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Beauty is as Beauty Does?: Makeup and Posture Effects on Physical Attractiveness Judgments1
Abstract
Recent studies have examined human beauty as a biological, structural trait. This view of beauty is incomplete because it does not consider the amount of variability in beauty judgments attributable to self-presentation strategies. This study was designed to estimate the importance of self-presentation practices on beauty judgments. For women within plus or minus one standard deviation of average facial attractiveness, makeup effect size estimates were comparable to previously published estimates of the importance of structural factors in attractiveness judgments. Similarly, for average weight stimuli, posture was comparable to body build in influencing attractiveness judgments. Implications for personal appearance businesses, health psychology, and counseling practice are discussed.
... Research has demonstrated that the use of cosmetics is associated with a variety of social outcomes, ranging from perceptions of physical attractiveness [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] to evaluations of expected job performance [2]. For example, in one study, two female confederates entered a bar either made up or not and the number of male solicitations and the latency of the first solicitation were recorded [9]. ...
... In addition, research has shown that higher levels of physical attractiveness in female solicitors results in an increase in giving between 50-135 percent [17], with the increase being mostly driven by male donors. Previous studies have also found that cosmetics increase attractiveness [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8], so we therefore predicted that our confederate would receive the most donations from men when she was soliciting donations wearing cosmetics. In line with the bar [9] and restaurant [10] studies, we selected a confederate who normally uses cosmetics, and since women report an increase in self-confidence and socialness when wearing their customary cosmetics [11], we predicted that the placebo cosmetics condition would receive the second highest number of donations. ...
... Moreover, Landry et al. [17] found that higher levels of physical attractiveness in female solicitors led to an increase in giving, with the increase being mostly driven by men. Given that cosmetics have been found to increase attractiveness [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8], we predicted that our female confederate would receive the most donations by men when she was soliciting donations wearing cosmetics. We did find that the highest percentage of donations from men came in the cosmetics condition, however, this difference was not statistically significant. ...
Previous studies have found a positive effect of cosmetics on certain behavioral measures, such as the tip given to waitresses by male patrons. These studies have employed confederates who usually wear cosmetics. We therefore sought to examine whether the positive effect found in these studies could, in part, be explained by a change in behavior. In order to test the possibility of a ‘cosmetics placebo effect’, we employed a confederate to solicit donations from passersby. On some days our confederate would not have any cosmetics applied to her face (i.e., no cosmetics condition), on some days cosmetics were pretended to be applied to her face (i.e., placebo cosmetics condition), and on other days cosmetics were actually applied to her face (i.e., cosmetics condition). In line with previous research, we found that across conditions men donated significantly more than women to our female solicitor, providing support for the ‘showoff hypothesis’, in which male generosity serves as a mating tactic. When investigating men’s donations in more detail, we found that the highest percentage of donations came in the cosmetics condition, followed by the placebo cosmetics condition, and then by no cosmetics condition. The effect of condition on donation rates, however, was not statistically significant. Our study was limited to one solicitor and one dependent variable (i.e., percentage of people approached who donated) and therefore future research would benefit from using more confederates as well as examining other behavioral measures. Given the influence of cosmetics use on so many real-world outcomes, we believe that further exploration into a possible ‘cosmetics placebo effect’ would be valuable.
... The strongest evidence for a particular function for makeup is making the face more beautiful. Many studies using carefully controlled before-and-after photographs have found that makeup increases physical attractiveness (Cash, Dawson, Davis, Bowen, & Galumbeck, 1989;Cox & Glick, 1986;Etcoff, Stock, Haley, Vickery, & House, 2011;Graham & Jouhar, 1981;Hamid, 1972;Huguet, Croizet, & Richetin, 2004;Jones, Russell, & Ward, 2015;Mulhern, Fieldman, Hussey, Leveque, & Pineau, 2003;Osborn, 1996). For example, Graham and Jouhar (1981) found that women's faces presented with cosmetics were given significantly higher attractiveness ratings than when presented without cosmetics. ...
... In the cosmetics condition, the number of solicitations was higher and the latency between the arrival of the confederate at the bar and the first solicitation was shorter. These studies (Guéguen, 2008;Guéguen & Jacob, 2011;Jacob et al., 2009) suggest that the link between cosmetics and attractiveness found in laboratory studies (Cash et al., 1989;Cox & Glick, 1986;Graham & Jouhar, 1981;Hamid, 1972;Huguet et al., 2004;Jones et al., 2015;Mulhern et al., 2003;Osborn, 1996) translates to overt behaviors. Furthermore, Guéguen (2008) proposed that cosmetics may be associated with courtship behaviors not only because they increase attractiveness, but also because they may serve as a cue to availability. ...
... Consistent with this view, one study found that women are evaluated as having more "overt interest in the opposite sex" when wearing lipstick (McKeachie, 1952). Similarly, Osborn (1996) found that when wearing makeup, women are regarded as less modest and more likely to have an extramarital affair than when without makeup. A more recent study found that female faces with makeup are rated as more promiscuous than the same faces without makeup (Mileva, Jones, Russell, & Little, 2016). ...
While the positive effect of makeup on attractiveness is well established, there has been less exploration into other possible functions of makeup use. Here we investigated whether one function of makeup is to signal sociosexuality. Using a large, well-controlled set of photographs, we found that faces with makeup were perceived to have more unrestricted sociosexuality than the same faces without makeup. Similarly, women wearing more makeup were perceived to have more unrestricted sociosexuality. The target women who were photographed also completed questionnaires about their makeup habits and the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory. Targets' self-reported sociosexuality was not associated with their makeup habits, with observer ratings of the amount of makeup they wore, or with observer ratings of their sociosexuality when attractiveness was controlled. Thus our study shows that people use makeup as a cue for perceiving sociosexuality but that it is an invalid cue.
... As weve mentioned, the evolutionary-inspired associations between beauty and health status seem to appear only in individuals with low levels of attractiveness. We can hypothesize that for those more endowed in terms of physical appeal, their evaluations have less to do with the rigid evolutionary standards, being dependent instead, as Osborn (1996) suggest, on cultural norms. In other words, Beauty is skin deep, but ugly is to the bone, where skin deep implies the superficiality and modifiability of cultural beauty, as well as the individuals possibility to conform to its norms in contrast to the structural, deep ugliness brought by the physical deviance from the geometrical standards. ...
... Some of the studies testing this hypothesis inspired by the social relations model (e.g. Osborn, 1996) focused on the variations in attractiveness judgments brought by experiences in ongoing relationships between people. For instance, Park and Flink (1989) compared the changes in variances of attractiveness ratings statistically explained by the perceiver and, respectively, by the target across three days of social interaction between the two. ...
... Overall, the effects of make-up in the attractiveness evaluations of women seem to be comparable with those of the more traditional criteria put forth by evolutionary approach the structural geometric facial features. Other examples of attractiveness factors in the perceived targets control, whose importance was assessed using a similar research design, are body dynamics (Riggio et al., 1991) or posture (Osborn, 1996). ...
We present a synthesis of the contemporary approaches on the topic of corporal
beauty, by dividing them into eight major research lines, each illustrated by a set of most
representative theories and results: evolutionary, sociocultural and body image approaches,
researches on the cross-cultural standards of beauty, on its factors, effects, personal benefits and
media representations.
... Results also indicated that the combination of loose hair and no makeup was perceived as the warmest, and overall women with loose hair were more likely to be hired than those with braids. Separate from these inflated perceptions associated with makeup, makeup has also been linked to perceptions of more unrestricted sexuality, or a willingness to engage in uncommitted sexual relationships (Osborn, 1996;Mileva et al., 2016;Batres et al., 2018). ...
... Participants rated faces on attractiveness, competence, and sociosexuality so we could measure a range of traits that have been found to relate to makeup use and attractiveness. The goal was to determine if self-applied makeup leads to similar findings compared to makeup applied by a professional makeup artist (Batres et al., 2018;Etcoff et al., 2011;Osborn, 1996) or the experimenter (Killian et al., 2018). A portion of this data was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society (Aguinaldo and Peissig, 2019). ...
Research has demonstrated a positive effect of makeup on facial attractiveness (Cash et al., 1989; Russell, 2003; Etcoff et al., 2011). Makeup has also been found to influence social perceptions (Etcoff et al., 2011; Klatt et al., 2016). While researchers have typically compared faces with makeup to faces without makeup, we propose that perceived effects will differ based on the amount of makeup that is applied. To test the effects of varying levels of makeup on perceived facial attractiveness, competence, and sociosexuality, participants assessed 35 faces with no makeup, light makeup, and heavy makeup; makeup was self-applied by participants, not applied by a makeup artist or the experimenter. Participants rated faces with makeup (either light or heavy) as more competent than those without makeup. In addition, participants rated faces with heavy makeup as significantly higher in attractiveness and sociosexuality than faces with light makeup. These results differ from previous research findings that faces with light makeup (applied by professional makeup artists) are perceived as most attractive. Our results suggest that when makeup is self-applied, faces with heavy makeup are perceived as more attractive and sociosexual than faces with light makeup, and faces with any level of makeup are rated as more competent.
... Mulhern et al. (2003) verificaram que os cosméticos aumentam a atractividade facial, uma vez que o rosto das mulheres com maquilhagem é julgado mais atractivo do que o mesmo sem maquilhagem. Para as mulheres a atractividade facial através da maquilhagem tem um impacto nas avaliações da atractividade comparável aos factores estruturais, tais como a biologia (Osborn, 1996). Isto é devido, de acordo com Russell (2003), ao facto de que os cosméticos acentuam o dimorfismo sexual preexistente nas pessoas, tornando o rosto das mulheres mais feminino e logo mais atractivo. ...
... Esta relação, como afirmam Wicklund e Gollwitzer (1982), pode ser considerada como uma autocompletação simbólica do Self através da utilização dos cosméticos. O elevado envolvimento com estes produtos pode também ocorrer porque as pessoas compreendem que através da sua utilização a sua imagem corporal melhora (Mulhern et al., 2003;Osborn, 1996), tornando-se então mais atractivas e orientando-se para julgamentos mais favoráveis dos outros sobre si próprias (Nash et al., 2006). A nossa segunda hipótese mostra que, quanto maior for o envolvimento com os cosméticos, mais positivas são as atitudes em relação à sua publicidade (r=0,513). ...
