Making an Appearance
John Graham, Campbell Harvey & Manju Puri
NBER Working Paper, April 2010
Abstract:
We conduct beauty contest experiments, using close to 2,000 subjects to study the facial traits of CEOs. In one experiment we use pairs of photographs and find that subjects rate CEO faces as appearing more "competent" and less "likable" than non-CEO faces. Another experiment matches CEOs from large firms against CEOs from smaller firms and finds large-firm CEOs look more competent and likable. In a third experiment, subjects numerically rate the facial traits of CEOs. We find that executive compensation is linked to these perceived "competence" ratings. Our analysis explores these findings in more detail and shows that the facial-trait rating can be explained by a quantitative scoring of the "maturity" or "baby-facedness" of the CEO. That is, more mature looking CEOs are assigned higher "competence" scores. This finding is potentially worrisome because psychology research shows that baby-faced-looking people often possess qualities opposite to those projected by their facial traits. Accordingly, we find no evidence that the firms of competent looking CEOs perform better. Essentially, the "look" of competence says very little about effective competence.
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Beauty and the beast: Mechanisms of sexual selection in humans
David Puts
Evolution and Human Behavior, May 2010, Pages 157-175
Abstract:
Literature in evolutionary psychology suggests that mate choice has been the primary mechanism of sexual selection in humans, but this conclusion conforms neither to theoretical predictions nor available evidence. Contests override other mechanisms of sexual selection; that is, when individuals can exclude their competitors by force or threat of force, mate choice, sperm competition, and other mechanisms are impossible. Mates are easier to monopolize in two dimensional mating environments, such as land, than in three-dimensional environments, such as air, water, and trees. Thus, two-dimensional mating environments may tend to favor the evolution of contests. The two-dimensionality of the human mating environment, along with phylogeny, the spatial and temporal clustering of mates and competitors, and anatomical considerations, predict that contest competition should have been the primary mechanism of sexual selection in men. A functional analysis supports this prediction. Men's traits are better designed for contest competition than for other sexual selection mechanisms; size, muscularity, strength, aggression, and the manufacture and use of weapons probably helped ancestral males win contests directly, and deep voices and facial hair signal dominance more effectively than they increase attractiveness. However, male monopolization of females was imperfect, and female mate choice, sperm competition, and sexual coercion also likely shaped men's traits. In contrast, male mate choice was probably central in women's mating competition because ancestral females could not constrain the choices of larger and more aggressive males through force, and attractive women could obtain greater male investment. Neotenous female features and body fat deposition on the breasts and hips appear to have been shaped by male mate choice.
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Why are mixed-race people perceived as more attractive?
Michael Lewis
Perception, January 2010, Pages 136-138
Abstract:
Previous, small scale, studies have suggested that people of mixed race are perceived as being more attractive than non-mixed-race people. Here, it is suggested that the reason for this is the genetic process of heterosis or hybrid vigour (ie cross-bred offspring have greater genetic fitness than pure-bred offspring). A random sample of 1205 black, white, and mixed-race faces was collected. These faces were then rated for their perceived attractiveness. There was a small but highly significant effect, with mixed-race faces, on average, being perceived as more attractive. This result is seen as a perceptual demonstration of heterosis in humans-a biological process that may have implications far beyond just attractiveness.
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Physical appearance and wages: Do blondes have more fun?
David Johnston
Economics Letters, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study contributes to the economics literature that links physical characteristics to labour market outcomes, by investigating the influence of hair colour on women's own wages and also their spouse's wages. Using U.S. panel data, we find that blonde women receive large wage premiums.
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Valid Facial Cues to Cooperation and Trust: Male Facial Width and Trustworthiness
M. Stirrat & D.I. Perrett
Psychological Science, March 2010, Pages 349-354
Abstract:
Decisions about whom to trust are biased by stable facial traits such as attractiveness, similarity to kin, and perceived trustworthiness. Research addressing the validity of facial trustworthiness or its basis in facial features is scarce, and the results have been inconsistent. We measured male trustworthiness operationally in trust games in which participants had options to collaborate for mutual financial gain or to exploit for greater personal gain. We also measured facial (bizygomatic) width (scaled for face height) because this is a sexually dimorphic, testosterone-linked trait predictive of male aggression. We found that men with greater facial width were more likely to exploit the trust of others and that other players were less likely to trust male counterparts with wide rather than narrow faces (independent of their attractiveness). Moreover, manipulating this facial-width ratio with computer graphics controlled attributions of trustworthiness, particularly for subordinate female evaluators.
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Lisa Rosen & Marion Underwood
Journal of School Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study examined the relations between facial attractiveness, aggression, and popularity in adolescence to determine whether facial attractiveness would buffer against the negative effects of aggression on popularity. We collected ratings of facial attractiveness from standardized photographs, and teachers provided information on adolescents' social aggression, physical aggression, and popularity for 143 seventh graders (70 girls). Regression analyses indicated that facial attractiveness moderated the relations between both types of aggression and popularity. Aggression was associated with a reduction in popularity for adolescents low on facial attractiveness. However, popularity did not decrease as a function of aggression for adolescents high on facial attractiveness. Aggressors with high facial attractiveness may experience fewer negative consequences to their social standing, thus contributing to higher overall rates of aggression in school settings.
