Superficial
ntelligence and physical attractiveness
Satoshi Kanazawa
Intelligence, January-February 2011, Pages 7-14
Abstract:
This brief research note aims to estimate the magnitude of the association between general intelligence and physical attractiveness with large nationally representative samples from two nations. In the United Kingdom, attractive children are more intelligent by 12.4 IQ points (r = .381), whereas in the United States, the correlation between intelligence and physical attractiveness is somewhat smaller (r = .126). The association between intelligence and physical attractiveness is stronger among men than among women in both nations. The association remains significant net of a large number of control variables for social class, body size, and health.
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Nathan Heflick, Jamie Goldenberg, Douglas Cooper & Elisa Puvia
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Most literally, objectification refers to perceiving a person as an object, and consequently, less than fully human. Research on perceptions of humanness and the stereotype content model suggests that humanness is linked to perceptions of warmth, morality and competence. Merging these insights with objectification theory, we hypothesized that focusing on a woman's, but not a man's, appearance should induce objectification, and thus reduce perceptions of these characteristics. In three studies, females, but not males, were perceived as less competent (Studies 2 and 3) and less warm and moral (Studies 1, 2 and 3) when participants were instructed to focus on their appearance. These findings support our position and help rule out stereotype activation as an alternative explanation to dehumanization. Further, they generalized to targets of different races, familiarity, physical attractiveness and occupational status. Implications for gender inequity and the perpetuation of objectification of women are discussed.
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Maria Elizabeth Grabe & Lelia Samson
Communication Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
The experimental study reported here employed one of the most compelling visual cues of female sexual attractiveness (low waist-to-hip ratio) to test the influence of news anchor sexualization on audience evaluations of her as a professional and their memory for the news that she presents. Male participants saw the sexualized version of the anchor as less suited for war and political reporting. They also encoded less news information presented by the sexualized than her unsexualized version. Conclusions were drawn in line with evolutionary psychology expectations of men's cognitive susceptibility to visual sex cues. Women participants, on the other hand, did not vary across conditions in their assessments of the anchor's competence to report on war and political news. Moreover, they encoded more news information presented by the sexualized than unsexualized anchor condition.
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Physical Attractiveness and Candidate Evaluation: A Model of Correction
William Hart, Victor Ottati & Nathaniel Krumdick
Political Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Voters typically evaluate an attractive candidate more favorably than an (otherwise equivalent) unattractive candidate. However, some voters "correct" for the biasing influence of physical appearance. This reduces, eliminates, or even reverses the physical attractiveness effect. Correction occurs when political experts evaluate a political candidate under nondistracting conditions. Under these "high cognitive capacity" conditions, voters primarily correct for physical unattractiveness. However, correction fails to occur when voters possess low levels of expertise or are distracted. Thus, in most circumstances, attractive candidates are evaluated more favorably than unattractive candidates. Two experiments provide support for this model of appearance-based candidate evaluation.
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Examining the role of physical appearance in Latino adolescents' ethnic identity
Melinda Gonzales-Backen & Adriana Umaña-Taylor
Journal of Adolescence, February 2011, Pages 151-162
Abstract:
Guided by ecological theory, the current study examined physical appearance as a moderator of the relation between familial ethnic socialization (FES) and ethnic identity among 167 Latino adolescents. Results indicated that FES was positively associated with ethnic identity exploration and resolution. Furthermore, as expected, physical appearance moderated the relation between FES and ethnic identity affirmation such that this relation was positive among adolescents who were rated as having a more Latino appearance, a less European appearance, and darker skin, and it was non-significant among adolescents with a less Latino appearance, a more European appearance, and lighter skin. Findings underscore the importance of considering within-group variation when studying ethnic identity. In addition, this study highlights the importance of examining ethnic identity as a multidimensional construct.
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Body Size Stereotyping and Internalization of the Thin Ideal in Preschool Girls
Jennifer Harriger, Rachel Calogero, David Witherington & Jane Ellen Smith
Sex Roles, November 2010, Pages 609-620
Abstract:
Despite the multitude of negative outcomes associated with thin-ideal internalization for girls and women living in westernized societies, we know very little about how early in development thin-ideal internalization occurs or how it might manifest in very young children. This cross-sectional investigation assessed body size stereotyping and thin-ideal internalization in 55 preschool girls (ages 3-5 years) from the Southwestern U.S. using a new method of assessment that is more sensitive to the cognitive developmental stage of this age group. Results suggest that girls as young as 3 years old are already emotionally invested in the thin ideal. Discussion considers moving beyond the demonstration of fat stigmatization per se to measure how personally invested preschool children may be in beauty ideals.