Os cosméticos são uma categoria de produtos que, nas últimas décadas, temaumentado significativamente o consumo nas mulheres e em especial nos homens. Esteconsumo tem sido incrementado muito em especial para a importância que a sociedadeatribui aos ideais de beleza que são veiculados e que vão afectar a imagem corporal.Deste modo, imagem corporal e publicidade aos cosméticos são duas variáveis relevantespara explicar o seu consumo. Esta investigação procura identificar como a imagemcorporal afecta os motivos de compra de cosméticos através da publicidade e do envolvimentocom os cosméticos. Assim foi construído um modelo que explica esta relação.Para validar este modelo foi construído um questionário com um conjunto de escalasjá validadas e aplicada a uma amostra de 513 sujeitos que consumiam cosméticos. Osresultados mostram-nos que, apesar de as pessoas atribuírem pouca importância à suaimagem corporal, pouco envolvimento com os cosméticos e uma atitude neutra em relaçãoà publicidade aos cosméticos, o modelo se ajusta aos padrões mínimos estatísticosnecessários para que ele funcione. Concluímos que a imagem corporal tem um impactosignificativo nos motivos de compra de cosméticos e que a publicidade aos cosméticos,bem como o envolvimento com eles desempenham um papel de relevo na mediaçãoentre as duas variáveis.
... Faces, compared to patterns, are a highly meaningful category where liking depends on multiple sources ranging from perceptual to experiential, sexual, and social factors (Cunningham, Barbee, & Philhower, 2002). For example, besides perceptual factors such as averageness and symmetry (Gerger & Leder, 2014;Little et al., 2011) or skin condition (Fink, Matts, Roeder, Johnson, & Burquest, 2011;Osborn, 1996), facial attractiveness is influenced by perceived familiarity (Tinio, Gerger, & Leder, 2013), assessed mate quality (Thornhill & Gangestad, 1999), and social information (Golle, Mast, & Lobmaier, 2013;Martens, Tracy, & Shariff, 2012). Under such a variety of sources fluency through longer presentation durations might constitute but one source of information. ...
... Low spatial frequency information can be understood as a blurring filter which hardly affects overall configural information (symmetry, averageness, or complexity) but the perception of details. In faces such a blurring effect could result in similar effect like applying A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 19 make-up (Osborn, 1996). The overall configural information (averageness, symmetry) is preserved but facial details (bad skin condition, blemishes, wrinkles, unevenness) are blurred. ...
Whether you like a person or not is often appraised in a glance. However, under such short presentation durations stimuli are harder to perceive, and according to hedonic fluency theory (Reber, Schwarz, & Winkielman, 2004), thus, liked less. Given that liking considerably influences person perception, we tested how shorter and longer presentation durations affect liking for faces and compared this with abstract patterns. To capture facets of fluency of processing we assessed felt fluency, liking, and certainty ratings. Following predictions of fluency theory, longer presentation durations led to higher felt fluency, certainty and positively affected liking judgments in the abstract patterns. In faces, felt fluency and certainty also increased with longer durations. However, with longer durations, faces were liked less and liking was not related to felt fluency. In other words, in contrast to hedonic fluency theory, faces are more attractive when only seen for a short amount of time. Thus, fluency does not inevitably lead to more positive evaluations – it rather depends on the stimulus category. We discuss these findings in terms of the special status faces have with regard to human perception and evaluation.
... 29,30 Make-up covers flaws and makes them look attractive, and is used as a means of self-expression. 29,31,32 Usually, people who wear makeup are more confident, healthy, and energetic than people who do not wear makeup. 29,33 You can also discover facial attractions and learn the benefits while wearing makeup. ...
Background and objectives:
The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic, which began in 2019, is threatening millions of people around the world. Coronavirus, a severe acute respiratory syndrome, made it mandatory to wear masks, it was carried out through public awareness and review of changes in cosmetics.
Methods:
This literature review paper was written by referring to keywords such as "Eyebrow," "Permanent Make-up," "Microblading," "Make-up," and "COVID-19." The study selected a total of 485 references using representative journal search sites such as PubMed, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, RISS, DBPia, and CrossRef, of which a total of 43 papers were selected at the final stage from 2000 to 2022 using PRISMA flow diagram.
Results:
With the wearing of a mask due to COVID-19, we are paying attention to the change in the makeup trend caused by the preference for easy eye makeup.
Conclusions:
This narrative review understands that eyebrow makeup has a significant impact on human images due to changes in makeup methods after the COVID-19 pandemic. It is expected to be used as important data for the rapidly growing semi-permanent makeup market.
... The next procedure is to associate every point that belongs to a given dataset to the nearby center. After completing all the points, we need further calculation of k-new cancroids, and once again, a fresh binding takes place between the nearest new center and the same data set points [4]. A loop is created because k-centers change their location frequently stepby-step until there is no scope for further change. ...
In today’s lifestyle, facial makeup plays an important role in enhancing visual attractiveness a nd boosting one’s self-esteem. Makeup is known as the second skin of the women, and that too lipstick is a soul of the makeup. According to a survey, an average urban woman spends almost one year and three months of her life just wearing makeup. This much of the time is due to decision-making and choosing the best makeup style that would fit a particular age, skin complexion, profession, and occasion, requiring high imagination and full art. Many makeup recommendations systems exist, but no solitary system has existed to recommend a lipstick color properly to solve this problem computationally. Therefore, as a tiny step towards helping women save their time in decision-making, the proposed model puts forward an idea of a hybrid recommendation model for lipsticks alone. This proposed methodology uses a hidden Markov model to unleash the possible color of the lipsticks based on the given attributes. The collaborative filtering system catalyzes the process to recommend the best lipstick colors using a hybrid recommendation model.
... In consistent with this finding, Korichi et al. (2008) explain some functional differences of wearing make-up and relate these differences to possible underlying psychological features such as self-esteem, social desirability, anxiety, and fear of negative self-evaluation. In addition, the positive effects of make-up are also discussed in the related literature (see Osborn, 1996;Kellie, Blake, & Brooks, 2021). Recently, Javornik et al. (2021, p.171) emphasize the augmented self concept which emerges as a change in individuals' self-concept when facing with a hybrid representation of a virtual overlay on his/her physical appearances through a virtual mirror. ...
Today, reaching consumers through interactive methods has become one of the primary goals of the brands. As a result of this, smartphones have turned into tools brands can use to start an interaction with consumers. Due to augmented reality (AR)-supported mobile applications, brands can both provide consumers with detailed information about products and services, and also affect consumers' perceptions. The main purpose of this research is to determine the effect of augmented reality use in mobile applications on consumers’ behavioral intentions towards the use of the mobile application and perceptions underlying this effect. In this study, by employing the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the effect of augmented reality on behavioral intentions for mobile application use was examined through a structural equation modeling (SEM). Additionally, the effects of the technology anxiety (TA) and consumer novelty seeking (CNS) on perceived augmented reality were also examined. An augmented reality-supported mobile application which makes trying cosmetic products virtually on possible, was used by female consumers (n = 278). The data was collected through a questionnaire. The results indicated that the CNS had a positive and direct effect on perceived augmented reality (PAR); PAR had a positive and direct effect on perceived enjoyment (PE), perceived usefulness (PU), perceived informativeness (PI), and perceived ease of use (PEU). It was also determined that the PE, PU, PI had positive and direct effects on the behavioral intentions to use the application (BIUA).
... For example, the use of cosmetics has a differential effect on perceived age, with older women (40s and 50s) looking significantly younger when using cosmetics but younger women (20s) looking significantly older . Additionally, variance in attractiveness enhancement may be reduced the more attractive the model (Jones & Kramer, 2016;Osborn, 1996) and, perhaps surprisingly, the attractiveness enhancement effect size has been found to be small for self-applied cosmetics (Jones & Kramer, 2015). Additionally, while male college students rated female peers less favorably for attractiveness when cosmetics free, female peers showed no differential opinion (Cash et al., 1989). ...
Article provides a contemporary synopsis of the various and diverse motivations for cosmetic usage using thematic analysis of written scripts.
... For example, the use of cosmetics has a differential effect on perceived age, with older women (40s and 50s) looking significantly younger when using cosmetics but younger women (20s) looking significantly older . Additionally, variance in attractiveness enhancement may be reduced the more attractive the model (Jones & Kramer, 2016;Osborn, 1996) and, perhaps surprisingly, the attractiveness enhancement effect size has been found to be small for self-applied cosmetics (Jones & Kramer, 2015). Additionally, while male college students rated female peers less favorably for attractiveness when cosmetics free, female peers showed no differential opinion (Cash et al., 1989). ...
Given the wealth of literature on appearance manipulation generally, it is, perhaps, surprising that cosmetic usage receives so little empirical attention, and perhaps reflects a patriarchal approach to “appropriate” research areas. Incorporating a postfeminist approach, the current study aims to address, in part, this lacuna by providing a contemporary synopsis of the various and diverse motivations for cosmetic usage. Online, written responses to a semi-structured questionnaire were collected. In response to six broad questions, for example, “Why do you currently use cosmetics?”, respondents were encouraged to write, in as much detail as they liked, on their motivations for using cosmetics. Thematic analysis, using deductive and inductive approaches, revealed four main themes: “Multiple selves”—Conformity, Impression Management, and Judgment; Enhancement and Confidence; Fun, Creativity and Well-being; and Signification and Identity. Whilst some of these themes had been anticipated and, indeed, sign-posted in prior literature, the weight of interest in particular areas was unexpected (e.g., in terms of Fun, Creativity, and Well-being), whilst other areas did not receive the expected attention (e.g., in mate attraction). Additionally, and worthy of future research, entirely new areas also emerged (e.g., cosmetics for fun and creativity).
... Its most common purpose is to improve facial attractiveness [1][2][3] , which refers to the positive and joyful emotional experience induced by attractive faces that motivates others to approach the person 4 . Wearing makeup is an intentionally guided strategy of self-presentation 5 , and it is used to cover up facial imperfections and make one appear more charming 6 . People who wear makeup are considered healthier and more confident than those without makeup 7 . ...
Makeup is widely used in modern society and has a positive effect on perceived attractiveness. However, little is known about the other possible outcomes of makeup use. In this study, we investigated whether makeup enhances a receiver’s emotional experience. Dynamic faces with or without makeup are presented in Experiments 1 and 2. Participants were asked to imagine themselves video chatting with a target person (expresser) with different expressions: neutral, angry, sad, or happy, and then to appraise their own subjective emotional experience. Emotional valence, arousal, and willingness to communicate were also assessed in Experiment 2. The results showed that makeup improved perceived facial attractiveness and increased the willingness to communicate. More importantly, it revealed that wearing makeup could weaken receivers’ negative experiences arising from the angry and sad conditions, which is not the case for the non-makeup condition, but could not affect the happy contagion. Furthermore, incremental changes in the amount of makeup were not accompanied by incremental changes in emotional appraisal (valence and arousal). Overall, we found that makeup may affect emotional contagion and interpersonal communication. Whether the alleviated negative experience due to makeup is adaptive may need further discussion.
