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Are sociable people more beautiful? A zero-acquaintance analysis of agreeableness, extraversion, and attractiveness
Abstract
Stereotypes ascribe positive social traits to attractive individuals. Such stereotypes are viewed as erroneous. However, these stereotypes may have a kernel of truth if more sociable individuals present themselves in a manner that increases their attractiveness, a plausible idea given social engagement goals. To examine this idea, two studies involving 217 participants used a zero-acquaintance design in which unacquainted judges rated the attractiveness of participants in impromptu photographs. Participants high in the self-reported traits of agreeableness or extraversion, the two Big 5 traits most relevant to interpersonal behavior, were rated more attractive. Further results indicated that personality–attraction relationships were mediated by a well-groomed appearance. The results suggest a kernel of truth to the idea that sociable individuals are also attractive.
... There are many cues that appear in a résumé photograph (if the photograph is in color or black and white, if the person is smiling or not, if the person's attire is professional or sloppy, etc.). Some studies have already shown that people who smile in a photograph tend to score higher on the dimension of extraversion than people who do not smile (Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010;Naumann, Vazire, Rentfrow, & Gosling, 2009). Another study has shown that professional attire is associated with higher scores in conscientiousness (Borkenau & Liebler, 1992). ...
... After discussion, it was possible to reach agreement for 100% of the ratings regarding the photograph background. The item used to measure smiling was taken from Meier et al. (2010). The average rating was taken as the independent measure because the inter-rater reliability was more than satisfactory (r = 0.96, p b 0.001). ...
... As predicted, smiling was correlated positively with extraversion. This result replicates findings observed with photographs spontaneously taken from participants in other studies (Meier et al., 2010;Naumann et al., 2009). One explanation for this relationship could be due to positive affect. ...
Given the importance of personality to predict consequential outcomes in the workplace, it is important to be able to measure it accurately. To date, no research has examined if people leave valid cues of their personality in résumé photographs. This research examined to what extent résumé photographs provide accurate information about the personality traits of their owner. Two observers rated 97 résumé photographs on four aspects: color photograph, photograph background, smile and professional attire. These ratings were compared with an accuracy criterion of the big five dimensions (self and peer reports). Results indicate that three out of the four cues are linked to extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness and emotional stability. These results suggest that résumé photographs can convey valid information about personality.
... The correlations results presented in Table 2 show that attractiveness is positively correlated with perceived intelligence, perceived creativity and extraversion, which reinforces the idea that sociable people are considered attractive people (Meier et al., 2010;Eagly et al., 1991), as well as competent and inventive. Only one of the personality traits, extraversion, is positively correlated with beauty. ...
... Our study proves that physical attractiveness counts not only towards the ability to attract more friends, but it also influences the individual's chance to be considered for task related 31 information. It appears that people prefer to seek advice from individuals they like who are pleasant, more sociable, and not necessarily more competent (Meier et al., 2010;Eagly et al., 1991). This result is aligned to and reinforces the conclusions presented by Casciaro and Lobo (2008) who suggested the possibility that "the way people form work relationships may follow laws of social interaction that are not highly susceptible to contingent characteristics of the task" (Casciaro and Lobo, 2008, p.678). ...
This study explores the determinants of popularity within friendship and advice networks. We involved almost 200 college students in an experiment to predict how personality traits, self-monitoring, creativity, intelligence, energy, and beauty influence the development of friendship and advice networks. Our results indicate that physical attractiveness is a key to develop both friendship and task-related interactions, whereas perceived intelligence and creativity play an important role in the advice network. Our findings seem to support the idea that there might be a kernel of truth in the stereotype that attractiveness correlates with positive social traits and successful outcomes.
... The correlations results presented in Table 2 show that attractiveness is positively correlated with perceived intelligence, perceived creativity and extraversion, which reinforces the idea that sociable people are considered attractive people (Meier et al., 2010;Eagly et al., 1991), as well as competent and inventive. Only one of the personality traits, extraversion, is positively correlated with beauty. ...
... Our study proves that physical attractiveness counts not only towards the ability to attract more friends, but it also influences the individual's chance to be considered for task-related information. It appears that people prefer to seek advice from individuals they like who are pleasant, more sociable, and not necessarily more competent (Meier et al., 2010;Eagly et al., 1991). This result is aligned to and reinforces the conclusions presented by Casciaro and Lobo (2008, p.678) who suggested the possibility that "the way people form work relationships may follow laws of social interaction that are not highly susceptible to contingent characteristics of the task". ...
This study explores the determinants of popularity within friendship and advice networks. We involved almost 200 college students in an experiment to predict how personality traits, self-monitoring, creativity, intelligence, energy, and beauty influence the development of friendship and advice networks. Our results indicate that physical attractiveness is a key to develop both friendship and task-related interactions, whereas perceived intelligence and creativity play an important role in the advice network. Our findings seem to support the idea that there might be a kernel of truth in the stereotype that attractiveness correlates with positive social traits and successful outcomes.
... They are also more likely to influence others and make those around them feel more enjoyable. As such, extraverted individuals are considered to be more attractive [56]. Feiler and Kleinbaum (2015) found that extraversion has two important effects on interpersonal relationships, one of which is the popularity effect, meaning that extraverts have more friends than introverts [57]. ...
Anime has become a global phenomenon due to its diverse cultural representations, relatable characters, and unique storytelling. However, there is limited research on the relationship between character personality and popularity. The aim of this study is to understand the relevance of the characters’ personalities to the audience’s evaluation of various characters. This study analyzed the correlation between the MBTI personality evaluations of characters in anime and their popularity, based on the data of the personality of each animation character reviewed by audiences. In this study, 885 characters from 200 anime aimed at a male audience were selected as a sample for research. The results showed that personality traits such as introversion, intuition, and thinking had an impact on the popularity of female characters but not male characters. The overall results were influenced by the larger sample size of female characters. By addressing this question, the study can contribute to the design of a character’s personality and overall success in anime.
... In addition to these characteristics that primarily signal the biological qualities of the individual, such as fertility (Jasienska et al., 2006), resistance to pathogens (Møller, 1997), developmental stability (Gangestad, 2022), immune system quality (Jones & Jaeger, 2019), longevity (Reither et al., 2009), as well as mental health (Shackelford & Larsen, 1997), an attractive face is also associated with traits that indicate the presence of desirable personality characteristics in the individual. Research in this field has highlighted the attractiveness of extraversion (Penton-Voak et al., 2006), friendliness (Meier et al., 2010), trustworthiness (Lee et al., 2017), and honesty (Niimi & Goto, 2023). ...