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Do they know what they like? Intra-individual variation of female facial preferences
K. Kościński
Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, March 2010, Pages 23-55
Abstract:
Although patterns of facial preferences have been examined in many studies, the intra-individual variation in assessments of facial attractiveness has been addressed far less frequently. Here we investigated the stability of women's evaluations of real and digitally manipulated male faces at monthly and yearly intervals, and we sought determinants of the stability. The following results were obtained: (1) The stability of attractiveness assessments over a year was not lower than over a month. This suggests that between-session disparity is predominantly from factors fluctuating over time with no directional trends. (2) The breakdown of a relationship resulted in an increase in the preference for friendly looking faces. (3) The change of mood positively correlated with the change of preference for good-genes facial cues, but only in paired women. This suggests the influence of mood changes on women's readiness to cheat their long-term partner in order to "gain" good genes. (4) Women that were relatively open to casual sex manifested relatively high stability of preferences for sexy looking faces. (5) The mean between-session self-correlation of attractiveness assessments amounted to 0.78 ( R 2 = 61%), which is unexpectedly low given generally very efficient face processing in humans.
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Takashi Tsukiura & Roberto Cabeza
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, forthcoming
Abstract:
The Beauty-is-Good stereotype refers to the assumption that attractive people possess sociably desirable personalities and higher moral standards. The existence of this bias suggests that the neural mechanisms for judging facial attractiveness and moral goodness overlap. To investigate this idea, we scanned participants with functional magnetic resonance imaging while they made attractiveness judgments about faces and goodness judgments about hypothetical actions. Activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex increased as a function of both attractiveness and goodness ratings, whereas activity in the insular cortex decreased with both attractiveness and goodness ratings. Within each of these regions, the activations elicited by attractiveness and goodness judgments were strongly correlated with each other, supporting the idea of similar contributions of each region to both judgments. Moreover, activations in orbitofrontal and insular cortices were negatively correlated with each other, suggesting an opposing relationship between these regions during attractiveness and goodness judgments. These findings have implications for understanding the neural mechanisms of the Beauty-is-Good stereotype.
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Attractiveness and Rivalry in Women's Friendships with Women
April Bleske-Rechek & Melissa Lighthall
Human Nature, March 2010, Pages 82-97
Abstract:
Past research suggests that young women perceive their same-sex friends as both facilitating the pursuit of desirable mates and competing for access to desirable mates. We propose that similar levels of physical attractiveness between young adult female friends might be one explanation for the opposing forces in their friendships. Forty-six female friendship pairs completed questionnaires about themselves, their friend, and their friendship; in addition, each woman's picture was rated by a set of nine naive judges. Friends were similar in both self-rated and other-rated level of attractiveness. Within-pair analyses revealed that women agreed on which friend was more attractive, and the less attractive members of each friendship pair (by pair consensus as well as outside judges' ratings) perceived more mating rivalry in their friendship than did the more attractive members of each friendship pair. We offer directions for research on women's friendships over the lifespan.
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S. Geldart
European Review of Applied Psychology, April 2010, Pages 79-87
Abstract:
This study examined women's looking time towards female faces while they judged them for attractiveness, prettiness, cuteness and beauty. In Study 1, ratings were similar for scales of attractiveness and prettiness, and participants looked longer at prettier over less pretty faces. Judging female faces on the basis of attractiveness did not elicit visual preferences, although in this case females' biases to look at attractive women might have been inhibited by the physical presence of an experimenter while looking times were being recorded. In Study 2, duration of viewing time was computer-recorded without participants' knowledge, after priming them to judge faces in terms of attractiveness, prettiness, beauty or cuteness. Viewing time increased with face appeal; the differences between low and high appeal faces turned out to be greatest when participants evaluated them in terms of attractiveness and least apparent when asked to judge them in cuteness. In conclusion, both studies revealed a correspondence between aesthetic and looking preferences, yet some variation in women's visual attention depending on how female beauty is labeled.
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How Humans Cognitively Manage an Abundance of Mate Options
Alison Lenton & Marco Francesconi
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
To contribute to researchers' understanding of how humans choose mates, we examined how the number of mate options influenced the dating decisions made by 1,868 women and 1,870 men across 84 speed-dating events. Multilevel modeling of these decisions revealed that when faced with abundant choice, choosers paid less attention to characteristics requiring more time to elicit and evaluate (e.g., occupational status and educational attainment) and more attention to characteristics that are quickly and easily assessed (e.g., height and weight). Human mate choice sits squarely within the domain of general cognition, as this study shows it to be constrained by bounds on cognitive resources.
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There's More Than Meets the Eye: Facial Appearance and Evaluations of Transsexual People
Kelly Gerhardstein & Veanne Anderson
Sex Roles, March 2010, Pages 361-373
Abstract:
Recent events have drawn attention to the prejudice and discrimination faced by transpeople; however, there is limited research on attitudes toward transpeople. We studied the effects of facial appearance on the evaluations of transsexuals in 239 heterosexual undergraduate students from the midwestern United States. Men had significantly more negative evaluations than women. The gender of the transsexual (male-to-female or female-to-male) had limited effects on evaluations; however, the transsexual whose facial appearance was congruent with their desired gender was perceived as more attractive than the transsexual whose facial appearance was incongruent. Negative evaluations were correlated with higher levels of transphobia and sexual prejudice. Further investigation is needed on the factors that influence prejudicial attitudes toward transpeople, including physical appearance.
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Looks and Lies: The Role of Physical Attractiveness in Online Dating Self-Presentation and Deception
Catalina Toma & Jeffrey Hancock
Communication Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study examines the role of online daters' physical attractiveness in their profile self-presentation and, in particular, their use of deception. Sixty-nine online daters identified the deceptions in their online dating profiles and had their photograph taken in the lab. Independent judges rated the online daters' physical attractiveness. Results show that the lower online daters' attractiveness, the more likely they were to enhance their profile photographs and lie about their physical descriptors (height, weight, age). The association between attractiveness and deception did not extend to profile elements unrelated to their physical appearance (e.g., income, occupation), suggesting that their deceptions were limited and strategic. Results are discussed in terms of (a) evolutionary theories about the importance of physical attractiveness in the dating realm and (b) the technological affordances that allow online daters to engage in selective self-presentation.