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Voegeli R, Schoop R, Prestat-Marquis E, Rawlings AV, Shackelford TK, Fink B. Cross-cultural perception of female facial appearance: A multi-ethnic and multi-centre study. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0245998. [PMID: 33481957 PMCID: PMC7822532 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2020] [Accepted: 01/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans extract and use information from the face in assessments of physical appearance. Previous research indicates high agreement about facial attractiveness within and between cultures. However, the use of a narrow age range for facial stimuli, limitations due to unidirectional cross-cultural comparisons, and technical challenges have prevented definitive conclusions about the universality of face perception. In the present study, we imaged the faces of women aged 20 to 69 years in five locations (China, France, India, Japan, and South Africa) and secured age, attractiveness, and health assessments on continuous scales (0-100) from female and male raters (20-66 years) within and across ethnicity. In total, 180 images (36 of each ethnicity) were assessed by 600 raters (120 of each ethnicity), recruited in study centres in the five locations. Linear mixed model analysis revealed main and interaction effects of assessor ethnicity, assessor gender, and photographed participant ("face") ethnicity on age, attractiveness, and health assessments. Thus, differences in judgments of female facial appearance depend on the ethnicity of the photographed person, the ethnicity of the assessor, and whether the assessor is female or male. Facial age assessments correlated negatively with attractiveness and health assessments. Collectively, these findings provide evidence of cross-cultural variation in assessments of age, and even more of attractiveness, and health, indicating plasticity in perception of female facial appearance across cultures, although the decline in attractiveness and health assessments with age is universally found.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Todd K. Shackelford
- Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, United States of America
| | - Bernhard Fink
- Biosocial Science Information, Biedermannsdorf, Austria
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Danel DP, Kalinowski K, Nowak-Szczepanska N, Ziomkiewicz-Wichary A, Apanasewicz A, Borysławski K, Kozieł S, Kornafel D, Fedurek P. Shifts in Female Facial Attractiveness during Pregnancy. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2020; 17:ijerph17145176. [PMID: 32709046 PMCID: PMC7400433 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17145176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2020] [Revised: 07/10/2020] [Accepted: 07/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
It has been proposed that women’s physical attractiveness is a cue to temporal changes in fertility. If this is the case, we should observe shifts in attractiveness during pregnancy—a unique physiological state of temporal infertility. The aim of this study was to examine how women’s facial attractiveness changes during the subsequent trimesters of pregnancy and how it compares to that of nonpregnant women. Sixty-six pictures of pregnant women (22 pictures per trimester) and 22 of nonpregnant women (a control group) were used to generate four composite portraits, which were subsequently assessed for facial attractiveness by 117 heterosexual men. The results show considerable differences between facial attractiveness ratings depending on the status and progress of pregnancy. Nonpregnant women were perceived as the most attractive, and the attractiveness scores of pregnant women decreased throughout the course of pregnancy. Our findings show that facial attractiveness can be influenced by pregnancy and that gestation, even at its early stages, affects facial attractiveness. Considerable changes in women’s physiology that occur during pregnancy may be responsible for the observed effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dariusz P. Danel
- Department of Anthropology, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, 53-114 Wrocław, Poland; (N.N.-S.); (A.Z.-W.); (A.A.); (S.K.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +48-71-343-86-75
| | | | - Natalia Nowak-Szczepanska
- Department of Anthropology, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, 53-114 Wrocław, Poland; (N.N.-S.); (A.Z.-W.); (A.A.); (S.K.)
| | - Anna Ziomkiewicz-Wichary
- Department of Anthropology, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, 53-114 Wrocław, Poland; (N.N.-S.); (A.Z.-W.); (A.A.); (S.K.)