... Research has further determined that personality factors may have an influence on the perception of physical attractiveness and relational satisfaction [1,42,43]. Traits that tend to be predictive of these qualities include Agreeableness [44,45], absence of anxiety [46], Social Skills [47], and Self-Esteem [46]. It is also found that the personality of the observers significantly influences their rating of attractiveness of others [42]. ...
A 2015 PAID article, in a study of married couples, revealed that a rating of the physical attractiveness of one’s spouse was a significant predictor of relational satisfaction for both the husband and the wife. This unexpected finding proved to be the springboard for the present research. How is the perception of the attractiveness of one’s romantic partner related to factors other than objective beauty? A sample of 201 heterosexual couples (N = 402) explored which factors impact a rating of perception of physical attractiveness (PPA), including: objective physical attractiveness (OPA), standard demographics (e.g., age, ethnicity), power factors (e.g., wealth, position, accomplishments), physical characteristics (e.g., height, weight, BMI), personal qualities (e.g., self-esteem, emotional stability, agreeableness, social skills), physical health and vitality, and efforts to look good in a public or private setting. We then explored the impact of PPA on the relational satisfaction of the couple. The 2015 results were largely replicated, however, the present study revealed much more. Primary takeaways included: (a) There were substantial gender differences concerning the dynamic of factors that influenced the rating of PPA; (b) there were equally robust gender differences on the impact of the PPA (and other variables) on relational satisfaction; (c) OPA played a surprisingly minor role in the entire dynamic; and (d) structural equation models provided detail on the similarities and differences of dynamics for men and women. Avenues of future research are explored.
... Individuals with psychopathic traits can be viewed as intelligent and physically attractive (Fowler, Lilienfeld, & Patrick, 2009). In fact, psychopathic traits can be seen as even more attractive compared to general personality traits that are often view as socially desirable like Extraversion and Agreeableness (Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010). These positive ratings of psychopathic traits are probably based on psychopathic charm: manipulative psychopathy characteristics include charm in this narrow psychopathy trait (Hare, 2003). ...
I used psychopathy to provide an illustration of how we can explore the evolution of behavioral traits on phenotypic data. But looking at my own work in the field, I never thought that the main contribution of my research is empirical data. I never thought that someone should teach students that psychopathy or any other behavioral trait has fitness-related outcomes based on the data that I collected. This is not only based on the fact that the research designs that I applied have important methodological limitations like nonrepresentative samples and cross-sectional designs. As I mentioned in a chapter where I described the basic tenets of behavioral ecology, we observe only the snapshots of evolution—the data on the associations between behavioral traits and fitness in a certain moment in time in a given population. These data are invaluable for understanding of the microevolutionary processes on behavioral traits but they are hardly sufficient to make reliable conclusions on these processes. In fact, I would like to go even further: even when observing these exact data, we do not see evolutionary processes, we observe potential processes—the ones that may or may not exist in the population (and yes, I think that we see potential processes even if we have representative samples and prospective research designs). These processes are probabilistic and uncertain phenomena (like any others, needless to say), even in the populational state that we speak of them; projecting them into the future carries an even larger margin of uncertainty. But this does not diminish the importance of these processes in any sense—potential realities are important as the real ones (just ask the surrealists). But it does provide us with indications of what main contributions of our research may be.
... Individuals with psychopathic traits can be viewed as intelligent and physically attractive (Fowler, Lilienfeld, & Patrick, 2009). In fact, psychopathic traits can be seen as even more attractive compared to general personality traits that are often view as socially desirable like Extraversion and Agreeableness (Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010). These positive ratings of psychopathic traits are probably based on psychopathic charm: manipulative psychopathy characteristics include charm in this narrow psychopathy trait (Hare, 2003). ...
In this chapter I introduce the field of behavioral ecology of personality or evolutionary personality ecology. The main conceptual framework is based on three topics, sometimes called evolutionary puzzles of personality: evolutionary explanations of inter-individual differences in behavior, cross-situational and temporal consistency in behavior, and associations between functionally different personality traits. Afterwards, I present the phenotypic associations between personality traits (based mostly on the Big Five/Five Factor Model of personality) and fertility in humans. The main part of the chapter is dedicated to the application of conceptual models from animal BE in explaining three evolutionary puzzles of personality in humans. At the end of the chapter I describe the extensions of the presented framework to other human behavioral traits like intelligence, psychopathological traits, social attitudes, and values.KeywordsBehavioral ecology of personalityEvolutionary puzzles of personalityBig FiveFive factor modelPersonality and fitness
... Individuals with psychopathic traits can be viewed as intelligent and physically attractive (Fowler, Lilienfeld, & Patrick, 2009). In fact, psychopathic traits can be seen as even more attractive compared to general personality traits that are often view as socially desirable like Extraversion and Agreeableness (Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010). These positive ratings of psychopathic traits are probably based on psychopathic charm: manipulative psychopathy characteristics include charm in this narrow psychopathy trait (Hare, 2003). ...
The existence and characteristics of evolutionary tradeoffs in human populations are described in this chapter. Firstly I cover fertility-longevity tradeoff, the problems of its empirical detection and the possible explanation of this problem (a possibility of nonlinear association between these two fitness components), and the implications of the tradeoff for the evolution of menopause. The characteristics of the tradeoff based on the age of first reproduction are presented afterwards: fertility benefits of early reproduction followed by the health costs for females, the links between first and last reproduction, and the detrimental effects of delaying first reproduction after the age of 30. Another major tradeoff is the one between quantity and quality of offspring: I describe the effects of parental care for offspring’s longevity (especially in preindustrial populations), together with a lack of evidence for the link between parental care and offspring’s fertility. Finally, I depict mating-parenting tradeoff and its characteristics in humans.KeywordsFertility-longevity tradeoffAge of first reproduction tradeoffQuantity-quality tradeoffMating-parenting tradeoff
... Individuals with psychopathic traits can be viewed as intelligent and physically attractive (Fowler, Lilienfeld, & Patrick, 2009). In fact, psychopathic traits can be seen as even more attractive compared to general personality traits that are often view as socially desirable like Extraversion and Agreeableness (Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010). These positive ratings of psychopathic traits are probably based on psychopathic charm: manipulative psychopathy characteristics include charm in this narrow psychopathy trait (Hare, 2003). ...
