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Walker M, Stephan E. The effect of approach and avoidance motivation on self-perception. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2024; 248:104391. [PMID: 39029398 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104391] [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: 04/24/2023] [Revised: 06/12/2024] [Accepted: 07/09/2024] [Indexed: 07/21/2024] Open
Abstract
This work addresses the link between motivation and self-perception by systematically studying visual self-representations. We propose that the way individuals perceive themselves may be associated with dispositional and situationally induced approach and avoidance motivation. First, we investigate how dispositional differences in approach/avoidance motivation and self-esteem relate to self-perception. Second, we investigate how state differences in approach/avoidance motivation relate to self-perception. Based on motivation literature, we predicted that self-perception would reflect psychological equanimity at the dispositional level (seeing the self in a favorable light), and motivational flexibility at the situational level (situational avoidance motivation results in a more realistic view of one's qualities). We use up-to-date face modeling methods to measure individuals' self-perceptions in a systematic, nuanced, and implicit way: Participants are repeatedly asked to indicate which of two portrait versions better represents themselves. Then we relate distortions in self-perceptions to agency and communion dimensions. We demonstrate that (1) participants low in self-esteem show more communion enhancement than participants high in self-esteem; (2) participants in an avoidance state show less agency enhancement (i.e., more realistic self-perceptions) than participants in an approach state. This research is first to demonstrate regularities in visual self-perception that are linked to approach and avoidance motivation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mirella Walker
- University of Teacher Education Lucerne, Switzerland; University of Basel, Switzerland.
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Alfertshofer M, Kempa J, Biesman BS, Knoedler S, Knoedler L, Bravo C, Davidovic K, Antoszewski B, Timler W, Kasielska-Trojan A, Cotofana S. The "Central Tendency Bias" in the assessment of facial attractiveness in group-based and individual ratings-A survey-based study in 727 volunteers. J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg 2024; 92:264-275. [PMID: 38582052 DOI: 10.1016/j.bjps.2024.03.012] [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: 12/16/2023] [Revised: 03/09/2024] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/08/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The increasing number of esthetic procedures emphasizes the need for effective evaluation methods of outcomes. Current practices include the individual practitioners' judgment in conjunction with standardized scales, often relying on the comparison of before and after photographs. This study investigates whether comparative evaluations influence the perception of beauty and aims to enhance the accuracy of esthetic assessments in clinical and research settings. OBJECTIVE To compare the evaluation of attractiveness and gender characteristics of faces in group-based versus individual ratings. METHODS A sample of 727 volunteers (average age of 29.5 years) assessed 40 facial photographs (20 male, 20 female) for attractiveness, masculinity, and femininity using a 5-point Likert scale. Each face was digitally edited to display varying ratios in four lip-related proportions: vertical lip position, lip width, upper lip esthetics, and lower lip esthetics. Participants rated these images both in an image series (group-based) and individually. RESULTS Differences in the perception of the most attractive/masculine/feminine ratios for each lip proportion were found in both the group-based and individual ratings. Group ratings exhibited a significant central tendency bias, with a preference for more average outcomes compared with individual ratings, with an average difference of 0.50 versus 1.00. (p = 0.033) CONCLUSION: A central tendency bias was noted in evaluations of attractiveness, masculinity, and femininity in group-based image presentation, indicating a bias toward more "average" features. Conversely, individual assessments displayed a preference for more pronounced, "non-average" appearances, thereby possibly pointing toward a malleable "intrinsic esthetic blueprint" shaped by comparative context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Alfertshofer
- Department of Oromaxillofacial Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
| | - Joanna Kempa
- Individual Course of Study in the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Institute of Surgery, Medical University of Łódź, Poland
| | | | - Samuel Knoedler
- Division of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Yale New Haven Hospital, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Leonard Knoedler
- Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | - Kristina Davidovic
- Department of Radiology and Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Boguslaw Antoszewski
- Department of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgery, Institute of Surgery, Medical University of Łódź, Poland
| | - Wojciech Timler
- Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of Łódź, Poland
| | - Anna Kasielska-Trojan
- Department of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgery, Institute of Surgery, Medical University of Łódź, Poland
| | - Sebastian Cotofana
- Department of Dermatology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Center for Cutaneous Research, Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK; Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
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Krumhuber EG, Wang X, Guinote A. The powerful self: How social power and gender influence face perception. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-02798-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
AbstractWhile ample evidence supports an association between power and dominance, little is still known about how temporary experiences of power influence the way people come to see themselves and others. The present research investigates the effect of social power on self- and other-face recognition, and examines whether gender modulates the direction of this effect. Male and female participants were induced to feel either powerful or powerless and had to recognize their own face and those of same-sex strangers from a series of images ranging from a dominant to a submissive version of the original. Results showed that males more frequently chose a dominant self-image under high power, whereas females selected a submissive self-image under low power. When presented with faces of same-sex targets female participants relied on low-power features (i.e., submissiveness) of the self in the perception of others (assimilation effect), whereas male participants more often selected a dominant image of strangers when feeling powerless (constrast effect). The effects of power did not extend to more deliberate judgments of dominance and likability, suggesting that respective biases in face recollection operated at an implicit level. This research underscores the cognitive and motivational underpinnings of power and related gender gaps in power attainment.