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Blinded by the accent! The minor role of looks in ethnic categorization
Tamara Rakić, Melanie Steffens & Amélie Mummendey
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, January 2011, Pages 16-29
Abstract:
The categories that social targets belong to are often activated automatically. Most studies investigating social categorization have used visual stimuli or verbal labels, whereas ethnolinguistic identity theory posits that language is an essential dimension of ethnic identity. Language should therefore be used for social categorization. In 2 experiments, using the "Who Said What?" paradigm, the authors investigated social categorization by using accents (auditory stimuli) and looks (visual stimuli) to indicate ethnicity, either separately or in combination. Given either looks or accents only, the authors demonstrated that ethnic categorization can be based on accents, and the authors found a similar degree of ethnic categorization by accents and looks. When ethnic cues of looks and accents were combined by creating cross categories, there was a clear predominance of accents as meaningful cues for categorization, as shown in the respective parameters of a multinomial model. The present findings are discussed with regard to the generalizability of findings using one channel of presentation (e.g., visual) and the asymmetry found with different presentation channels for the category ethnicity.
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Electronic Person Perception: What Do We Infer About People From the Style of Their E-mail Messages?
Francis McAndrew & Chelsea Rae De Jonge
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous studies of blogging and e-mail correspondence have focused on how writers express personality traits and emotion in their writing. This study complements these earlier studies by focusing on how these messages are perceived by others. A total of 166 undergraduate students made judgments about the senders of e-mails in which the person (first vs. third) that the message was written in was manipulated along with the presence or absence of expressive punctuation and typographical errors. Messages written in the third person were perceived as angrier and more likely to be written by someone in a supervisory relationship with the recipient of the e-mail, and the presence or absence of question marks and/or exclamation points was a strong determinant of the judgments that were made about the sender's emotional state and relationship with the recipient. Messages with a high frequency of expressive punctuation were also more likely to be perceived as having been written by a female. The results suggest that stylistic features of e-mail messages may be an overlooked but influential component of people's reactions to the electronic discourse that they have with others.
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Dalton Conley & Brian McCabe
Sociological Methods & Research, February 2011, Pages 6-31
Abstract:
The list experiment is used to detect latent beliefs when researchers suspect a substantial degree of social desirability bias from respondents. This methodology has been used in areas ranging from racial attitudes to political preferences. Meanwhile, social psychologists interested in the salience of physical attributes to social behavior have provided respondents with experimentally altered photographs to test the influence of particular visual cues or traits on social evaluations. This experimental research has examined the effect of skin blemishes, hairlessness, and particular racial attributes on respondents' evaluation of these photographs. While this approach isolates variation in particular visual characteristics from other visual aspects that tend to covary with the traits in question, it fails to adequately deal with social desirability bias. This shortcoming is particularly important when concerned with potentially charged visual cues, such as body mass index (BMI). The present article describes a novel experiment that combines the digital alteration of photographs with the list experiment approach. When tested on a nationally representative sample of Internet respondents, results suggest that when shown photographs of women, male respondents report differences in levels of attractiveness based on the perceived BMI of the photographed confederate. Overweight individuals are less likely than their normal weight peers to report different levels of attractiveness between high-BMI and low-BMI photographs. Knowing that evaluations of attractiveness influence labor market outcomes, the findings are particularly salient in a society with rising incidence of obesity.
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Carotenoid and melanin pigment coloration affect perceived human health
Ian Stephen, Vinet Coetzee & David Perrett
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
The links between appearance and health influence human social interactions and are medically important, yet the facial cues influencing health judgments are unclear, and few studies describe connections to actual health. Increased facial skin yellowness (CIELab b*) and lightness (L*) appear healthy in Caucasian faces, but it is unclear why. Skin yellowness is primarily affected by melanin and carotenoid pigments. Melanin (dark and yellow) enhances photoprotection and may be involved in immune defense, but may contribute to vitamin D deficiency. Carotenoids (yellow) signal health in bird and fish species, and are associated with improved immune defense, photoprotection and reproductive health in humans. We present three studies investigating the contribution of carotenoid and melanin to skin color and the healthy appearance of human faces. Study 1 demonstrates similar perceptual preferences for increased skin L* and b* in UK-based Caucasian and black South African populations. Study 2 shows that individuals with higher dietary intakes of carotenoids and fruit and vegetables have increased skin b* values and show skin reflectance spectra consistent with enhanced carotenoid absorption. Study 3 shows that, to maximize apparent facial health, participants choose to increase empirically derived skin carotenoid coloration more than melanin coloration in the skin portions of color-calibrated face photographs. Together our studies link skin carotenoid coloration to both perceived health and healthy diet, establishing carotenoid coloration as a valid cue to human health which is perceptible in a way that is relevant to mate choice, as it is in bird and fish species.
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Internal facial features are signals of personality and health
Robin Kramer & Robert Ward
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, November 2010, Pages 2273-2287
Abstract:
We investigated forms of socially relevant information signalled from static images of the face. We created composite images from women scoring high and low values on personality and health dimensions and measured the accuracy of raters in discriminating high from low trait values. We also looked specifically at the information content within the internal facial features, by presenting the composite images with an occluding mask. Four of the Big Five traits were accurately discriminated on the basis of the internal facial features alone (conscientiousness was the exception), as was physical health. The addition of external features in the full-face images led to improved detection for extraversion and physical health and poorer performance on intellect/imagination (or openness). Visual appearance based on internal facial features alone can therefore accurately predict behavioural biases in the form of personality, as well as levels of physical health.