... Controlled studies have consistently found that female faces are perceived as more attractive when wearing makeup. Most of these studies have employed professional makeup artists to apply the makeup (Batres et al., 2018;Bielfeldt et al., 2013;Etcoff et al., 2011;Graham & Jouhar, 1981;Gu eguen & Jacob, 2011;Huguet et al., 2004;A.L. Jones & Kramer, 2016;Killian et al., 2018;Mulhern et al., 2003;Nash et al., 2006;Osborn, 1996;Ueno et al., 2014), while a handful have used stimulus images for which the target women applied their own makeup (Aguinaldo & Peissig, 2021;Cash et al., 1989;A.L. Jones & Kramer, 2015;Kyle & Mahler, 1996;Workman & Johnson, 1991). In such studies, having a professional makeup artist apply the cosmetics gives experimental control over the makeup usage and eliminates the extraneous variables of individual differences in makeup application ability and style. ...
While a number of studies have investigated the effects of makeup on how people are perceived, the vast majority have used professionally applied makeup. Here, we tested the hypothesis that professional makeup is more effective than self-applied makeup. We photographed the same target women under controlled conditions wearing no makeup, makeup they applied themselves, and makeup applied by professional makeup artists. Participants rated the faces as appearing more attractive, more feminine, and as having higher status when wearing professional makeup than self-applied makeup. Secondarily, we found that participants perceived the professional makeup as appearing heavier and less natural looking than the self-applied makeup. This work shows that professional makeup is more effective than self-applied makeup and begins to elucidate the nature of makeup artistry. We discuss these findings with respect to personal decoration and physical attractiveness, as well as the notion of artists as experts.
... However, among studies on physical appearance, it has been shown that two of the main features that people evaluate through physical appearance are others' attractiveness and trustworthiness (e.g., Willis & Todorov, 2006). In line with this idea, many studies have shown that attractiveness and trustworthiness were modulated by body appearance (including posture) (e.g., Fink et al., 2015;Osborn, 1996;Singh et al., 2010;Vacharkulksemsuk et al., 2016). In consideration of these findings, more systematic examinations are needed to reveal temporal aspects of social impressions through body posture. ...
People often try to improve their social impressions by performing “good” postures, particularly when others are evaluating them. We aimed to investigate whether such postural management to modulate social impressions are indeed effective, and in the case that they are effective, which impressions are modulated and how quickly these impressions are formed. In total, 207 participants in two different experiments (72 participants in Experiment 1; 135 in Experiment 2) reported their impressions from photographs where other people performed “good” or “bad” postures in three viewing angles (back, front, and side). Participants were presented with a total of 96 pictures without time limitation in Experiment 1; then, for Experiment 2, they were presented with the same pictures, but with time limitations (100, 500, or 1000 ms). In both experiments, participants were asked to report their impressions for each photograph related to the person’s attractiveness, trustworthiness, or dominance. Results showed that the people with “good” postures were generally rated as more attractive and trustworthy. More importantly, it was found that impressions formed after a 100 ms exposure had high correlations with impressions formed in the absence of time constraints, suggesting that the sight of a managed posture for 100 ms is sufficient for people to form social impressions. The findings suggest that people quickly make attractiveness and trustworthiness impressions based on managed postures.
... There is evidence to suggest that natural no-makeup images of women's faces are perceived as less attractive than images of women wearing makeup (Cash, Dawson, Davis, Bowen, & Galumbeck, 1989;Gueguen & Jacob, 2011;Jones & Kramer, 2016;Osborn, 1996). Consequently, viewing no-makeup images of women may be less detrimental to women's appearance concerns than viewing idealized images of those women with makeup because women may not make as many upward comparisons (i.e., judging others to be more attractive than them) to the nomakeup images. ...
Presenting no-makeup selfies interspersed with idealized made-up images may be beneficial for women’s body image. However, the impact of viewing only no-makeup selfies is still unknown, as is the influence of any positive appearance-related comments from others accompanying those images on social media. Thus, in the present study, we examined the impact of viewing either: (1) idealized images with appearance-related comments, (2) idealized images with appearance-neutral comments, (3) no-makeup images with appearance-related comments, or (4) no-makeup images with appearance-neutral comments, on young women’s (N = 394) appearance satisfaction, mood, appearance comparison frequency, and perceived attainability. Viewing idealized selfies of attractive women reduced women’s satisfaction with their overall and facial appearance. Viewing natural no-makeup images of those attractive women also reduced women’s facial satisfaction but had no impact on overall appearance satisfaction. No-makeup selfies resulted in less frequent appearance comparisons and higher perceived attainability than idealized images. There was no impact of appearance-related comments on any of the outcomes. The results suggest that no-makeup images are less detrimental to young women’s body image than idealized images.
... By observing the overall orientation and the kinematic configuration of the agent, researchers have shown significant correlations between posture and speech, allowing prediction of upcoming speech from video (McQuown and Bateson, 1971). Posture cues, such as the "arms-akimbo position" where a communicator places the hands on the hips and bows the elbows outwardly, convey information about the internal state of the communicator, shaping how others perceive the communicator (Osborn, 1996;Mutlu, 2011). Researchers have studied these phenomena and developed systems that enable socially interactive robots to better interpret, and therefore generate, explicit posture cues (Gaschler et al., 2012). ...
Physical embodiment is a required component for robots that are structurally coupled with their real-world environments. However, most socially interactive robots do not need to physically interact with their environments in order to perform their tasks. When and why should embodied robots be used instead of simpler and cheaper virtual agents? This paper reviews the existing work that explores the role of physical embodiment in socially interactive robots. This class consists of robots that are not only capable of engaging in social interaction with humans, but are using primarily their social capabilities to perform their desired functions. Socially interactive robots provide entertainment, information, and/or assistance; this last category is typically encompassed by socially assistive robotics. In all cases, such robots can achieve their primary functions without performing functional physical work. To comprehensively evaluate the existing body of work on embodiment, we first review work from established related fields including psychology, philosophy, and sociology. We then systematically review 65 studies evaluating aspects of embodiment published from 2003 to 2017 in major peer-reviewed robotics publication venues. We examine relevant aspects of the selected studies, focusing on the embodiments compared, tasks evaluated, social roles of robots, and measurements. We introduce three taxonomies for the types of robot embodiment, robot social roles, and human-robot tasks. These taxonomies are used to deconstruct the design and interaction spaces of socially interactive robots and facilitate analysis and discussion of the reviewed studies. We use this newly-defined methodology to critically discuss existing works, revealing topics within embodiment research for social interaction, assistive robotics, and service robotics.
... There is evidence to suggest that women are judged to be more attractive when wearing makeup than when wearing no makeup (Cash, Dawson, Davis, Bowen, & Galumbeck, 1989;Gueguen & Jacob, 2011;Jones & Kramer, 2016;Osborn, 1996). Thus, when viewing portrait images of women wearing no makeup (e.g., nomakeup selfies), women have a greater opportunity to judge the women in the images to be just as attractive or less attractive than themselves, which could have a less negative impact on women's body image. ...
Viewing idealized images of attractive women on social media can negatively impact women’s body image and mood. Although women tend to post idealized images on social media, some also post natural no-makeup images. This study examined the impact of viewing both made up and no-makeup selfies on young women’s body image and mood. Female undergraduate students (N = 175) viewed either images of a woman wearing no makeup interspersed among idealized made up images of that woman (no-makeup condition), only idealized made up images of a woman (makeup only condition), or appearance-neutral travel images (control condition). Participants rated their state appearance satisfaction and mood pre- and post-exposure to the study images and rated their desire to change aspects of the face, hair, and skin post-exposure to the study images. Participants in the makeup only condition were less satisfied with their facial appearance and were more motivated to change aspects of their face, hair, and skin after exposure to the study images. Viewing the study images had no impact on the body image or mood of participants in the no-makeup condition. These results suggest that no-makeup selfies may reduce any negative impact of idealized made up images on women’s facial concerns.
... This evidence from Study 3 that makeup is associated with maturity is also supported by other findings. Specifically, it is consistent with the observation that makeup increases ratings of perceived status (Mileva, Jones, Russell, & Little, 2016;Nash, Fieldman, Hussey, Leveque, & Pineau, 2006; and perceived sociosexuality (Batres et al., 2018;McKeachie, 1952;Mileva et al., 2016;Osborne, 1996), both of which are associated with maturity. ...
Makeup accentuates three youth-related visual features – skin homogeneity, facial contrast, and facial feature size. By manipulating these visual features, makeup should make faces appear younger. We tested this hypothesis in an experiment in which participants estimated the age of carefully controlled photographs of faces with and without makeup. We found that 40- and especially 50-year-old women did appear significantly younger when wearing makeup. Contrary to our hypothesis, 30-year-old women looked no different in age with or without makeup, while 20-year-old women looked older with makeup. Two further studies replicated these results, finding that makeup made middle-aged women look younger, but made young women look older. Seeking to better understand why makeup makes young women look older, we ran a final study and found evidence that people associate makeup use with adulthood. By activating associations with adulthood, makeup may provide an upward bias on age estimations of women who are not clearly adult. We propose that makeup affects social perceptions through bottom-up routes, by modifying visual cues such as facial contrast, facial feature size, and skin homogeneity, and also through top-down routes, by activating social representations and norms associated with makeup use.
... So far, many works have been done to implement attractive makeup. Osborn et al. examined the beauty of human as biological structural trait [1]. They analyzed relationship between attractiveness and average face and found out that posture influence attractiveness judgments. ...
With people's timeless interest in beauty and the recent development of IT technologies, there has been a growing demand for a system that can suggest appropriate cosmetics or fashion styles to each individual. So far, professionals have made such suggestion subjectively or depending on personal experience, which produced inconsistent results. One possible method to do this objectively and systematically would be to utilize the personal color of an individual. Personal color, also known as skin tone color matching is the process of finding colors of clothing and makeup to match a person's skin complexion, eye color, and hair color. In this paper, we propose a scheme for automatically generating virtual makeup based on personal color. To do that, we first identify user's personal color from the image by analyzing the color of pupils, hair, and skin, and then select cosmetic method and colors. Lastly, by looking up the predefined makeup database for foundation, blush, lipstick, eyeline, and eyeshadow, we produce a virtual makeup on the user's face image.