This chapter is dedicated to the behavioral ecological analysis of psychopathy. Firstly I describe psychopathy as a behavioral syndrome consisting of several traits (manipulativeness, emotional superficiality, lack of behavioral control, and sometimes antisocial behavior), and the most prominent instruments for psychopathy measurement. Afterwards, I briefly describe the nomological network of psychopathy, by depicting the relations between psychopathy, criminal behavior, aggressiveness, violence, moral behavior, social interactions, psychopathology, intelligence, executive functioning, and career choices. Genetic, neurobiological, and environmental precursors of psychopathy are described as well, with an emphasis on the maltreatment and deprivation in childhood as the facilitators of the psychopathy development. Evolutionary considerations of psychopathy are described: the role of assortative mating, faster life history and pace of life, presence of psychopathy in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and the relations between psychopathy and health. Considering the importance of reproductive success as a core fitness component, I describe the associations between psychopathy and fertility in a separate subchapter. Finally, I analyze the existing empirical data and show the application of behavioral ecological models in explaining the first evolutionary puzzle of personality (the maintenance of inter-individual variation in behavior) as applied to psychopathy.KeywordsPsychopathy definitionPsychopathy measurementNomological network of psychopathyEvolution of psychopathyBehavioral ecology of psychopathy
... Individuals with psychopathic traits can be viewed as intelligent and physically attractive (Fowler, Lilienfeld, & Patrick, 2009). In fact, psychopathic traits can be seen as even more attractive compared to general personality traits that are often view as socially desirable like Extraversion and Agreeableness (Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010). These positive ratings of psychopathic traits are probably based on psychopathic charm: manipulative psychopathy characteristics include charm in this narrow psychopathy trait (Hare, 2003). ...
In this chapter, I cover several topics related to evolutionary explanations of the processes emerging in human families. Sex differences in parental care as a part of sex roles are analyzed from a viewpoint of sexual selection. I explain the origins of markedly heightened parental care in humans and the conditions influencing parental investment—ecological conditions, parental characteristics, and offspring traits. I describe the importance of grandparental care for offspring and grandoffspring fitness, the conditions that may bias grandparental investment, and the role of this investment in the evolution of human longevity. Various parent-offspring interactions are described including the parent-offspring conflict (highlighting the parental control in offspring’s mating), the cooperation between parents and offspring, and parental effects in general. Afterwards, I describe reproductive motivation, its importance in exploring the evolution of behavioral traits, and provide examples of how we can empirically measure reproductive motivation. This chapter ends with the more detailed descriptions of the demographic transition’s roots and evolutionary explanations of demographic transition by comparing alternative hypotheses regarding this complex phenomenon.KeywordsParental careGrandparental careParent-offspring conflictReproductive motivationDemographic transition
... Individuals with psychopathic traits can be viewed as intelligent and physically attractive (Fowler, Lilienfeld, & Patrick, 2009). In fact, psychopathic traits can be seen as even more attractive compared to general personality traits that are often view as socially desirable like Extraversion and Agreeableness (Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010). These positive ratings of psychopathic traits are probably based on psychopathic charm: manipulative psychopathy characteristics include charm in this narrow psychopathy trait (Hare, 2003). ...
... Individuals with psychopathic traits can be viewed as intelligent and physically attractive (Fowler, Lilienfeld, & Patrick, 2009). In fact, psychopathic traits can be seen as even more attractive compared to general personality traits that are often view as socially desirable like Extraversion and Agreeableness (Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010). These positive ratings of psychopathic traits are probably based on psychopathic charm: manipulative psychopathy characteristics include charm in this narrow psychopathy trait (Hare, 2003). ...
Life History Theory (LHT) represents one of the most prominent conceptual frameworks in evolutionary social sciences—its basic assumptions are described in this chapter with an emphasis on the hypothesized fast-slow continuum. LHT has somewhat different usage in evolutionary psychology, compared to evolutionary biology and HBE; thus, evolutionary psychological view of LHT and its criticisms are presented afterwards. I provide detailed analysis of the covariations between various life history traits (body mass, maturation age, onset of sexual behavior, age of first reproduction, fertility, and parental investment) and the level of their congruence with the continuum. Furthermore, I explore the existing data on the associations between ecological context and life history in light of a hypothesis that harsher environments trigger fast life history trajectory. I present my own approach to life history, namely the network approach, where life history traits and their covariations are viewed as the dynamic systems on a population level. Finally, I address LHT criticisms and unresolved questions—problems of transferring assumptions from the between-species to between-individual level, unsuitability of fast-slow continuum to adequately describe empirical data, and the problem of measurement of life histories in humans.KeywordsLife History TheoryFast-slow continuumHarsh environmentNetwork analysis
... Individuals with psychopathic traits can be viewed as intelligent and physically attractive (Fowler, Lilienfeld, & Patrick, 2009). In fact, psychopathic traits can be seen as even more attractive compared to general personality traits that are often view as socially desirable like Extraversion and Agreeableness (Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010). These positive ratings of psychopathic traits are probably based on psychopathic charm: manipulative psychopathy characteristics include charm in this narrow psychopathy trait (Hare, 2003). ...
This chapter covers evolutionary behavioral sciences in general, both animal and human disciplines. Firstly I briefly sketch the historical development and basic research tenets of (animal) behavioral ecology. Afterward, I depict human behavioral ecology (HBE) and its conceptual foundations; I use The Tsimane Health and Life History Project as the example of ethnographic research in HBE and provide arguments for the existence of natural selection in contemporary human populations. I present critiques of HBE and major unresolved questions including the accusations of a rigid view on human nature, the lack of connection with animal BE and cultural evolution research, a potential problem with fertility estimates, and an issue of phenotypic gambit. Afterwards, the conceptual foundations of Evolutionary Psychology (EP) are presented (the view of brain as a computer, massive modularity principle, Environment of Evolutionary Adaptiveness, adaptive lag and evolutionary mismatch, search for human universals) followed by the major criticisms of this discipline (the problem of declaring a trait as an adaptation, problem of inferring evolutionary processes on available data, and problem of Environment of Evolutionary Adaptiveness). Finally, I compare HBE and EP and highlight both the differences between the fields and their complementarity in the exploration of behavioral evolution.KeywordsEvolutionary social sciencesBehavioral ecologyEvolutionary psychology
... The biological-evolutionary bases of attractiveness (see Grammer et al., 2005) can explain why self-and other-perceptions of attractiveness are, perhaps unconsciously, so relevant in the way human psychology and social relationships work (Frevert & Walker, 2014;Gupta et al., 2016;. For example, previous research has associated higher physical attractiveness with positive and socially desirable outcomes such as higher self-confidence and self-esteem (Bale & Archer, 2013), openness, extraversion, and agreeableness (Langlois et al., 2000;Meier et al., 2010), intelligence (Zebrowitz et al., 2002) as well as a more favorable treatment by other people (Maestripieri et al., 2017). ...