- Department of Anthropology, Institute of Zoology and Biomedical Research, Jagiellonian University, 30-387 Krakow, Poland
| | - Anna Apanasewicz
- Department of Anthropology, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, 53-114 Wrocław, Poland; (N.N.-S.); (A.Z.-W.); (A.A.); (S.K.)
| | - Krzysztof Borysławski
- Department of Anthropology, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 51-631 Wroclaw, Poland;
| | - Sławomir Kozieł
- Department of Anthropology, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, 53-114 Wrocław, Poland; (N.N.-S.); (A.Z.-W.); (A.A.); (S.K.)
| | - Danuta Kornafel
- Department of Human Biology, University of Wroclaw, 50-138 Wroclaw, Poland;
| | - Pawel Fedurek
- Division of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA Stirling, UK;
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Kočnar T, Saribay SA, Kleisner K. Perceived attractiveness of Czech faces across 10 cultures: Associations with sexual shape dimorphism, averageness, fluctuating asymmetry, and eye color. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0225549. [PMID: 31751432 PMCID: PMC6872208 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2019] [Accepted: 11/06/2019] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Research on the perception of faces typically assumes that there are some universal values of attractiveness which are shared across individuals and cultures. The perception of attractiveness may, however, vary across cultures due to local differences in both facial morphology and standards of beauty. To examine cross-cultural consensus in the ratings of attractiveness, we presented a set of 120 non-manipulated photographs of Czech faces to ten samples of raters from both European (Czech Republic, Estonia, Sweden, Romania, Turkey, Portugal) and non-European countries (Brazil, India, Cameroon, Namibia). We examined the relative contribution of three facial markers (sexual shape dimorphism, averageness, fluctuating asymmetry) to the perception of attractiveness as well as the possible influence of eye color, which is a locally specific trait. In general, we found that both male and female faces which were closer to the average and more feminine in shape were regarded as more attractive, while fluctuating asymmetry had no effect. Despite a high cross-cultural consensus on attractiveness standards, significant differences in the perception of attractiveness seem to be related to the level of socio-economic development (as measured by the Human Development Index, HDI). Attractiveness ratings by raters from low-HDI countries (India, Cameroon, Namibia) converged less with ratings from Czech Republic than ratings from high-HDI countries (European countries and Brazil). With respect to eye color, some local patterns emerged which we discuss as a consequence of negative frequency-dependent selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomáš Kočnar
- Department of Philosophy and History of Science, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - S. Adil Saribay
- Department of Psychology, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Karel Kleisner
- Department of Philosophy and History of Science, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
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de Souza LEC, de Lima TJS, Maia LM, Fontenele ABG, Lins SLB. A hierarchical (multicomponent) model of in-group identification: adaptation of a measure to the Brazilian context. PSICOLOGIA-REFLEXAO E CRITICA 2019; 32:19. [PMID: 32025989 PMCID: PMC6967042 DOI: 10.1186/s41155-019-0131-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2019] [Accepted: 09/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
The aim of this study is to adapt the multidimensional in-group identification scale (MGIS) to the Brazilian context by gathering evidence of its psychometric properties. A total of 663 people from two samples participated in the study. In sample 1, we measured the identification of Brazilians with the region of the country where they live. In sample 2, we measured the identification of students with the university which they attend. Confirmatory factor analyses were performed on both samples to compare the models previously proposed by the original authors of the measure. The obtained results confirmed the validity of the hierarchical and multidimensional factor structure proposed by the original authors. The scale proposed here can be used to measure multiple dimensions of in-group identification in Brazil.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luana Elayne Cunha de Souza
- Universidade de Fortaleza, Av. Washington Soares, 1321, Sala N-13, Edson Queiroz, Fortaleza, Ceará 60811-905 Brazil
| | - Tiago Jessé Souza de Lima
- Universidade de Fortaleza, Av. Washington Soares, 1321, Sala N-13, Edson Queiroz, Fortaleza, Ceará 60811-905 Brazil
| | - Luciana Maria Maia
- Universidade de Fortaleza, Av. Washington Soares, 1321, Sala N-13, Edson Queiroz, Fortaleza, Ceará 60811-905 Brazil
| | - Ana Beatriz Gomes Fontenele
- Universidade de Fortaleza, Av. Washington Soares, 1321, Sala N-13, Edson Queiroz, Fortaleza, Ceará 60811-905 Brazil
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Kleisner K, Pokorný Š, Saribay SA. Toward a New Approach to Cross-Cultural Distinctiveness and Typicality of Human Faces: The Cross-Group Typicality/ Distinctiveness Metric. Front Psychol 2019; 10:124. [PMID: 30766504 PMCID: PMC6365443 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2018] [Accepted: 01/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