... Complementing work on relationships between attractiveness and earnings (Hammermesh & Biddle, 1993), makeup use is related to tip earnings (Jacob et al., 2009) and, conversely, lack of makeup is associated with thin-slice judgments of having a low-status job (Nash, Fieldman, Hussey, Leveque, & Pineau, 2006). People appear to make implicit associations between makeup and status (Richetin, Croizet, & Huguet, 2004) and, in images of female models, makeup enhances perceptions of competence (Etcoff et al., 2011), complementing other work which suggests potential halo effects ascribed to women with makeup such as 'organized' (Graham & Jouhar, 1981), bright, and assertive (Osborn, 1996). While these findings suggest evidence for relationships between social dominance and makeup in women, no work to our knowledge has directly tested whether makeup enhances perceptions of leadership ability. ...
Cosmetics alter social perceptions, and prior work suggests that cosmetic use may aid female intrasexual competition, making women appear more dominant to other women but more prestigious to other men. It is unclear whether these findings reflect general improvements in perceptions of traits related to women’s dominance or if they are specific to mating contexts only. Here, across two ethnicities, we examined effects of cosmetics used for a social night out on perceptions of women’s leadership ability, a trait that denotes competence/high status outside of mating contexts. Participants of African and Caucasian ethnicity judged faces for leadership ability where half of the trials differed in ethnicity (own- vs. other-ethnicity face pairs) and the subtlety of the color manipulation (50% vs. 100%). Regardless of the participant’s sex or ethnicity, makeup used for a social night out had a negative effect on perceptions of women’s leadership ability. Our findings suggest that, in prior work, women are afforded traits related to dominance, as makeup enhances perceptions of traits that are important for successful female mating competition but not other components of social dominance such as leadership.
... Il trucco femminile ha avuto nel corso del tempo caratteristiche costanti, che ritroviamo addirittura nelle antiche donne egizie. come obiettivo quello di incrementare sia l'espressività che il fascino di un volto (Osborne, 1996). ...
Sappiamo tutti che è meglio essere attraenti piuttosto che non attraenti ma non tutti conoscono i meccanismi psicologici implicati nella percezione della bellezza. La ricerca scientifica negli ultimi anni ha fatto molti progressi nel cercare di svelare i segreti della bellezza e della sua enorme influenza nei nostri rapporti sociali. Questo libro riporta lo stato dell'arte di tale ricerca. Quali sono le caratteristiche di un volto o di un corpo attraente? In che modo l'essere attraenti differisce fra maschi e femmine? Come evolve la percezione della bellezza nell'arco di vita? La bellezza ha avuto un valore adattivo nella nostra storia evolutiva? Poiché lo studio della bellezza è intimamente legato a quello dell'estetica e dell'arte, vengono anche esposti i risultati delle ricerche sulle tecniche utilizzate dagli artisti per rappresentare in modo più attraente i loro soggetti. La psicologia della bellezza, inoltre, non si limita agli aspetti visivi di corpo e volto, ma si interessa anche di temi come la bellezza della postura, dei movimenti corporei, della voce, dell'odore personale. Il volume prende anche in esame gli aspetti ''applicativi'', cioè le conseguenze che la bellezza ha nei rapporti sociali, nell'educazione, negli ambiti lavorativi, nella politica e nella giustizia e i risvolti legati alle ''patologie della bellezza'' come il narcisismo e i disturbi dell'immagine corporea.
... Facial makeup plays an important rule in the outer look of the person (female basically). Several studies showed that applying facial makeup which increases the visual attractiveness [1], gives younger look and keep the woman look following the current trends has positive effects on the woman self-esteem, others assessment of her skills [2]. Choosing a certain makeup style to fit a certain facial traits for a certain occasion can be a challenging question that many females face it frequently. ...
Makeup style plays a key role in the facial appearance making it more beautiful and attractive. Choosing the best makeup style for a certain face to fit a certain occasion is a full art. Also, foretelling how the face will look like after applying the proposed makeup style requires a high imagination. To solve this problem computationally, an automatic and smart facial makeup recommendation and synthesis system is proposed in this paper. This system starts by classifying the makeup related facial traits that makeup artists consider to decide the makeup style; Then, a rule-based makeup recommendation system is built by creating a knowledge base that models the relation between the facial style attributes and makeup style attributes, taking into account the occasion such as daily makeup or heavy makeup and the desired trend with semantic text explaining logic behind the recommended style. Finally, we developed an automatic facial makeup synthesis system to apply the recommended style on the facial image as well. To this end, a new database with 961 different females photos collected and labeled. To evaluate the performance of the proposed system, an extensive experimental analysis is conducted on the automatic facial attributes classification, the recommendation efficiency and the synthesis accuracy under different conditions. The obtained results show the effectiveness and flexibility of our proposed fully automatic framework.
... They reported that the abdomen factor was responsible for the largest percentage of the variance; a protruding abdomen was associated with negative ratings, whereas its absence was associated with the most positive ratings. Osborn (1996) also examined color photographs of Caucasian women with slumped, normal, or military attention-style standing posture. This author observed that the slumped target was perceived to have more medical problems, to be less fertile, less likely to have an extramarital affair, and less attractive physically. ...
Research reported that men interact with women wearing high heels more readily than with the same women wearing flat heels. However, the effect of heels on the judgment of women by both men and women has received little attention. Male and female participants viewed two photographs of the same woman’s body profile; the woman wore high heels in the one and flat heels in the other, although her shoes and feet were not visible. Participants were asked to select one photograph of the woman on several dimensions of body attractiveness. A significant greater number of male and female participants selected the target with high heels as the sexier, the prettier, and the more elegant, with the more attractive legs and buttocks. The same target was also perceived as the younger person and the photograph that would be preferred by others and the more appropriate for a photo album. The findings support the assumption that high heels could act as secondary sexual characteristics that increase the attractiveness of women to men.
... The only ratings in which Renaissance courtesans are higher than the contemporary women are for "Modesty" and "Unlikely to Have an Affair." This replicates Cunningham's (1986) and Osborn's (1996) findings that these two variables correlate with ratings of unattractiveness. ...
By comparing photos of portraits of the faces of Renaissance courtesans to photos of attractive contemporary women’s faces this study estimates the importance of sociocultural factors in the personal perception of faces. Physical attractiveness is an important causal factor in choosing a sex partner, so the difference between averaged attractiveness judgments, a focus of attractiveness research, and individual attractiveness judgment, most relevant to choosing a sex partner, is important. Except for modesty and faithfulness, 13 normally attractive contemporary models were rated much more positively by college student participants (N = 189) than were eight celebrated Renaissance courtesans, both in attractiveness (contemporary stimuli 63%; Renaissance courtesans 31%) and in personality traits. All of the Renaissance courtesan trait ratings showed more variability than the contemporary stimuli. This study supports the view that once a relatively low baseline level of biological attractiveness is surpassed, latent and explicit sociocultural factors, culturally relative gender role appearance expectations, culturally relative aesthetic judgment factors, individual differences, and interpersonal dynamics are major determining factors of judgments of pretty and/or beautiful showing large subcultural and cultural individual differences. Pretty and beautiful may be discrete concepts, with beautiful strongly culturally determined. These data suggest that sociocultural and subcultural factors are important determiners of attractiveness.
... It indicates a person's current health status and age (Samson, Fink and Matts, 2010). Related to this issue, age (Korthase and Trenholme, 1982) and use of cosmetic makeup (Osborn, 1996) also have effects on attractiveness. Moreover, we have not addressed how attractiveness changes with familiarity or habituation. ...
Facial attractiveness influences us in a variety of ways. Not only does it affect which partners we date, mate with or marry, but it also affects how we think about and interact with others. Nearly everyone has experienced how stunning attractiveness captures the eye. And nearly everyone enjoys looking at attractive faces. Moreover, advertisements of consumer products take advantage of the effects of facial attractiveness. The expectation here is that the positive effects of attractiveness would generalize to consumers’ product evaluations (Baker and Churchill, 1977). The preoccupation with attractiveness is also reflected in the considerable effort people put into looking attractive: “In the United States more money is spent on attractiveness than on education or social services” (Etcoff, 1999, p. 6). Thus, a multibillion-dollar industry lives off of the promise of increased attractiveness. It is, however, still unclear what the essence of facial attractiveness really is, but researchers have put considerable effort into revealing what, why and how different factors contribute to attractiveness. In the current chapter, we discuss what makes faces attractive and present some hypotheses on why this might be the case. We also show how our brains process attractiveness and how attractiveness affects various aspects of our experiences and behaviors. What is attractiveness? Throughout this chapter, we use the term “attractiveness” to refer to the aesthetic qualities of faces. Attractiveness is the most commonly used term in scientific studies. This common use of attractiveness is noteworthy because most people typically mention beauty, but not attractiveness, when discussing the aesthetic qualities of faces (Augustin, Wagemans and Carbon, 2012). However, there might be some difference between beauty and attractiveness. Beauty could refer more to aesthetic qualities of a face per se, while attractiveness could refer more to the function of aesthetic qualities of faces – indicating sexual and social qualities of potential mates (Little, Jones and DeBruine, 2011; Senior, 2003; Thornhill and Gangestad, 1999). Additionally, depending on the context, focusing on attractiveness might accentuate different aspects of aesthetic qualities of faces. In a mating context, for instance, sexual qualities might be considered more important for attractiveness evaluations, as compared to a non-mating context. Importantly, when evaluating a face, these aspects yield different motivational and emotional consequences. Thus, in our chapter, we will consider these aspects in the interpretation of results.
... For example, Fabricant and Gould (1993) determined that younger women use cosmetics to look older whereas older women use cosmetics to look younger, suggesting that women of any age may be able to use cosmetics to appear more fertile (and, therefore, more attractive) than they actually are based on their age. Furthermore, Osborn (1996) found that participants rated women who were naturally above or below average in attractiveness as being significantly more attractive when wearing cosmetics. ...
Much empirical evidence suggests that “what is beautiful is good,” particularly for women. Whether in the courtroom or the classroom, attractive women enjoy a variety of benefits not available to their less attractive peers. It is therefore often in a woman’s best interest to engage in efforts to enhance her appearance. Women utilize a number of strategies to increase their physical attractiveness (e.g., wearing cosmetics, dieting), particularly when competing for romantic partners. Due to the competitive advantage it provides, however, a woman’s beauty can also evoke aversive psychological responses from same-sex competitors. These negative responses—such as decreased self-esteem and increased envy—can have costly consequences for the attractive women who elicit them. In this chapter, we review research and suggest that women strategically enhance their beauty in order to facilitate competitive success. We also address several important questions about the causes and consequences of women’s competitive beautification.
