating evidence-based medicine into aesthetic surgery.

The psychological consequences of androgenetic alopecia: A systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Androgenetic alopecia is the most common cause of hair loss in both males and females. In a society that places significant value on hair and associates it with attractiveness, a lack there of can have damaging psychological consequences. The psychosocial impact of hair loss is often overlooked due to the medically benign nature of offending conditions. Addressing the psychological aspects of androgenetic alopecia can improve holistic patient care and patient outcomes.

METHODS

A search was conducted in PubMed using the following search strategy: androgenetic alopecia AND anxiety OR depression OR psychological OR psychosocial OR self-esteem. Studies were excluded if they focused on any other type of alopecia or were published in a language other than English.

RESULTS

A total of 13 studies were retained after the initial search process. The included studies date from 1992 to 2021. They all conclude that androgenetic alopecia serves as a significant psychosocial stressor in the lives of those affected. It impairs quality of life according to multiple measures.

CONCLUSION

The data examined from these studies shed light on the increased need to attend to the psychosocial comorbidity associated with androgenetic alopecia. These hair-loss patients often present to dermatology clinics to seek treatment but would also benefit from psychological support.

Remedying the Metamemory Expectancy Illusion in Source Monitoring: Are there Effects on Restudy Choices and Source Memory?

Metamemory monitoring, study behavior, and memory are presumably causally connected. When people misjudge their memory, their study behavior should be biased accordingly. Remedying metamemory illusions should debias study behavior and improve memory. One metamemory illusion concerns source memory, a critical aspect of episodic memory. People predict better source memory for items that originated from an expected source (e.g., toothbrush in a bathroom) rather than an unexpected source (e.g., shampoo in a kitchen), whereas actual source memory shows the opposite: an inconsistency effect. This expectancy illusion biases restudy choices: Participants restudy more unexpected than expected source-item pairs. The authors tested the causal relationships between metamemory and source memory with a delay and a source-retrieval attempt between study and metamemory judgment to remedy the expectancy illusion and debias restudy choices. Debiased restudy choices should enhance source memory for expected items, thereby reducing the inconsistency effect. Two groups studied expected and unexpected source-item pairs. They made metamemory judgments and restudy choices immediately at study or after delay, restudied the selected pairs, and completed a source-monitoring test. After immediate judgments, participants predicted better source memory for expected pairs and selected more unexpected pairs for restudy. After delayed judgments, participants predicted a null effect of expectancy on source memory and selected equal numbers of expected and unexpected pairs. Thus, the expectancy illusion was partially remedied and restudy choices were debiased. Nevertheless, source memory was only weakly affected. The results challenge the presumed causal relationships between metamemory monitoring, study behavior, and source memory.

Psychology's medicalization of male baldness

Male baldness is physically benign though it is increasingly described as a "disease" based on claims that it is profoundly distressing. The medicalization of baldness was assessed using data extracted from a review of 37 male baldness psychosocial impact studies. Findings revealed most studies likely had commercial influences (78%), represented baldness as a disease (77%), were conducted on biased samples (68%), and advocated for baldness products/services (60%), omitting their limitations (68%). Health psychologists should challenge baldness medicalization so that men can make informed choices about what, if anything, they do with their baldness.

Algorithmic Political Bias in Artificial Intelligence Systems

Some artificial intelligence (AI) systems can display algorithmic bias, i.e. they may produce outputs that unfairly discriminate against people based on their social identity. Much research on this topic focuses on algorithmic bias that disadvantages people based on their gender or racial identity. The related ethical problems are significant and well known. Algorithmic bias against other aspects of people’s social identity, for instance, their political orientation, remains largely unexplored. This paper argues that algorithmic bias against people’s political orientation can arise in some of the same ways in which algorithmic gender and racial biases emerge. However, it differs importantly from them because there are (in a democratic society) strong social norms against gender and racial biases. This does not hold to the same extent for political biases. Political biases can thus more powerfully influence people, which increases the chances that these biases become embedded in algorithms and makes algorithmic political biases harder to detect and eradicate than gender and racial biases even though they all can produce similar harm. Since some algorithms can now also easily identify people’s political orientations against their will, these problems are exacerbated. Algorithmic political bias thus raises substantial and distinctive risks that the AI community should be aware of and examine.