Evolutionary approaches to human mating strategies have associated facial and physical attractiveness with cues of health, fertility, and personality traits both in men and women. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that these associations may be mediated by psychological flexibility (an indicator of mental health) and/or sociosexual orientation (an indicator of mating strategy). Study aims were: (1) to examine potential correlations between self-perceived attractiveness, self-reported health, minor ailments, mating effort, sociosexual orientation, and psychological flexibility, (2) to test whether psychological flexibility and sociosexual orientation mediate these associations, and (3) to explore potential directional relationships between the study variables. A mixed-sex sample of 211 young adults completed an online battery of questionnaires that gathered demographic, personality, and behavioral data. We found low-to-moderate positive partial correlations (controlling for age, sex, and BMI) between self-perceived attractiveness, self-reported health, mating effort, sociosexual orientation, and psychological flexibility. In contrast, minor ailments were negatively correlated with self-reported health and psychological flexibility. Psychological flexibility and sociosexual orientation independently and partially mediated the association between self-perceived attractiveness and mating effort. Potential causal effects between all the study variables were also discussed. This study contributes to our understanding of the evolutionary aspects of human attractiveness and mating strategies. Further studies are needed to test causality and covariation between these variables to disentangle their potential bidirectional impact on mental health and psychological wellbeing.
... The fact that people are often positively biased toward individuals with an attractive face is termed the "what is beautiful is good" stereotype (Dion et al., 1972;Wu et al., 2018). Several research articles support the finding that people with attractive faces are judged more positively on personality traits, like trust and volubility (Fink et al., 2006;Meier et al., 2010). Attractive faces can be perceived as information of value to decision-making (Landy & Sigall, 1974). ...
Human faces consist of rich information for social interactions and facial attractiveness is a key dimension affecting social decisions. Previous studies have indicated that human players are less likely to refuse an unfair offer from proposers with high facial attractiveness in the Ultimatum Game (UG). However, the neural mechanisms underlying such beauty premium effect remain unclear. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and examined the effects of facial attractiveness on brain responses to fair and unfair offers in the UG. Behavioral data showed that subjects were overall prone to refuse unfair offers across conditions but were more likely to accept unfair offers from higher facial attractive proposers than those from lower facial attractive proposers. Imaging data showed that unfair offers induced greater activity in the anterior insula and medial prefrontal cortex (MePFC) compared to those in fair offers condition for both high and low facial attractive proposers. Moreover, the acceptance rate of unfair offers positively correlated with the MePFC activity for high facial attractive proposers and negatively correlated with the anterior insula activity for low facial attractive proposers. These findings suggest that facial attractiveness modulates brain responses to unfairness through altering the roles of emotion and cognitive motivation in social interactions.
... Indeed, research has shown that extraverted people tend to engage in more flirting behavior (Back et al., 2011), have more dating variety (Paunonen, 2003;Soto, 2019), and prefer a more physical flirting style (Hall, Carter, Cody, & Albright, 2010). Furthermore, extraverted people rate themselves as more attractive than less extraverted people, and are also rated from others as more attractive (Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010;Soto, 2019). Finally, expressing extraversion in flirting situations may activate the reward system (Denissen & Penke, 2008) and promote the experience of positive affect (Smillie, Kern, & Uljarevic, 2019), which then might encourage further expressions of extraversion. ...
Flirting situations are opportunities to behave in extraverted ways. However, it is not clear whether engaging in flirting behavior predicts extraversion. The current study explored whether extraversion increases following a 3‐h flirt training and compared two training routes to flirting. A two‐arm randomized pre‐post design with two active conditions were used. Ninety‐six adults between 18 and 49 years (67.7% women) were randomized to either: (1) a problem‐oriented training strategy that aims to compensate for problems and deficits related to flirting; or (2) a strengths‐oriented training strategy that capitalizes on individuals' strengths and resources. The outcome variables were assessed before and 30 days after the training. Participants in both conditions reported higher scores in flirting behavior as well as in extraversion following the trainings. The results suggest that flirt trainings are potentially interesting indirect intervention approaches to increase the expression of extraversion.
... The extent to which individuals smile in their portrait was coded on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = not at all; 7 = a lot). This scale was inspired by Meier et al. (2010). Teamwork 1 = The skill "teamwork" (or "groupwork") is listed in the section "Skills and Endorsements"; 0 = this skill is not listed Volunteer activities 1 = there is a volunteer activity in the experience section or in the volunteer experience section, 0 = no indication of volunteer activity Peer tutoring 1 = the person reports having helped other students in college by providing peer tutoring sessions 0 = no indication of having delivered peer tutoring sessions Recommendation given 1 = the person has at least recommend once another person; 0 = the person has not yet recommended someone else 3 We only considered the school in which they obtained their bachelor even if some of them reported participation in student committee in high school. ...
LinkedIn is considered the most effective social network website for job seekers and recruiters. Although LinkedIn profiles are regularly accessed to evaluate candidates, we know very little about the type of information conveyed. The aim of this study is to determine if LinkedIn profiles convey accurate information about individuals’ personality traits. Drawing from signaling theory, we expect that individuals portray themselves in a manner that will reflect their personality. To examine this assertion, 607 LinkedIn profiles were coded on 33 indicators. Regression analyses and classification statistics demonstrate that Linkedin profiles contain accurate signals of personality traits. Potential use and limitations of LinkedIn as a source of accurate information about personality are discussed.
... Importantly, other studies of eye-colour preferences obtained a similar pattern of results in that the preferences did not necessarily translate into a choice of a partner in real life (Bovet et al., 2012;Bressan, 2020), or simply that there is no AM in the eye colour (Prokop et al., 2010). Relatedly, many other factors, potentially much more important than eye colour, influence mate choice and mate retention: most people want partners who are physically attractive, who share their beliefs and values (Watson et al., 2004), and display socially desirable personality traits (e.g., agreeableness; Meier et al., 2010). Men tend to place greater emphasis on physical attractiveness, whereas women tend to stress personal characteristics such as kindness, considerateness, and earning capacity (Schmitt, 2014). ...