In the present research, we took advantage of geometric morphometrics to propose a data-driven method for estimating the individual degree of facial typicality/distinctiveness for cross-cultural (and other cross-group) comparisons. Looking like a stranger in one’s home culture may be somewhat stressful. The same facial appearance, however, might become advantageous within an outgroup population. To address this fit between facial appearance and cultural setting, we propose a simple measure of distinctiveness/typicality based on position of an individual along the axis connecting the facial averages of two populations under comparison. The more distant a face is from its ingroup population mean toward the outgroup mean the more distinct it is (vis-à-vis the ingroup) and the more it resembles the outgroup standards. We compared this new measure with an alternative measure based on distance from outgroup mean. The new measure showed stronger association with rated facial distinctiveness than distance from outgroup mean. Subsequently, we manipulated facial stimuli to reflect different levels of ingroup-outgroup distinctiveness and tested them in one of the target cultures. Perceivers were able to successfully distinguish outgroup from ingroup faces in a two-alternative forced-choice task. There was also some evidence that this task was harder when the two faces were closer along the axis connecting the facial averages from the two cultures. Future directions and potential applications of our proposed approach are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karel Kleisner
- Department of Philosophy and History of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Šimon Pokorný
- Department of Philosophy and History of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - S Adil Saribay
- Department of Psychology, Boǧaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey
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Danel DP, Siennicka AE, Fedurek P, Frackowiak T, Sorokowski P, Jankowska EA, Pawlowski B. Men With a Terminal Illness Relax Their Criteria for Facial Attractiveness. Am J Mens Health 2017. [PMID: 28625113 PMCID: PMC5675349 DOI: 10.1177/1557988317692504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
According to the life history paradigm, in life-threatening conditions, sexual selection criteria are relaxed in order to increase the probability of a last resort reproduction, ultimately contributing to reproductive success. This should be reflected in loosened mating preferences — a process observed in nonhuman animals. Studies investigating this aspect in humans, however, are scarce. This study explored the aesthetic preferences towards facial and nonfacial stimuli in terminally ill patients with heart failure (HF) and their healthy, same-sex peers. The aim was to examine if these two groups of men demonstrate different patterns of aesthetic judgments. Using a 7-point scale, 65 male patients with HF and 143 healthy men evaluated the perceived attractiveness of 15 photographs (five adult male faces, five adult female faces, and five nonfacial pictures). A mixed-design analysis of variance was run to assess group differences in aesthetic preferences. Compared to healthy controls, stimuli. HF patients rated the pictures using significantly higher scores, but this applied only to male and female, but not nonfacial, stimuli. We propose that lower criteria for facial attractiveness in HF patients are linked to relaxation of mate preferences as a result of a life-threatening conditions, and that this process can be an adaptive mating strategy from an ultimate, evolutionary perspective. However, other mechanisms (e.g., seeking social support) may be also responsible for the observed patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dariusz P Danel
- 1 Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, PAS, Wrocław, Poland
| | - Agnieszka E Siennicka
- 2 Wrocław Medical University, Wrocław, Poland.,3 Clinical Military Hospital, Wrocław, Poland
| | - Pawel Fedurek
- 4 Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | | | - Ewa A Jankowska
- 1 Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, PAS, Wrocław, Poland.,2 Wrocław Medical University, Wrocław, Poland.,3 Clinical Military Hospital, Wrocław, Poland
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A hierarchical (multicomponent) model of in-group identification: examining in Russian samples. SPANISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2015; 18:E32. [PMID: 26037464 DOI: 10.1017/sjp.2015.37] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of Leach et al.'s (2008) model of in-group identification in two studies using Russian samples (overall N = 621). In Study 1, a series of multi-group confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the hierarchical model of in-group identification, which included two second-order factors, self-definition (individual self-stereotyping, and in-group homogeneity) and self-investment (satisfaction, solidarity, and centrality), fitted the data well for all four group identities (ethnic, religious, university, and gender) (CFI > .93, TLI > .92, RMSEA < .06, SRMR < .06) and demonstrated a better fit, compared to the alternative models. In Study 2, the construct validity and reliability of the Russian version of the in-group identification measure was examined. Results show that these measures have adequate psychometric properties. In short, our results show that Leach et al.'s model is reproduced in Russian culture. The Russian version of this measure can be recommended for use in future in-group research in Russian-speaking samples.
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