... 7 Gegen die Verwendung von Photographien als Grundlage der Attraktivitätsbestimmung könnte grundsätzlich eingewandt werden, dass die Attraktivität der abgebildeten Personen durch kosmetische Maßnahmen sowie durch geeignete digitale oder manuelle Retuschen künstlich über das natürliche Maß hinaus erhöht werden kann, so dass die Attraktivitätsmessung verfälscht wird (vgl.Hergovich et al. 2002;Rosenberg & McCafferty 1987;Rosenberg et al. 1991). Hinzu kommt, dass bereits die Inszenierung der Photographie, Moden, Kleidungsstil, Ornamentik, Gestik und Mimik der abgebildeten Person oder die technische Qualität der Photographie die Attraktivitätseinstufung beeinflussen können(Elliot & Niesta 2008;Osborn 1996;Reis et al. 1990). All dies ist richtig, im Zusammenhang dieser Untersuchung aber von nachrangiger Bedeutung: alle kontradiktorischen Implikationen arbeiten gegen die Basishypothese, dass sich ein Einfluss der physischen Attraktivität auf den Wahlausgang nachweisen lässt. ...
Politische Wahlen tragen bis zu einem gewissen Grad Züge einer Schönheitskonkurrenz. Das bestätigen nicht nur experimentelle
Untersuchungen und Survey-basierte Analysen (vgl. z.B. Budesheim & DePaola 1994; Klein & Ohr 2000; Klein & Rosar 2007; 2009;
Sigelman et al. 1986; 1987). Es finden sich auch zunehmend Studien, die diesen Befund auf der Basis realer Wahlergebnisse
erhärten. Bereits in den 1970er Jahren haben Efran und Patterson (1974) für die nationalen kanadischen Parlamentswahlen am
Beispiel von 21 Wahlkreisen der Region Toronto nachgewiesen, dass der Stimmenanteil, den die Wahlkreiskandidaten erzielen
konnten, deutlich von ihrer physischen Attraktivität beeinflusst wurde. In einer 2005 in Science veröffentlichten Studie zeigen Todorov und Kollegen (2005) indirekt, dass die physische Attraktivität der Kandidaten bei
den Wahlen zum US-Senat von 2000, 2002 und 2004 sowie bei den Wahlen zum US-Abgeordnetenhaus von 2002 und 2004 die Siegchancen
signifikant beeinflusst hat. Im selben Jahr belegen Klein und Rosar am Beispiel der Bundestagswahl 2002, dass die physische
Attraktivität der Wahlkreiskandidaten von CDU, CSU, SPD und PDS signifikant und substantiell bedeutsam den Erststimmenanteil
beeinflusst, den die Direktkandidaten in ihrem Wahlkreis erringen (Klein & Rosar 2005). King und Leigh (2007) kommen für die
australischen nationalen Parlamentswahlen des Jahres 2004 zu ganz ähnlichen Ergebnissen. Berggren, Jordahl und Poutvaara zeigen
2007 am Beispiel der finnischen nationalen Parlamentswahlen von 2003 und der Kommunalwahlen im Raum Helsinki von 2004, dass
bei offener Listenwahl die Anzahl der Stimmen, die die Kandidaten einer Liste erhalten, deutlich von ihrer physischen Attraktivität
beeinflusst wird (Berggren et al. 2007). Rosar, Klein und Beckers veröffentlichen im Folgejahr eine Untersuchung, die am Beispiel
der nordrhein-westfälischen Landtagswahl 2005 dokumentiert, dass die physische Attraktivität von Direktkandidaten in Deutschland
auch parlamentarische Mehrheitsverhältnisse beeinflussen kann (Rosar et al. 2008).
... Laboratory studies have also found that facial features alone can elicit a variety of responses from participants (e.g., Goldin, 1980;Shoemaker, South, & Lowe, 1973). Thus, interpretations and evaluations of an individual may depend on his/her appearance (Ahola, 1998;Hellstro¨m & Tekle, 1994;Mills & Aronson, 1965;Osborn, 1996;Sigall & Aronson, 1969;Terry & Krantz, 1993), and the face seems to be the most determining body part regarding evaluation of an individual's personality characteristics (Liggett, 1981;Riggio, Widaman, Tucker, & Salinas, 1991). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether gender and facial appearance of the defendant would affect evaluations of the defendant. ...
This study examined the effect of gender and facial characteristics of criminal offenders on attributions of crime-relevant traits. The stimulus pictures portrayed women and men of varying attractiveness. Participants were presented with pictures of these female or male faces along with accompanying crime accounts. The crime account described the individual in the picture as a person who had committed one of the following crimes: theft, fraud, drug crime, child molestation, child abuse, or homicide. After reading one case account the participants were asked to evaluate the credibility and other crime-relevant personality traits of the offender. Results showed that female defendants were rated more favourably than were male defendants. Gender worked to the advantage of the female perpetrator. There were also slight tendencies towards more lenient appraisal of the more attractive women.
The current work investigates the effects of target of perception’s waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) on perceivers’ judgments of sexual unrestrictedness and sexual victimization prototypicality. Studies 1a and 1b found that women with lower WHRs were perceived as relatively more sexually unrestricted. Studies 2a and 2b found that women with lower WHRs were perceived as relatively more prototypic of sexual victimization. Study 3 built on these findings to consider implications for responses to sexual assault disclosures. Perceivers disbelieved and minimized a disclosure of assault relatively more when made by a woman with a higher WHR. In sum, this body of work implicates WHR as a body cue that can inform consequential sexual perception. Thereby, this work identifies factors that could influence judgments of credibility of sexual violence reports, which may have implications for hesitancy to report sexual violence.
Sexual, sensual and erotic models of love. Arguments have been made that sex and these forms of love are psychologically different realities of sexual life. The chapter shows the cultural differences in understanding the relations between sex, love, and sexual love. The freedom of sexual relationships, including premarital sex, is considered in cross-cultural perspective across times and societies. The chapter also presents evidence that sensual and erotic models of love are special and distinct types of love closely intertwined with sexual love.KeywordsLove and sexSexual love and biologySexual loveLove as sexual pleasurePsychology of sexual loveSexual love across culturesPremarital sex in loveGender inequality in sexual loveGender equality in sexual loveSensual lovePsychology of sensual loveErotic loveErotic love across cultures
Makeup is widely used in modern society and has a positive effect on perceived attractiveness. However, little is known about the other possible outcomes of makeup use. In this study, we investigated whether makeup enhances a receiver’s emotional experience. Dynamic faces with or without makeup are presented in Experiments 1 and 2. Participants were asked to imagine themselves video chatting with a target person (expresser) with different expressions: neutral, angry, sad, or happy, and then to appraise their own subjective emotional experience. Emotional valence, arousal, and willingness to communicate were also assessed in Experiment 2. The results showed that makeup improved perceived facial attractiveness and increased the willingness to communicate. More importantly, it revealed that wearing makeup could weaken receivers’ negative experiences arising from the angry and sad conditions, which is not the case for the non-makeup condition, but could not affect the happy contagion. Furthermore, incremental changes in the amount of makeup were not accompanied by incremental changes in emotional appraisal (valence and arousal). Overall, we found that makeup may affect emotional contagion and interpersonal communication. Whether the alleviated negative experience due to makeup is adaptive may need further discussion.
Does wearing makeup benefit women by changing how they perceive themselves, and are the perceptions that others make of makeup wearers positive, or negative? In two pre‐registered experiments, we investigated the effects of makeup on women's self‐perceived traits, and others’ objectifying perceptions of them. In Experiment 1, 229 women imagined one of four scenarios (e.g., a romantic date). Half applied makeup for that scenario before rating their self‐perceived agency, humanness, romantic competitiveness towards other women and reactions to partner jealousy. Results showed little evidence that applying makeup affected women's self‐perceived traits. In Experiment 2, 844 participants rated images of women's faces from Experiment 1 on their mental capacity and moral status. Women wearing more makeup were attributed less mental capacity and moral status, with attributions mediated by perceptions that heavier makeup‐wearers have more sex and are more physically attractive. Findings suggest that although women experience cultural pressure to wear makeup, negative stereotypes of makeup‐wearers may lead to detrimental perceptions of women.
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We conducted a trust game experiment to investigate whether women are trusted more when they wear makeup than when they do not. Facial attractiveness, which was manipulated through the application of makeup by a professional makeup artist, was measured before and after makeovers. Trustors were shown a photograph of their female counterparts before they made decisions about money transfers to trustees. The results showed that wearing makeup increased perceived attractiveness, which in turn led trustors to make larger transfers to female trustees during the trust game. Additionally, we discovered a pure makeup premium that was mediated by gender. Specifically, female trustees with makeup received larger transfers than female trustees without makeup when the trustors were men, even after controlling for female trustees’ levels of attractiveness.
Zusammenfassung
Nicht zuletzt PISA hat gezeigt, dass die Beurteilung schulischer Leistungen durch das Lehrpersonal in nicht unerheblichem Umfang durch Kriterien beeinflusst wird, die nichts mit den Leistungen der Schüler zu tun haben. Ein solches sachfremdes Kriterium, das in der Diskussion bisher kaum Beachtung gefunden hat, ist die physische Attraktivität der Schüler. Am Beispiel dreier Klassen eines großstädtischen Gymnasiums haben wir überprüft, inwieweit die Schulnotenvergabe durch das Aussehen der Schüler beeinflusst wird und ob die Wirkung durch einen „Beauty Is Beastly“-Effekt moderiert wird. Die Ergebnisse der empirischen Analysen führen zu dem Schluss, dass die physische Attraktivität der Schüler signifikant und substanziell ihre Fachnoten beeinflusst. Belastbare Befunde für die Existenz eines „Beauty Is Beastly“-Effektes ließen sich hingegen nicht zeigen.
Obwohl es nicht viele empirische Studien gibt, die sich mit der Wirkung der physischen Attraktivität von Politikern bei Wahlen beschäftigen, kann es inzwischen als gut abgesicherter Befund gelten, dass die äußere Anmutung von Kandidaten den Wahlerfolg beeinflusst.