Previous research (Laeng et al., 2007) conducted on Norwegian samples showed that blue-eyed men rate blue-eyed women as more attractive, while brown-eyed men and all the women show no differences in attractiveness assessments with respect to eye colour. Correspondingly, positive assortative mating was found for blue, but not brown eyes, and it most often occurred in blue-eyed men. We aimed to replicate this blue-like-blue effect in the Croatian population, which differs in the ratio of eye colour phenotypes (blue eye colour is the most prevalent in Norway while brown is the most prevalent in Croatia). Additionally, we examined whether this effect is moderated by life history strategies and sociosexuality. Our hypothesis was that the effect would be larger in those blue-eyed men who exert a slower life history strategy and who are sociosexually restrictive. One hundred and twenty-eight participants assessed the attractiveness of blue-eyed and brown-eyed models, whose eye colours were experimentally manipulated in such a way that participants were shown models with natural or artificially changed eye colours. The blue-like-blue effect was replicated in the context of preferences, although it was smaller than in the original study. However, unlike the original study, in a sample of 138 participants no assortative pairing by eye colour was found between participants and their romantic partners. Finally, the hypothesis about the moderation was supported for life history strategies, but not for sociosexuality. In addition to the rationale for the blue-like-blue effect based on the paternity uncertainty account, which was offered by the authors of the original study, we discussed other accounts of this phenomenon.
... For example, while emotional reactivity is associated with externalizing disorders, longitudinal studies show that it does not necessarily produce psychopathology (Levenson, Aldwin, Bosse, & Spiro, 1988). Moreover, people who are emotional and extraverted tend to be attractive to others (Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010). Interestingly, emotional reactivity is already seen early in development through children's temperament, with the temperament trait of negative emotionality representing a proneness to negative emotional experiences such as frustration, fear and shyness (L. ...
Les interactions personne-environnement dans la prédiction de la consommation de substances peuvent être interprétées selon plusieurs modèles théoriques. Le modèle de la diathèse-stress propose que certains individus (p.ex., individus impulsifs) aient une consommation de substances plus élevée que leurs pairs lorsqu’exposés à des environnements négatifs. Le modèle de la sensibilité différentielle propose que ces mêmes individus aient également une consommation de substances plus faible que leurs pairs lorsqu’exposés à des environnements positifs. L’objectif principal de la présente thèse est d’examiner les modèles de la diathèse-stress et de la sensibilité différentielle dans le contexte d’interactions entre le tempérament et l’environnement familial dans la prédiction de la consommation de substances à l’adolescence. Elle comporte quatre articles, soit une recension systématique des écrits, deux articles empiriques et une perspective.
Le premier article présente une revue systématique de la littérature sur les interactions entre le tempérament et l’environnement familial dans la prédiction de la consommation de substances et des comportements extériorisés à l’adolescence. Les résultats montrent que les interactions entre le tempérament et l’environnement familial mesurés à l’enfance appuient le modèle de la sensibilité différentielle alors que les interactions entre ces facteurs mesurés à l’adolescence appuient le modèle de la diathèse-stress. Les analyses a posteriori concernant l’appui des modèles étant limitées sur le plan méthodologique, les deux articles suivants examinent ces effets a priori.
Le deuxième article examine les interactions entre le tempérament (impulsivité et contrôle inhibiteur à 6 ans) et les pratiques parentales (pratiques maternelles coercitives à 6 ans et supervision parentale à 14 ans) dans la prédiction de la fréquence de consommation d’alcool à 15 ans. Les résultats montrent qu’une interaction entre l’impulsivité et les pratiques coercitives appuie le modèle de la sensibilité différentielle, ce qui appuie les conclusions de la revue de littérature.
Le troisième article examine les interactions entre la personnalité (impulsivité et recherche de sensations à 15 ans) et la supervision parentale à 15 ans dans la prédiction de la fréquence de consommation d’alcool et de drogues à 15 et 17 ans. Les résultats montrent que les interactions entre l’impulsivité et la supervision parentale appuient le modèle de la sensibilité différentielle alors que les interactions entre la recherche de sensations et la supervision parentale appuient la diathèse-stress. Ainsi, le changement développemental observé dans la revue de littérature est appuyé avec l’impulsivité, mais la recherche de sensations pourrait s’avérer un facteur capturant la sensibilité aux environnements positifs et négatifs plus tard dans le développement.
Le quatrième article va au-delà des comportements extériorisés et de la consommation de substances et propose comment le modèle de la sensibilité différentielle pourrait s’appliquer à l’étiologie du trouble de la personnalité limite. L’article présente comment plusieurs caractéristiques personnelles associées au trouble de la personnalité limite (p.ex., réactivité émotionnelle, impulsivité) pourraient refléter une sensibilité aux environnements positifs et négatifs.
Suite à ces quatre articles, la discussion de la thèse aborde des points clés tels : une révision de la notion de vulnérabilité, l’importance de la prévention ciblée et l’importance d’analyser de façon détaillée les effets d’interaction.
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Person-environment interactions predicting substance use can be interpreted according to several developmental theoretical models. The diathesis-stress model suggests that certain individuals (e.g., impulsive individuals) would have higher substance use levels compared to their peers when they are exposed to negative environments. The differential susceptibility model suggests that these same individuals would also have lower substance use levels than their peers when exposed to positive environments. The main objective of this thesis is to examine the diathesis-stress and differential susceptibility models in the context of interactions between temperament and the familial environment when predicting adolescent substance use. It includes four articles, i.e., one systematic literature review, two empirical studies and one perspective paper.
The first article presents a systematic literature review on the interaction between temperament and the familial environment in the prediction of adolescent substance use and externalizing behaviors. Results show that interactions between temperament and the familial environment measured in childhood support the differential susceptibility model while interactions between temperament and the familial environment measured in adolescence support the diathesis-stress model. Since the a posteriori analyses for the models were limited methodologically, the next two articles examined the patterns of interactions a priori.