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Where cognitive development and aging meet: Face learning ability peaks after age 30
Laura Germine, Bradley Duchaine & Ken Nakayama
Cognition, February 2011, Pages 201-210
Abstract:
Research on age-related cognitive change traditionally focuses on either development or aging, where development ends with adulthood and aging begins around 55 years. This approach ignores age-related changes during the 35 years in-between, implying that this period is uninformative. Here we investigated face recognition as an ability that may mature late relative to other abilities. Using data from over 60,000 participants, we traced the ability to learn new faces from pre-adolescence through middle age. In three separate experiments, we show that face learning ability improves until just after age 30 - even though other putatively related abilities (inverted face recognition and name recognition) stop showing age-related improvements years earlier. Our data provide the first behavioral evidence for late maturation of face processing and the dissociation of face recognition from other abilities over time demonstrates that studies on adult age development can provide insight into the organization and development of cognitive systems.
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The Face of Aging: Sensitivity to Facial Feature Relations Changes With Age
Janice Murray, Jamin Halberstadt & Ted Ruffman
Psychology and Aging, December 2010, Pages 846-850
Abstract:
Fundamental to face processing is the ability to encode information about the spatial relations among facial features (configural information). Using a bizarreness rating paradigm, we found older adults differed from young adults in rating configurally distorted faces (eyes, mouth inverted) as less bizarre across all tested orientations (0° to 180°), and were more vulnerable to orientation effects when faces were rotated beyond 90°. No age-related differences in perception of either unaltered faces or featurally distorted faces (eyes whitened, teeth blackened) occurred. These findings identify changes in sensitivity to configural information as an important factor in age-related differences in face perception.
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Sex Differences in Smiling and Other Photographed Traits: A Theoretical Assessment
Lee Ellis & Shyamal Das
Journal of Biosocial Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Many studies have shown that females smile more than males do in social situations. The present study extends this research by examining a large sample of high school yearbook photographs. In addition to assessing the degree of smiling, ratings were obtained of the following traits for each photograph: hair length, hair colour, masculine-feminine appearance and physical attractiveness. Results reconfirmed earlier research showing that females smile more than males do while they are being photographed. Other findings were that smiling was positively correlated with hair length, femininity and physical attractiveness for females but not for males. When a multivariate analysis was performed, none of these traits predicted smiling in males, and only femininity was significant in predicting smiling in females. Although social learning theories of smiling can account for some of these findings, a recently proposed neurohormonal theory seems to best explain why femininity is related to smiling in females but not in males.
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Michael Dunn, Stacey Brinton & Lara Clark
Evolution and Human Behavior, November 2010, Pages 383-393
Abstract:
The search for a potential partner has been aided over recent years by the widespread use of online dating sites and this process of relationship formation has conveniently presented an ideal opportunity for researchers to analyze human mating desires and to compare evolutionary and social constructivist based hypotheses. One such aspect of human mating behaviour yet to be thoroughly explored using access to online dating advertisements is the idealized age desired by each sex when considering a possible relationship. This study accessed minimum (youngest age considered) and maximum (oldest age considered) age preferences from 14 separate cultures and two religious groups from both sexes at ages 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 years. The results showed that overall there was a growing disparity between males own age and preferred age of partner as males themselves aged (as indicated by greater effect sizes with advertisers age), with females showing a pattern for preferences around their own age or older. Females did not express an age preference for males younger than male's age preferences for females at any advertiser's age. On only three occasions were there no age differences between the sexes in their desire to initiate a relationship with the opposite sex. The results were clearly concurrent with earlier findings supportive of evolutionary or adaptationist interpretations. Neither a random pattern of age preferences more consistent with an arbitrary norms prediction, nor clear evidence for toy boy proclivities in females or males was found. Future studies utilizing the methodology used in this study to examine other human mating decision making processes are proposed.
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Kristin Thompson
Current Psychology, December 2010, Pages 288-296
Abstract:
The study considers effects of the psychological perceptions of disease and conspecific aggression on the grooming behaviour of Homo sapiens. Measures employed included: self-reported grooming frequency and perceived vulnerability to conspecific aggression questionnaires, which were developed for this study; and the 15-item Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Scale PVD (Duncan et al., Personality and Individual Differences 47:541-546, 2009). Participants were a self-selecting sample of 129 females and 39 males, aged between 16 and 63. It was found that individuals scoring highly in Perceived Vulnerability to Disease reported higher frequencies of autogrooming and lower frequencies of allogrooming. Individuals who scored highly in Perceived Vulnerability to Conspecific Aggression reported higher frequencies of autogrooming, however no significant difference was found in terms of allogrooming frequency. The study represents an initial attempt at considering psychological perceptions of disease and aggression on human grooming behaviours from a comparative ethological perspective.