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Yaple ZA, Yu R. Upward and downward comparisons across monetary and status domains. Hum Brain Mapp 2020; 41:4662-4675. [PMID: 33463879 PMCID: PMC7555068 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2020] [Revised: 07/10/2020] [Accepted: 07/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to accurately infer one's place with respect to others is crucial for social interactions. Individuals tend to evaluate their own actions and outcomes by comparing themselves to others in either an upward or downward direction. We performed two fMRI meta‐analyses on monetary (n = 39; 1,231 participants) and status (n = 23; 572 participants) social comparisons to examine how domain and the direction of comparison can modulate neural correlates of social hierarchy. Overall, both status and monetary downward comparisons activated regions associated with reward processing (striatum) while upward comparisons yielded loss‐related activity. These findings provide partial support for the common currency hypothesis in that downward and upward comparisons from both monetary and status domains resemble gains and losses, respectively. Furthermore, status upward and monetary downward comparisons revealed concordant orbitofrontal cortical activity, an area associated with evaluating the value of goals and decisions implicated in both lesion and empirical fMRI studies investigating social hierarchy. These findings may offer new insight into how people relate to individuals with higher social status and how these social comparisons deviate across monetary and social status domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zachary A Yaple
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Rongjun Yu
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore.,NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore
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Wang X, Guinote A, Krumhuber EG. Dominance biases in the perception and memory for the faces of powerholders, with consequences for social inferences. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2018.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Patusco V, Carvalho CK, Lenza MA, Faber J. Smile prevails over other facial components of male facial esthetics. J Am Dent Assoc 2018; 149:680-687. [PMID: 29866363 DOI: 10.1016/j.adaj.2018.03.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2017] [Revised: 03/14/2018] [Accepted: 03/16/2018] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to assess whether scores assigned to the eyes, nose, mouth, and chin regions work as predictors of full smiling face scores. METHODS In this cross-sectional study, the authors used the facial photographs of 86 smiling men. Photographs yielded 5 components: 1 of the face itself and 4 subcomponents (eyes, nose, mouth, and chin region). Raters assigned the photographs beauty scores that the authors measured morphometrically. The authors analyzed the predictive ability of the subcomponents against that of the full face. RESULTS The subcomponents were statistically significant predictors of facial beauty (mouth: r2 = 0.38, P < .0001; eyes: r2 = 0.14, P < .0001; chin region: r2 = 0.09, P < .0001; nose: r2 = 0.02, P = .05). The more beautiful people had several statistically significant characteristics, such as narrower faces. CONCLUSIONS Facial subcomponents are predictive factors of the male smiling face and contribute in the following descending order of importance: mouth, eyes, chin region, and nose. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS The results suggest that for many people improvement in smile esthetics also likely will exert a more positive effect on facial beauty than will other procedures (for example, rhinoplasty).
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White D, Sutherland CAM, Burton AL. Choosing face: The curse of self in profile image selection. COGNITIVE RESEARCH-PRINCIPLES AND IMPLICATIONS 2017; 2:23. [PMID: 28470036 PMCID: PMC5391387 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-017-0058-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2016] [Accepted: 02/21/2017] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
People draw automatic social inferences from photos of unfamiliar faces
and these first impressions are associated with important real-world outcomes.