The second article examines the interaction between temperament (impulsivity and inhibitory control at 6 years) and parenting practices (maternal coercive parenting at 6 years and parental knowledge at 14 years) in the prediction of alcohol use frequency at 15 years. Results show that an interaction between impulsivity and coercive parenting supports the differential susceptibility model. Thus, results support the findings of the literature review. The third article examines the interactions between personality (impulsivity and sensation seeking at 15 years) and parental knowledge at 15 years in the prediction of binge drinking frequency and drug use frequency at 15 and 17 years. Results show that the interactions between impulsivity and parental knowledge support the differential susceptibility model whereas the interactions between sensation seeking and parental knowledge support the diathesis-stress model. Thus, the developmental shift observed in the literature is supported for impulsivity, but sensation seeking could be a characteristic capturing sensitivity to positive and negative environments later in development.
The fourth article offers a perspective that goes beyond adolescent externalizing behavior and substance use and proposes how the differential susceptibility model could apply to borderline personality disorder. The article presents how several personal characteristics associated with borderline personality disorder (e.g., emotional reactivity, impulsivity) could be markers of a sensitivity to positive and negative environments.
Following these four articles, the discussion addresses key points such as: a revision of the notion of vulnerability, the importance of targeted prevention and the importance of thorough analyses of interaction effects.
... Smiles are typically interpreted as conveying positive states and traits (e.g., sociability, generosity, positive mood) (Mehu et al. 2007;Miles and Johnston 2007) that have been linked to enhanced PPA (Mathes and Kahn 1975;Meier et al. 2010)-an observation not lost on advertising executives, orthodontists, and politicians, among others. Beyond conventional wisdom, multiple theoretical perspectives suggest the potential for smiling to enhance PPA. ...
Physical attractiveness plays a central role in psychosocial experiences. One of the top research priorities has been to identify factors affecting perceptions of physical attractiveness (PPA). Recent work suggests PPA derives from different sources (e.g., target, perceiver, stimulus type). Although smiles in particular are believed to enhance PPA, support has been surprisingly limited. This study comprehensively examines the effect of smiles on PPA and, more broadly, evaluates the roles of target, perceiver, and stimulus type in PPA variation. Perceivers (n = 181) rated both static images and 5-s videos of targets displaying smiling and neutral-expressions. Smiling images were rated as more attractive than neutral-expression images (regardless of stimulus motion format). Interestingly, perceptions of physical attractiveness were based more on the perceiver than on either the target or format in which the target was presented. Results clarify the effect of smiles, and highlight the significant role of the perceiver, in PPA.
... Those who looked healthy, prepared, traditional, or attractive were, although generally liked by everyone, even more liked by extraverts than by introverts. One reason for this could be that extraverts themselves care more about how they look; extraverts tend to wear more stylish and expensive cloths, be better groomed, and generally look better (Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010;Vazire, Naumann, Rentfrow, & Gosling, 2008). One could imagine that extraverts, seeing someone similar to themselves, could judge the person more favorably. ...
We investigated determinants of liking at zero-acquaintance, focusing on individual differences in perceivers’ reactions to appearance cues. Perceivers (N = 385) viewed portrait photographs of Targets (N = 146). Perceiver’s Agreeableness and Extraversion were uniquely associated with liking targets. Targets who expressed positive emotions, looked relaxed, were physically attractive, and looked healthy and energetic, were the most liked. There were substantial individual differences in how Perceivers were influenced by appearance cues. For instance, Perceivers generally rated targets who displayed non-Duchenne (fake) smiles less favorably than targets who did not smile or targets who displayed Duchenne (authentic) smiles. However, non-Duchenne smiles elicited especially negative ratings from Perceivers high in Neuroticism or Conscientiousness, but not from Perceivers low in Agreeableness.
... This suggests that the link between stuttering and low levels of romantic desirability may be due to only certain aspects of the negative halo surrounding stuttering (e.g., low extraversion, low selfesteem, low intelligence). For example, the role that perceived extraversion appeared to play in the association between stuttering and romantic desirability is consistent with previous results showing that individuals tend to perceive extraverted individuals as being relatively attractive (e.g., Berry & Miller, 2001;Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010;Penton-Voak, Pound, Little, & Perrett, 2006;Welling, DeBruine, Little, & Jones, 2009). It is important to note that the present study utilized a zero-acquaintance situation, so it would be helpful for future studies to examine these associations in other contexts to determine whether these associations are altered when perceivers have access to additional information about the target (e.g., the salience of stuttering may be reduced for more familiar targets). ...
The purpose of the present study was to extend previous research concerning the negative perceptions of stuttering by considering the perceived leadership ability of targets who stuttered compared with targets who did not stutter. We were also interested in the possibility that negative perceptions of the targets (i.e., low levels of self-esteem, intelligence, dominance-based status motivation, and prestige-based status motivation) would mediate the association between stuttering and a lack of perceived leadership ability as well as the possibility that manipulating the ostensible self-esteem level of the target would further moderate these associations. The results for 838 Israeli community members revealed a negative association between stuttering and perceived leadership ability that was mediated by the perceived self-esteem level and dominance-based status motivation of the target. Further, the associations between stuttering and perceptions of leadership ability were moderated by the ostensible self-esteem level of the target. Discussion focuses on the implications of these results for understanding the negative halo that surrounds stuttering.
... In the social domain, some studies have reported a positive relation between attractiveness and socially desirable personality traits (Lorenzo et al., 2010), such as trustworthiness (e.g., Wilson and Eckel, 2006; but see Olivola and Todorov, 2017), intelligence (Kanazawa, 2011), agreeableness, and extraversion (Meier et al., 2010). Further, people seem to assign more positive characteristics to attractive people ("beautiful is good"), but also negative characteristics to the less attractive ("ugly is bad") (Griffin and Langlois, 2006). ...
... This suggests that the link between stuttering and low levels of romantic desirability may be due to only certain aspects of the negative halo surrounding stuttering (e.g., low extraversion, low selfesteem, low intelligence). For example, the role that perceived extraversion appeared to play in the association between stuttering and romantic desirability is consistent with previous results showing that individuals tend to perceive extraverted individuals as being relatively attractive (e.g., Berry & Miller, 2001;Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010;Penton-Voak, Pound, Little, & Perrett, 2006;Welling, DeBruine, Little, & Jones, 2009). It is important to note that the present study utilized a zero-acquaintance situation, so it would be helpful for future studies to examine these associations in other contexts to determine whether these associations are altered when perceivers have access to additional information about the target (e.g., the salience of stuttering may be reduced for more familiar targets). ...