Discussion of the nature of personal aesthetics, or physical attractiveness, seems to alternate between two positions, which we term Natural Classicism and Cultural Constructivism. These two positions are illustrated in fashion historian Julian Robinson’s (1998) account of a conversation that he had with art historian Sir Kenneth Clark:
“Sir Kenneth Clark said that...his own interests lay in classical styles of beauty as seen from a purely Mediterranean viewpoint, which had reached its zenith in the marble sculptures of ancient Greece. He explained that to a great extent the aesthetic appeal of such beauty depended on perfect symmetry, regular features, and an unvarying adherence to the prevailing classical ideals of shape, form and measurable proportions. In turn, I explained that my inclinations and convictions had become firmly rooted in the notion that human beauty is a reflection of cultural perceptions and inherited ideas of aesthetics, and that such aesthetics were not immutable...I went on to say that all human ideals and notions of beauty appeared to be inextricably linked to the varying forms of symbolism to which cultural groups appear to become “addicted” and which by ritual becomes an important aspect of their lives, and that each new generation learns these notions and addictions in the same way as it learns all other cultural matters - thus human beauty exists only in the eyes of those with the specific knowledge and cultural heritage to perceive it.” (pp. 13–14)
The external appearance of a person is an important predictor for his or her social success. This finding has been verified by numerous mostly social psychological oriented empirical studies on physical attractiveness for many phases and areas of life. At the same time, sociological research on social inequality has hardly paid any attention to the social relevance of physical attractiveness. In order to begin to dose this gap, the article provides insight into attractiveness research results and highlights the importance of further research into the impact of attractiveness on causing social inequality. We will first give an overview of the areas of life in which the efficacy of physical attractiveness has already been demonstrated. Then we will discuss the mechanisms through which the external appearance of a person develops its effect, until finally, we will explain how physical attractiveness can be measured.
While the determination of age has been primarily mediated visually, the ambient odour may also have an influence. To investigate this in a single blinded, randomised fashion, thirty-seven subjects (age average of 28 years, ranging from 13 years to 71 years) estimated the age of models in twenty photographs while wearing either blank masks or masks impregnated with a grape, cucumber or grapefruit aroma. The grape odour (p = 0.198) and the cucumber odour (p = 0.244) had no significant effects. The grapefruit aroma reduced subjects' perception of overall models' ages by an average of approximately three years (p = 0.025) and of female models' age by five years (p = 0.053). Possible mechanisms whereby the grapefruit aroma created a rejuvenating effect with relationship to perceived age includes induction of positive effect, expectancy effect, sexual arousal, anxiolysis, change in cognitive set and odour induced visual distortion. The perceived rejuvenating effect of the grapefruit aroma may have utility in facilitating intergenerational communication or act as an adjuvant like Botoxial toxins in cosmetic and pharmaceutical usage to affect age perception.
Many educational studies like PISA have shown that school performance is not purely determined by scholarly achievements. Apart from students' efforts, there are other criteria that influence school grades. One of these is the physical attractiveness of students, an aspect that has largely been ignored in national educational studies up to now. Based on a sample of three secondary high school classes in a large German city we tested the extent to which school grades are affected by the physical appearance of students and whether this effect is moderated by the so-called "beauty is beastly" effect. The results of our empirical analysis show that school grades are significantly influenced by physical attractiveness. We could, however, not find any support for the "beauty is beastly" effect.
The external appearance of a person is an important predictor for his or her social success. This finding has been verified by numerous – mostly social psychological oriented – empirical studies on physical attractiveness for many phases and areas of life. At the same time, sociological research on social inequality has hardly paid any attention to the social relevance of physical attractiveness. In order to begin to close this gap, the article provides insight into attractiveness research results and highlights the importance of further research into the impact of attractiveness on causing social inequality. We will first give an overview of the areas of life in which the efficacy of physical attractiveness has already been demonstrated. Then we will discuss the mechanisms through which the external appearance of a person develops its effect, until finally, we will explain how physical attractiveness can be measured.
There is ample evidence in the social psychological literature that the physical attractiveness of people influences their success in various areas of life. However, it cannot always be assumed that attractive people are really more productive. Rather the interaction partners and decision makers in the context of the respective social actions simply treat attractive people better. Giving such unsubstantiated privileges to attractive people is especially likely when no objective performance standards exist and the criteria for the performance assessment are not transparent. Because performance is well documented in professional sports and can be measured relatively objectively, 483 professional football (soccer) players of 18 teams in the German professional football league during the 2007/2008 season were included to determine how their attractiveness affects the assessment of their performance by sports reporters and trainers. The results show that in the judgment of objective performance sports reporters are not substantially influenced by the attraction of the players, while there is certainly an influence of the trainers’ judgment. This is attributed to the greater transparency and the greater adherence to the rules of journalistic judgment.
A range of empirical studies has shown that candidates' physical attractiveness can substantially influence the outcome of political elections. This applies to different countries, different electoral systems, and different levels of political systems, and equally affects simple direct or list candidates and front-runners. However, no previous investigation using actual election results has been made into whether candidates' attractiveness also has an effect under the conditions of a presidential electoral system. Theoretical reasons can be formulated that suggest attractiveness is ineffective under these circumstances. In order to clarify this point empirically, we analysed the 2009 North Rhine-Westphalia mayoral elections. Yet the results of the analyses clearly show that candidates' attractiveness has a substantial influence. Taking into account earlier findings, the influence of physical attractiveness in political elections appears to be resistant, to a large degree, to varying constraints.
In recent times Darwin's original ideas have gathered strength, threatening less robust theories in many areas of human and animal behavior with extinction. In particular, they appear to reduce the perception of beauty of the opposite sex to just one more instance of adaptive behavior. This article argues, however, that there is an alternative reading of the Darwinian program that is both consistent with evolutionary theory and preserves the autonomy of aesthetic reasoning. This is that species evolve so as to attract the opposite sex by generating cognitive arousal, causing attention to be redirected to themselves. The methods for generating arousal are consistent with such aesthetic devices as prototypicality, harmony, and salience. A neural network model of face recognition is presented in which higher network activity results when these aesthetic goals are met. Data is then presented showing that arousal in this model when exposed to female faces is strongly correlated with male judgments of the same female faces. Furthermore, the proposed theory is consistent with the fact that women use a variety of makeup and adornment techniques to highlight their features. The article concludes by arguing that to be beautiful is a valid evolutionary goal in itself, because more beautiful organisms are more likely to attract the attention of the opposite sex and therefore mate.
Purpose
The objective of this study is to explore adolescent girls' knowledge about the types of beauty valued in contemporary American popular and commercial culture.
Design/methodology/approach
Eighty girls ranging from seven to thirteen years old participated in a card sorting and collage construction exercise using 47 advertisements that featured models.
Findings
Differences were found among girls according to age. Preferred beauty types were more complex with age. Furthermore, older girls made more product and brand associations.
Research limitations/implications
The findings indicate that the beauty match‐up hypothesis holds among young girls.
Practical implications
Advertisers may be overlooking the audience of young women by neglecting to use models who represent their desired type(s) of beauty. They may even be alienating young girls by using anti‐ideals such as nudity and sexiness. Furthermore, advertisers must use models who convey the appropriate personality traits to create persuasive ads.
Originality/value
This study is important because it expands upon previous work that has assessed how and why young girls are affected by highly attractive models in ads. However, instead of conceptualizing physical attractiveness as a simple bipolar continuum from “attractive or pretty” to “unattractive or ugly”, this work considers the complex, multidimensional properties of beauty.
Objectives: An important factor in social interaction is physical appearance. Major elements in the evaluation of physical appearance are the mouth and teeth. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of tooth appearance on the development of a first impression of the other person, with regard to the sex of both the respondent and the target. Methods: Eight facial photographs of individuals with intact upper teeth were manipulated: one set was left untouched and the other was professionally altered so that the front anterior teeth appeared decayed. The photographs were randomly aligned in sets of eight, each set consisting of four individuals with an original, intact dentition and four other individuals with a “decayed” dentition. The sets of photographs were then presented to 115 respondents (65 males and 50 females). Evaluations were made according to three categories of traits—esthetic, social, and professional. Results: For all three evaluation categories, the difference in scores between decayed and intact dentition given to targets were significantly higher when participants of one sex evaluated targets of the opposite sex, as compared to evaluating targets of their own sex. Conclusions: The effect of tooth appearance on the physical attractiveness stereotype is more evident when males evaluate females and vice versa, rather than when evaluating their own sex.
The present investigation sought to determine whether women's body attitudes could be understood as a manifestation of benevolent sexism. Results indicated that women who held many benevolent sexist beliefs not only used more cosmetics when preparing for a romantic date than women who endorsed few such beliefs, but they also expressed more positive attitudes toward an aspect of female body esteem, sexual attractiveness, that can be altered using cosmetic products.
The consistency of physical attractiveness ratings across cultural groups was examined. In Study 1, recently arrived native Asian and Hispanic students and White Americans rated the attractiveness of Asian, Hispanic, Black, and White photographed women. The mean correlation between groups in attractiveness ratings was
r = .93. Asians, Hispanics, and Whites were equally influenced by many facial features, but Asians were less influenced by some sexual maturity and expressive features. In Study 2, Taiwanese attractiveness ratings correlated with prior Asian, Hispanic, and American ratings, mean
r = .91. Supporting Study 1, the Taiwanese also were less positively influenced by certain sexual maturity and expressive features. Exposure to Western media did not influence attractiveness ratings in either study. In Study 3, Black and White American men rated the attractiveness of Black female facial photos and body types. Mean facial attractiveness ratings were highly correlated (
r = .94), but as predicted Blacks and Whites varied in judging bodies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Most research on effects of physical attractiveness has ignored characteristics of the body as determinants of others’ reactions. Seventy-five male and 102 female students from universities in both the United States and Israel reacted to 32 drawings of male physiques. The drawings systematically manipulated five somatic and postural dimensions of appearance (Abdomen, Shoulder, Neck, Head, and Body Shape). Results yielded a series of complex interactions among body characteristics: Abdomen, Shoulder, Neck, and Shape. The abdomen factor was responsible for the largest percentage of the variance: the presence of a protruding abdomen resulted in the most negative ratings, while its absence yielded the most positive ratings. No significant differences were found between Ss from the two cultures and only minor differences were obtained between ratings of male and female Ss.
The relative and combined influences of faces and bodies on judgments of physical attractiveness were assessed in a factorial design crossing 3 levels (high, moderate, and low) of face and body attractiveness. Based on preratings, 3 sets of slides were created that super imposed faces onto bodies. A second sample of subjects then rated these 27 slides (3 faces X 3 bodies X 3 sets) on physical attractiveness, intelligence, sociability, and morality. Strong effects of both face and body on attractiveness ratings were obtained. In addition, a significant interaction was obtained between faces and bodies on ratings of physical attractiveness. Faces significantly influenced ratings of intelligence, sociability, and morality, whereas bodies had a significant effect on ratings of intelligence and sociability.