Here we examine the effect of selecting online profile images on first
impressions. We model the process of profile image selection by asking
participants to indicate the likelihood that images of their own face
(“self-selection”) and of an unfamiliar face
(“other-selection”) would be used as profile images on key
social networking sites. Across two large Internet-based studies
(n = 610), in line with predictions, image selections
accentuated favorable social impressions and these impressions were aligned to
the social context of the networking sites. However, contrary to predictions
based on people’s general expertise in self-presentation, other-selected
images conferred more favorable impressions than self-selected images. We
conclude that people make suboptimal choices when selecting their own profile
pictures, such that self-perception places important limits on facial first
impressions formed by others. These results underscore the dynamic nature of
person perception in real-world contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
- David White
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales Sydney, Sydney, Australia.,ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW Australia
| | - Clare A M Sutherland
- School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia.,ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW Australia
| | - Amy L Burton
- School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
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I feel bad and look worse than you: Social comparisons moderate the effect of mood on face health judgement. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2016; 168:12-9. [PMID: 27129016 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2016.04.002] [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: 06/22/2015] [Revised: 03/15/2016] [Accepted: 04/10/2016] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Mood can bias the judgements people make about themselves and how people compare themselves to others. However, it is not yet clear whether mood also affects appearance-based self-evaluations and social comparisons. Given the importance of perceived health status for well-being, we investigated the effect of mood on self-image and social comparisons of healthiness during two versions of a face health judgement task. Thirty participants judged how they felt compared to healthy and unhealthy looking versions of their own (self version) and a stranger's face (stranger version), after a positive, negative and neutral mood induction. The effect of mood was dependent on self/stranger task order. Although mood did not affect face health judgement for participants who initially judged themselves against their own face, it did affect face health judgement for participants who initially judged themselves in comparison to a stranger's face. After the positive and negative mood inductions, these participants judged themselves as equivalent to healthier/unhealthier looking versions of their own and stranger's faces, respectively. Thus, social comparisons of facial healthiness could provide a perceptual measure of state well-being.
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Eckler P, Kalyango Y, Paasch E. Facebook use and negative body image among U.S. college women. Women Health 2016; 57:249-267. [DOI: 10.1080/03630242.2016.1159268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Petya Eckler
- School of Humanities, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
| | - Yusuf Kalyango
- E. W. Scripps School of Journalism, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA
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White D, Burton AL, Kemp RI. Not looking yourself: The cost of self-selecting photographs for identity verification. Br J Psychol 2015; 107:359-73. [PMID: 26105729 DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2014] [Revised: 05/08/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Photo-identification is based on the premise that photographs are representative of facial appearance. However, previous studies show that ratings of likeness vary across different photographs of the same face, suggesting that some images capture identity better than others. Two experiments were designed to examine the relationship between likeness judgments and face matching accuracy. In Experiment 1, we compared unfamiliar face matching accuracy for self-selected and other-selected high-likeness images. Surprisingly, images selected by previously unfamiliar viewers - after very limited exposure to a target face - were more accurately matched than self-selected images chosen by the target identity themselves. Results also revealed extremely low inter-rater agreement in ratings of likeness across participants, suggesting that perceptions of image resemblance are inherently unstable. In Experiment 2, we test whether the cost of self-selection can be explained by this general disagreement in likeness judgments between individual raters. We find that averaging across rankings by multiple raters produces image selections that provide superior identification accuracy. However, benefit of other-selection persisted for single raters, suggesting that inaccurate representations of self interfere with our ability to judge which images faithfully represent our current appearance.
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Affiliation(s)
- David White
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Amy L Burton
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Richard I Kemp
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Feeling bad and looking worse: negative affect is associated with reduced perceptions of face-healthiness. PLoS One 2014; 9:e107912. [PMID: 25259802 PMCID: PMC4178040 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0107912] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2014] [Accepted: 08/22/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Some people perceive themselves to look more, or less attractive than they are in reality. We investigated the role of emotions in enhancement and derogation effects; specifically, whether the propensity to experience positive and negative emotions affects how healthy we perceive our own face to look and how we judge ourselves against others. A psychophysical method was used to measure healthiness of self-image and social comparisons of healthiness. Participants who self-reported high positive (N = 20) or negative affectivity (N = 20) judged themselves against healthy (red-tinged) and unhealthy looking (green-tinged) versions of their own and stranger’s faces. An adaptive staircase procedure was used to measure perceptual thresholds. Participants high in positive affectivity were un-biased in their face health judgement. Participants high in negative affectivity on the other hand, judged themselves as equivalent to less healthy looking versions of their own face and a stranger’s face. Affective traits modulated self-image and social comparisons of healthiness. Face health judgement was also related to physical symptom perception and self-esteem; high physical symptom reports were associated a less healthy self-image and high self-reported (but not implicit) self-esteem was associated with more favourable social comparisons of healthiness. Subject to further validation, our novel face health judgement task could have utility as a perceptual measure of well-being. We are currently investigating whether face health judgement is sensitive to laboratory manipulations of mood.
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Riccio M, Cole S, Balcetis E. Seeing the Expected, the Desired, and the Feared: Influences on Perceptual Interpretation and Directed Attention. SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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