Stuttering is a disorder in oral communication that is often accompanied by negative stereotypes and social stigma. The primary goal of the present study was to examine whether opposite-sex perceivers rated the romantic desirability of targets who stuttered differently than targets who did not stutter. We were also interested in examining whether perceptions of the target (i.e., extraversion, emotional stability, self-esteem, and intelligence) would mediate the associations between stuttering and romantic desirability in a zero-acquaintance situation. Results showed that targets who stuttered were perceived to be less romantically desirable than targets who did not stutter. Further, the negative association between stuttering and romantic desirability was mediated by the perceived extraversion, self-esteem, and intelligence of the targets. Discussion will focus on the implications of these results for the understanding of the negative halo effect for stuttering.
... Livingston and Pearce (2009) found that kindchenschema cuteness, which is also called the "teddy-bear effect", positively influences attractiveness and social judgement. Previous studies also show that kindchenschema cuteness facilitates parasocial interaction (Hartmann and Goldhoorn, 2011;Lee and Watkins, 2016), loyalty (Lee and Watkins, 2016;Teller and Reutterer, 2008), perceived attractiveness for forming impressions (Afik et al., 2008;Aradhye et al., 2015;Dematte et al., 2007;Simpson, 1990), trustworthiness (Gorn et al., 2008), genuineness (Berry and McArthur, 1985) and social engagement (Ewing et al., 2010;Hargittai and Hsieh, 2010;Meier et al., 2010). ...
Purpose
With the rapid surge of mobile marketing, an increasing number of brands have launched branded emoticons in an attempt to build brand relationships with consumers. Despite the apparent promise of branded emoticon usage, there is only limited academic research on branded emoticons. This paper aims to build on impression management theory and the conceptualization of cuteness to investigate how the effect of cuteness in branded emoticon design influences perceived playfulness in mobile instant messaging (MIM) interaction and the creation of brand engagement in self-concept.
Design/methodology/approach
Consumers with usage experience of branded emoticons in MIM apps were recruited to complete an online survey. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to analyze the data.
Findings
Two facets of cuteness – kindchenschema cuteness and whimsical cuteness – can project a favourable social image to consumers that facilitates playfulness in social interaction and enhances brand engagement in self-concept, which leads to their willingness to purchase the brand and stickiness to the MIM apps.
Originality/value
The popularity of branded emoticons represents a new form of social interaction and an innovative way to build brand relationships. The present study is the first to examine the design aspects of branded emoticons and highlights that the cuteness of a branded emoticon may be a crucial factor in engaging consumers in MIM.
... To ensure that partner physical attractiveness, partner status, and intimates' maximizing tendencies did not appear to be associated with intimates' marital satisfaction only because they are associated with related factors, we assessed and controlled several covariates. Specifically, given that physical attractiveness and status are associated with age (see Meltzer et al., 2014b) and social skills/extraversion (Langlois et al., 2000;Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010), we assessed partner age and extraversion at baseline and controlled for each (Study 1 utilized the 10-item version of the International Personality Item Pool's [Goldberg, 1999] Extraversion subscale, α = .88; whereas Study 2 utilized the 60-item version, α = .93). ...
People differ in their tendencies to labor over decisions and to make choices that maximize their outcomes—a difference known as maximization. Here, we used two independent, 3-year longitudinal studies of newlywed couples to demonstrate that this individual difference in decision making has important implications for romantic relationships. Consistent with the idea that maximizers are more likely to compare their current romantic partners to potential alternative partners’ readily observable qualities, such as their physical attractiveness and status, results demonstrated that intimates’ maximization moderated the implications of these sex-differentiated variables for marital satisfaction. Specifically, maximizing men who had attractive (vs. unattractive) wives were more satisfied at the start of their marriages. Likewise, maximizing women who had high (vs. low) status husbands experienced less steep declines in satisfaction over time. These findings demonstrate that maximization has important implications for long-term romantic relationships by accentuating the effects of readily observable partner qualities on relationship outcomes. © 2019 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.
... 74 Moreover, people who are emotional and extraverted tend to be attractive to others. 75 Interestingly, emotional reactivity is already seen early in development through children's temperaments, with the temperament trait of negative emotionality representing a proneness to negative emotional experiences such as frustration, fear, and shyness. 76 Developmental studies have shown that this temperament trait interacts with the environment, supporting differential susceptibility in the prediction of externalizing problems 77 and executive function, 78 which could be explained by an increase in the role of sensitive parenting and parent-child mutuality for children high on negative emotionality. ...
Evolutionary models of psychopathology can shed light on gene-environment interactions. Differential susceptibility to the environment means that heritable traits can have positive or negative effects, depending on environmental context. Thus, traits that increase risk for mental disorders when the environment is negative can be adaptive when the environment is positive. This model can be applied to borderline personality disorder, with predictors such as emotional dysregulation and impulsivity seen as temperamental variations leading to negative effects in an unfavorable environment but to positive effects in a favorable environment. This model may also be useful in conceptualizing the mechanisms of effective therapy for borderline personality disorder.
... It has been less clear whether facial attractiveness varies greatly as a function of Agreeableness. Attractiveness related to high Agreeableness has been found in spontaneous photos of the head and upper body, although this was tied to controllable cues relating to grooming, not available in the constrained facial images used here (Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010). However, most relevant would be previous work with these stimuli by Kramer and Ward (2010), who found a difference in attractiveness between the high and low Extraversion composites, and a smaller but significant difference between the Agreeableness composites. ...
... Au même titre qu'un élément de fond (la qualité orthographique du dossier de candidature opérationnalisée par la variable « présence de fautes »), une expression du visage et un élément d'apparence physique peuvent significativement peser sur les chances de présélection des candidats, avec un effet du sourire à la fois sur le rang de classement et la décision de présélection et un effet du surpoids uniquement sur le rang de classement. Concernant l'impact du sourire, nos résultats sont cohérents avec ceux concluant à l'impact du sourire sur une photographie dans la formation des impressions des individus, (Fernandez, Stosic, et Terrier, 2017;Meier et al., 2010;Naumann et al., 2009). Ces recherches précédentes ont d'ailleurs conclu que le sourire constitue un des indicateurs les plus valides du trait « extraversion ». ...