Three experiments with 147 undergraduates tested the hypothesis that slumped (depressed) or upright physical postures are not just passive indicators of mental states but can reciprocally affect the mental states and behavior of an individual. By using a methodology similar to that in many facial manipulation studies, the experimenters changed Ss' postures in a standard learned helplessness setting. Results indicate that when a slumped posture was "inappropriate" to the current situation (an S had just succeeded), the slumping seemed to undermine subsequent motivation as well as feelings of control. But when "appropriate" (an S had experienced failure or helplessness), slumping minimized both feelings of helplessness and depression and motivation deficits. A new theoretical analysis—the appropriateness hypothesis—is therefore proposed: A slumped vs upright posture orientation can guide and moderate information-processing and responses to positive and negative mood-relevant stimuli. Implications regarding self-regulatory processes that may operate in emotion, depression, and learned helplessness are discussed. (55 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
110 male and female student "interviewers," classified as either high, moderate, or low on physical attractiveness, evaluated 12 bogus job applicants for whom sex, physical attractiveness, and qualifications had been varied. A 2 × 3 × 2 × 3 × 2 analysis of variance was computed, with the 1st 2 variables (interviewer sex and attractiveness) constituting between-group factors, and the last 3 variables (applicant sex, attractiveness, and qualifications) constituting repeated measures factors. Regardless of interviewer sex and attractiveness, highly qualified applicants were preferred over poorly qualified applicants, male applicants were preferred over female applicants, and attractive candidates were preferred over unattractive candidates. Discrimination in employment decisions was attributed to sex-role and physical attractiveness stereotypes. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This research focused on the target effect on a perceiver's judgments of personality when the perceiver and the target are unacquainted. The perceiver was given no opportunity to interact with the target, a condition we refer to as zero acquaintance. We reasoned that in order to make personality judgments, perceivers would use the information available to them (physical appearance). Consensus in personality judgments would result, then, from shared stereotypes about particular physical appearance characteristics. Results from three separate studies with 259 subjects supported this hypothesis. On two of the five dimensions (extraversion and conscientiousness) on which subjects rated each other, a significant proportion of variance was due to the stimulus target. Consensus on judgments of extraversion appears to have been largely mediated by judgments of physical attractiveness. Across the three studies there was also evidence that the consensus in judgments on these two dimensions had some validity, in that they correlated with self-judgments on those two dimensions.
Drawing on the ecological theory of social perception, we investigated the impact of age-related gait qualities on trait impressions. In Study 1, subjects observed 5- to 70-year-old walkers depicted in point-light displays, and rated the walkers' traits, gaits, and ages. Younger walkers were perceived as more powerful and happier than older walkers. A composite of youthful gait qualities predicted trait impressions regardless of the walkers' masculine gait qualities, sex, and perceived age. In Study 2, subjects observed young adult walkers depicted in point-light displays and rated their traits, gaits, and ages. Consistent with the effects of real age found in Study 1, young adults with youthful gaits were perceived as more powerful and happier than peers with older gaits, irrespective of their masculine gait qualities, sex, and perceived age. Study 3 replicated Study 2 using displays showing walkers' full bodies and faces. A youthful gait predicted trait impressions even when subjects could discern the walkers' age and sex.
Evidence is presented showing that body fat distribution as measured by waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is correlated with youthfulness, reproductive endocrinologic status, and long-term health risk in women. Three studies show that men judge women with low WHR as attractive. Study 1 documents that minor changes in WHRs of Miss America winners and Playboy playmates have occurred over the past 30-60 years. Study 2 shows that college-age men find female figures with low WHR more attractive, healthier, and of greater reproductive value than figures with a higher WHR. In Study 3, 25- to 85-year-old men were found to prefer female figures with lower WHR and assign them higher ratings of attractiveness and reproductive potential. It is suggested that WHR represents an important bodily feature associated with physical attractiveness as well as with health and reproductive potential. A hypothesis is proposed to explain how WHR influences female attractiveness and its role in mate selection.
Physical attractiveness phenomena permeate society with somber ramifica tions. Correspondingly, practical applications of physical attractiveness phenomena are extensive. The consequence is that almost every person can benefit from knowledge about research on physical attractiveness. Such research material provides valuable information for persons established in their careers, as well as those preparing for a career. Similarly, parents at all stages of their life cycle should be cognizant of how physical attractiveness impacts the psychological and physiological development of children. Because no one is isolated from physical attractiveness phenomena, knowledge of this material should be imperative for everyone. This book consolidates research that specifically addresses physical attractiveness. The first summary was a classic review presented over 10 years ago (Berscheid & Walster, 1974). Since then the research literature has continued to grow, but no comprehensive review has again been published. Even though research summaries have been presented in a compilation of psychological abstracts (Cash, 1980), and in a discussion of stereotyping literature (Adams, 1982), the study of physical attractiveness phenomena is due for a comprehensive account and an analysis of the extensive, divergent research."
Physical attractiveness of a traffic offender was varied along with the nature of the street accident. Punishment as a main dependent measure was realized in terms of imprisonment. Results for 44 female and 46 male undergraduates were inconsistent with additive and averaging models of information integration. An averaging model with differential weights could not give a consistent account of the effects. An attractive offender received more lenient treatment than an unattractive both involved in an identical accident. Having committed a fatal accident, physical attractiveness appears to have a negative influence on the over-all judgment.
This review demonstrates that the physical attractiveness stereotype established by studies of person perception is not as strong or general as suggested by the often-used summary phrase what is beautiful is good. Although subjects in these studies ascribed more favorable personality traits and more successful life outcomes to attractive than unattractive targets, the average magnitude of this beauty-is-good effect was moderate, and the strength of the effect varied considerably from study to study. Consistent with our implicit personality theory framework, a substantial portion of this variation was explained by the specific content of the inferences that subjects were asked to make: The differences in subjects' perception of attractive and unattractive targets were largest for indexes of social competence; intermediate for potency, adjustment, and intellectual competence; and near zero for integrity and concern for others. The strength of the physical attractiveness stereotype also varied as a function of other attributes of the studies, including the presence of individuating information.
Objective evaluation is one of the basic tenets of rational administrative theory. However, it is widely recognized that several barriers exist to objective evaluation in practice. Informational social influence theory offers an auxiliary approach to understanding organizational outcomes. While informational social influence subsumes a wide variety of elements, three components were selected for examination from the social psychological literature on interpersonal attraction. The relationship of physical attractiveness, attitude similarity, and social background to performance ratings and salaries was examined at two public accounting firms. Motivation and ability measures were included to provide baselines for results. The data were consistent with research suggesting that physical attractiveness may lead to higher outcomes but are less supportive of previous findings on attitude similarity and social background.
Thirty-eight American female college students completed several body-image measures and were photographed while wearing their typical facial cosmetics and following the removal of their makeup, in a counterbalanced within-subject experimental design. Results indicated more positive body-image cognitions and affect in the cosmetics-present than the cosmetics-absent condition. The more makeup typically worn by the subject, the greater the body-image differences between the two cosmetics conditions. Sixteen peer judges rated the attractiveness of the women in either the cosmetics-present or the cosmetics-absent photograph. Male judges were less favorable when the women were cosmetics free; female judges were not differentially affected. Findings are discussed in the context of a dynamic state-trait perspective that physical appearance is not simply a fixed, immutable attribute, but rather is altered by individuals to manage and control their self- and social images.
Rosenthal and Jacobson found that a teacher's expectations about a child's behavior strongly influence his actual behavior. Generally, teachers form their first impressions of children, and thus develop their expectations for them, from two sources of information--the children's school record and their physical appearance. In this experiment, teachers were given objective information, presumably about a child's scholastic and social potential, accompanied by a photograph of an attractive or an unattractive boy or girl. It was found that the child's attractiveness was significantly associated with the teacher's expectations about how intelligent the child was, how interested in education his parents were, how far he was likely to progress in school, and how popular he would be with his peers.
In an exploration of the utility and efficacy of manipulative strategies of behavior, positive relationships were found between Machiavellianism and students' grades with abilities held constant. Further studies demonstrated that this relationship held for men but not women, and that there were birth order effects: later-born males are more successful as manipulators than first-born. Evidence was presented that women also use manipulative strategies, those of physique. Again, there were birth order effects: there was a significant partial correlation between attractiveness and grades for first-born girls but not latter-borns. It was then found that first-born girls are more concerned about their physique and are more apt to make themselves noticed.
Despite the voluminous literature on the physical attractiveness variable, little research has considered the psychosocial processes involved in self alterations of appearance (i.e., grooming behavior). The present study examined individual differences in a largely sex-specific facet of grooming, facial cosmetics use among women. Seventy-five female college students completed the Cash Cosmetics Use Inventory, which assesses the quantity and the situational-dispositional pattern of cosmetics use. Subjects completed personality measures of sex-role identity, sex-role attitudes, social self-esteem, and locus of control. Higher-quantity users were found to be more sex-typed on bipolar but not unipolar sex-role identity, somewhat more profeminist in attitudes, and less external in locus of control for achievement success. Women who were more situationally variable in their pattern of use did not differ in sex-role identity but were more liberal in sex-role attitudes and more internal vis-a-vis affiliative outcomes. These results are discussed in the context of sex-role theory, impression management, and new directions for a psychology of physical appearance.
Scientists and philosophers have searched for centuries for a parsimonious answer to the question of what constitutes beauty. We approached this problem from both an evolutionary and information-processing rationale and predicted that faces representing the average value of the population would be consistently judged as attractive. To evaluate this hypothesis, we digitized samples of male and female faces, mathematically averaged them, and had adults judge the attractiveness of both the individual faces and the computer-generated composite images. Both male (three samples) and female (three samples) composite faces were judged as more attractive than almost all the individual faces comprising the composites. A strong linear trend also revealed that the composite faces became more attractive as more faces were entered. These data showing that attractive faces are only average are consistent with evolutionary pressures that favor characteristics close to the mean of the population and with cognitive processes that favor prototypical category members.
Obtained 115 female undergraduates' somatic preferences in judging the male and female body and related them to Ss' own personality and background characteristics. Ss made paired comparison preference ratings of a set of 15 male and a set of 15 female profile silhouettes which varied in chest/breast, buttocks, and leg size. The group as a whole selected a male silhouette of moderate size (thickness) with small buttocks as the most attractive male physique. A moderate-sized male silhouette with a somewhat larger chest was also favored. This finding gives only partial support to the cultural belief that women prefer large chests in men, since the large-chested or "Atlas"-type physique received only slight endorsement. A moderate-sized female silhouette with small buttocks was chosen as the preferred female figure. In addition, an evenly proportioned and moderately built female silhouette was also highly valued. Larger buttocked male and female silhouettes were clearly disliked, but less definite preference patterns were obtained with regard to leg size. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Conditioned sexual responses to a pair of female boots were established by the following method. A colored photographic slide was repeatedly projected on a screen immediately prior to the presentation of slides of sexually arousing nude women. The criterion of 5 successive sexual responses to the boots was attained by the 3 Ss in 30, 65, and 24 trials, respectively. Extinction and spontaneous recovery were also demonstrated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Demonstrates that the physical attractiveness stereotype established by studies of person perception is not as strong or general as suggested by the often-used summary phrase
what is beautiful is good. Although Ss in these studies ascribed more favorable personality traits and more successful life outcomes to attractive than unattractive targets, the average magnitude of this beauty-is-good effect was moderate, and the strength of the effect varied considerably from study to study. Consistent with the authors' implicit personality theory framework, a substantial portion of this variation was explained by the specific content of the inferences that Ss were asked to make: The differences in Ss' perception of attractive and unattractive targets were largest for indexes of social competence; intermediate for potency, adjustment, and intellectual competence; and near zero for integrity and concern for others. The strength of the physical attractiveness stereotype also varied as a function of other attributes of the studies, including the presence of individuating information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Suggests that when organizational researchers competitively test 2 or more theories, or compare the predictive or relational strength of 2 or more factors or variables, the results can lead them to conclude that one theory or variable is stronger than the other(s). It is argued that such conclusions can be insensitive to a potential alternative explanation of the results: The stronger theory, factor, or variable was favored by being more strongly operationalized, manipulated, or measured. This can render the comparative study into a test of a poorly framed empirical question, the results of which are at least partial artifacts of the procedures, manipulations, or measures used. Four illustrations of this alternative explanation of comparative results are drawn from recent manipulation-based (disadvantaged theories due to procedural nonequivalence and unclear comparisons of factors due to unassessed distributional equivalence) and measurement-based (disadvantaged variables due to procedural nonequivalence and to procedural and distributional nonequivalence) studies of organizational behavior. Generic procedures are described than can make for fairer comparisons. Some possible points of misunderstanding regarding the authors' arguments (e.g., all differential support is artifactual) are addressed. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
22 middle-aged, middle-class couples, married for an average of 15.4 yrs, were employed to obtain 3 measures of physical attractiveness, including photos, self-evaluations, and evaluations by spouse. In addition, each S took the Locke-Wallace Marriage Adjustment Scale. It was hypothesized that (a) members of couples would be matched for physical attractiveness, (b) equity of physical attractiveness would be correlated with marriage adjustment, (c) perception of the partner as more attractive than the self would be correlated with marriage adjustment, and (d) attractiveness, in general, would be correlated with marriage adjustment. The 1st hypothesis was clearly supported, the 2nd rejected, and the 3rd was supported for husbands' marriage adjustment only, but it was suspected of being artifactual. The 4th hypothesis was confirmed for subjective measures of attractiveness in relation to husbands' but not wives' marital adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Investigated, in 2 quasi-experiments, the relation between specific adult female facial features and the attraction, attribution, and altruistic responses of adult males. Precise measurements were obtained of the relative size of 24 facial features in an international sample of photographs of 50 females. 75 undergraduate males provided ratings of the attractiveness of each of the females. Positively correlated with attractiveness ratings were the neonate features of large eyes, small nose, and small chin; the maturity features of prominent cheekbones and narrow cheeks; and the expressive features of high eyebrows, large pupils, and large smile. A 2nd study asked males to rate the personal characteristics of 16 previously measured females. The males were also asked to indicate the females for whom they would be most inclined to perform altruistic behaviors and to select for dating, sexual behavior, and childrearing. The 2nd study replicated the correlations of feature measurements with attractiveness. Facial features also predicted personality attributions, altruistic inclinations, and reproductive interest. Sociobiological interpretations are discussed. (73 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
To determine the importance and generalizability of repeated exposure in causing enhanced interpersonal attraction, an experiment was conducted with 64 females recruited on a college campus in which each S encountered 4 other Ss, all perceived to be either attitudinally similar or dissimilar, in frequencies of 1, 2, 4, and 8. Although Ss were generally more attracted to similar partners, there was a tendency, as measured by both group and individual data, for the most frequently seen other to be rated most positively on a variety of dependent measures. This "exposure effect" was slightly, but not significantly, more pronounced in the similar condition. Correlation data also support the hypothesis that repeated exposure enhances attraction. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Measured relative physical attractiveness of partners in 123 couples (mean age 21.2) in various statuses of relationship (casually dating, seriously dating, cohabiting, and engaged/married). Among casual or serious daters of both sexes, greater relative attractiveness was positively correlated with greater relative availability of opposite-sexed friends and negatively correlated with worrying about partner's potential involvement with others. For males, greater attractiveness was associated with greater desire for extrarelationship involvement. A 9-mo follow-up revealed that similarity of attractiveness was predictive of courtship progress for those who had initially been casually or seriously dating. Results are discussed in relation to both an equity theory and a competitive marketplace model of the effects of relative attractiveness on courtship progress. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Using a round-robin design in which every subject served both as judge and target, subjects made liking judgments, trait ratings, and physical attractiveness ratings of each other on each of 4 days. Although there was some agreement in the liking judgments, most of the variance was due to idiosyncratic preferences for different targets. Differences in evaluations were due to at least 2 factors: disagreements in how targets were perceived (is this person honest?) and disagreements in how to weight the trait attributes that predicted liking (is honesty more important than friendliness?) When evaluating the targets in specific roles (as a study partner), judgments showed much greater agreement, as did the weights of the trait attributes. A 2nd study confirmed the differential weighting of trait attributes when rating liking in general and the increased agreement when rating specific roles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Physical appearance is an integral component of self-presentation in all social situations, including that of applying for a job. This project investigated the relationship between employment evaluations of women and one aspect of their appearance under the individual's control—the use of varying degrees of cosmetics. Cosmetics use was found to be positively correlated with perceived attractiveness, femininity, and sexiness. Based on resume evaluations, however, cosmetics use had a negative effect on the expected performance of female applicants for a gender-typed (secretary) position, but no effect on the expected performance of female applicants for a nongender-typed (accountant) position. Makeup thus appears to strengthen sex role stereotypes associated with traditionally feminine jobs.
Synopsis Few systematic studies have examined individual differences in women's use of facial make-up or the possible psychosocial effects of such use. In the present investigation, the researchers developed several measures of the amount and the situational and temporal patterning of cosmetics use. Among forty-two female college students, differential use was associated with a number of selected personality variables-public self-consciousness, public body-consciousness, social anxiety, and various body-image factors. Through the imagery-induction of cosmetics use and non-use conditions, cosmetics users' self-evaluative responses were studied. In a variety of imagined situations, subjects reported being more self-confident and sociable when wearing as opposed to not wearing their customary cosmetics. Findings were discussed in the context of the role of cosmetics in self-image enhancement and social impression management.
The study reported here forms part of an investigation of what psychological benefits, if any, exist for the user of cosmetics.
A central theme in the work on physical attractiveness is that if one is physically attractive one is assumed to have a more ideal personality than someone of lesser attractiveness.
If cosmetics really do make people look more physically attractive, then with the use of cosmetics others should perceive people more favourably in terms of personality characteristics.
This study, therefore, attempted to find out whether cosmetics really do improve appearance ratings (by males and females) and in result improve ratings of personality.
Colour photographs of four female stimulus persons of average physical attractiveness in each of four modes (neither make-up nor hair care; make-up but no hair care; no make-up but hair care; both make-up and hair care) were evaluated by a judge panel of sixteen males and sixteen females. The amount, extent and style of use of facial make-up and hair care was no more than would be in everyday use.
Each judge saw one stimulus person in each mode but no stimulus person in more than one mode in a counter-balanced design, using 7-point rating scales of six appearance and fourteen personality dimensions.
Two hypotheses were confirmed:
It is not certain from this study whether persons using cosmetics are rated more favourably than without cosmetics because they are seen as more physically attractive and in result acquire more favourable ratings for attributes which are associated with being physically attractive or whether there is a direct effect on perceived personality, independent of enhancement of physical attractiveness, or both.
Either explanation is possible, though there is some support for the idea that the use of cosmetics (or at least hair care) may have a direct effect on perceived personality.
If this were so, it would suggest the existence of a separate positive cosmetic stereotype which carries its own concept ‘what has been cared for is good’. This stereotype would form an extension of the ‘what is beautiful is good’ stereotype for physical attractiveness. Otherwise, and as a result of the work reported here, the latter might become ‘what has been made beautiful is good’, when cosmetics are used.
The multiple motive hypothesis of physical attractiveness suggests that women are attracted to men whose appearances elicit their nurturant feelings, who appear to possess sexual maturity and dominance characteristics, who seem sociable, approacheable, and of high social status. Those multiple motives may cause people to be attracted to individuals who display an optimal combination of neotenous, mature, and expressive facial features, plus desirable grooming attributes. Three quasi-experiments demonstrated that men who possessed the neotenous features of large eyes, the mature features of prominent cheekbones and a large chin, the expressive feature of a big smile, and high-status clothing were seen as more attractive than other men. Further supporting the multiple motive hypothesis, the 2nd and 3rd studies indicated that impressions of attractiveness had strong relations with selections of men to date and to marry but had a curvilinear relation with perceptions of a baby face vs. a mature face.
In two studies, we examined the cross-cultural validity of the dimensional structures with which postures are judged. In Study 1, 686 Japanese subjects rated 40 posture expressions on sixteen 5-point semantic differential scale items. Subjects inferred an encoder's attitude towards oneself (i.e., the decoding subject) in hypothetical dyadic situations. A principal-component factor analysis yielded evidence for three independent dimensions resembling those proposed by Schlosberg (1954), Osgood (1966), and Williams and Sundene (1965). These three factors were named self-fulfillment, interpersonal positiveness, and interpersonal consciousness. In Study 2, 336 Japanese students again rated the 40 posture expressions on the sixteen 5-point differential items, but an attempt was made to control for the status of the hypothetical encoder. The results of this study essentially replicated those of Study 1. One interesting finding was that although we found the same factors as those found in studies conducted in the West, the order of the factors in our studies was the reverse of the order found in these previous studies. The findings are discussed in terms of proposed cultural differences in the maintenance of human relations.
It was proposed that an individual would most often expect to date, would try to date, and would like a partner of approximately his own social desirability. In brief, we attempted to apply level of aspiration theory to choice of social goals. A field study was conducted in which individuals were randomly paired with one another at a "Computer Dance." Level of aspiration hypotheses were not confirmed. Regardless of S's own attractiveness, by far the largest determinant of how much his partner was liked, how much he wanted to date the partner again, and how often he actually asked the partner out was simply how attractive the partner was. Personality measures such as the MMPI, the Minnesota Counseling Inventory, and Berger's Scale of Self- Acceptance and intellectual measures such as the Minnesota Scholastic Aptitude Test, and high school percentile rank did not predict couple compatability. The only important determinant of S's liking for his date was the date's physical attractiveness.
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