L'insertion de la photographie dans les CV, pratique généralisée en France, est un vecteur d'image utilisé délibérément par le candidat pour communiquer une impression favorable. Elle sert également de support à de nombreuses attributions faites par les recruteurs. Ces attributions, parfois négatives, peuvent aboutir à des comportements discriminatoires fondés sur des critères prohibés, avec pour conséquence l'élimination injustifiée de certains candidats au cours du processus de sélection. Ceci amène à s'interroger sur l'impact à « double tranchant » de la photographie comme support de décision. Dans ce contexte, notre étude vise à une meilleure compréhension des processus de choix des recruteurs face aux dossiers de candidature, en nous appuyant notamment sur le cadre de la théorie du signal. Pour cela, nous avons comparé l'impact de deux éléments subjectifs apparaissant sur la photographie du CV et donnant lieu à la formation d'impressions pour les recruteurs : le surpoids (indice d'apparence physique difficilement contrôlable par le candidat) et le sourire (signal contrôlable utilisé par le candidat pour influencer la formation des impressions du recruteur). Nous avons mesuré leurs effets respectifs, en les combinant avec un élément plus objectif du dossier de candidature (un signal de qualité rédactionnelle), grâce à une expérimentation menée auprès de 1086 recruteurs chargés d'évaluer des séries de dossiers de candidature. L'analyse des données a permis de conclure à un effet significatif du sourire et du surpoids apparent sur le classement des dossiers de candidature. L'effet positif sur le classement d'une photographie souriante est toutefois annulé par l'effet négatif du surpoids. Nos résultats sont discutés en lien avec la question du management des impressions envisagé du côté du candidat, et avec le débat sur la forme des dossiers de candidature, dans une optique de GRH renouvelée fondée sur des outils de recrutement équitables et objectifs.
... Additionally, the pattern of results indicates that these males made substantially different judgments in systematic fashion about the women in the images based on changes in their hair color and length. This reinforces the accumulated literature about how people can use limited information to make important social judgments of others (e.g., zero-acquaintance procedure; Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010;Zebrowitz & Collins, 1997). As this research tradition indicates, judgments often reflect underlying stereotypes of the individuals portrayed. ...
We investigated how women’s hair color (blond, brown, black) and length (short, medium, long) influences males’ judgments about the women’s age, health, physical attractiveness, relationship potential and parenting capability. Results, which are generally consistent with evolutionary psychology approaches, indicate that hair color and to a lesser extent length can affect perceptions of personal characteristics. More specifically, we found that lighter hair (blond and brown) compared to darker hair (black) is generally associated with perceptions of youth, health and attractiveness, and generally leads to more positive perceptions of relationship and parenting potential. Furthermore, the relationships between variables suggest that characteristics directly related to reproductive potential may be inferred from more obvious indirect characteristics. These results suggest that males are able to make complex judgments about women concerning their desirable relationship and parenting potential based on discernable characteristics such as hair color and length.
... Previous research has demonstrated the existence of facial stereotypes whereby people tend to associate attractiveness with positive personality traits. Thus, we utilized a personality judgment task aimed at preventing participants from determining attractiveness based on these personality judgments (Ji et al., 2013;Meier et al., 2012;Meier, Robinson, Carter & Hinsz, 2010). We selected 20 facial images displaying a neutral expression from the Chinese Facial Affective Picture System (Gong, Huang, Wang & Luo, 2011). ...
We conducted three studies to examine the relationship between spicy tastes and risk seeking. In Study 1, results from a personality judgment task indicated that people were more inclined to attribute a higher level of risk seeking to individuals who enjoy spicy foods. The second study examined whether people who like spicy foods are actually more risk seeking. In fact, people who reported a preference for spicy tastes scored higher on risk taking, as assessed via the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale (Chinese version). Finally, Study 3 employed an experimental design to manipulate risk-seeking tendencies by having participants experience spicy food tastes in the lab. Momentarily savoring spicy foods increased participants’ risk taking in the Iowa Gambling Task. The present findings suggest that preferences for spicy tastes could relate to risk-seeking tendencies and subsequent risk-seeking behaviors.
... Therefore, psychological traits that serve as cues of greater likelihood of infidelity are predicted to affect negatively one's desirability as a long-term partner (Buss & Schmitt, 1993). Schmitt et al., 2012 found that infidelity is associated with low agreeableness and low conscientiousness, and these traits are perceived as unattractive for both men and women (Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010). ...
Values guide behaviors and cognitively represent needs. Expressed values may provide relevant cues that affect mate selection. In particular, individuals endorsing excitement values (e.g., emotion, pleasure, sexuality) are more likely to commit infidelity. Therefore, a person's desirability as a long-term partner may be negatively affected by that person's endorsement of excitement values. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a 2 (sex) × 2 (ascribed values) × 2 (facial attractiveness) factorial design experiment. Participants were 80 individuals, aged between 17 and 48 years (M = 24.1, SD = 5.61), mostly heterosexual (93.8%). Participants rated how desirable the person depicted in the factorial scenarios is as a long-term partner, on a 6-point Likert scale (undesirable–very desirable). Attractive men's desirability as a long-term partner decreased when associated with excitement values, providing some support for evolutionarily informed hypotheses. We discuss results in light of evolutionary hypotheses of mate selection, highlighting limitations and identifying directions for future research.
... [20,28] Those who attain a high score in extroversion usually manifest their emotions and feelings conveniently and have less ability of avoidance. [20,29] Among those with lower extroversion, the likeliness of sexual aversion disorders is higher. These persons have more tendency to keep away and be formal with others, even with their sexual partner. ...
Background:
Women's sexual self-esteem is one of the most important factors that affect women's sexual satisfaction and their sexual anxiety. Various aspects of sexual life are blended with the entire personality. Determining the relationship between personality traits and self-concept aspects such as sexual self-esteem leads to better understanding of sexual behavior in people with different personality traits and helps in identifying the psychological variables affecting their sexual performance. The aim this study was to determine the relationship between personality traits and sexual self-esteem.
Materials and methods:
This correlation study was performed on 127 married women who referred to selected health care centers of Mashhad in 2014-2015. Data collection tools included NEO personality inventory dimensions and Zeanah and Schwarz sexual self-esteem questionnaire. Data were analyzed through Pearson correlation coefficient test and stepwise regression model.
Results:
The results of Pearson correlation test showed a significant relationship between neuroticism personality dimension (r = -0.414), extroversion (r = 0.363), agreeableness (r = 0.420), and conscientiousness (r = 0.364) with sexual self-esteem (P < 0.05). The relationship between openness with sexual self-esteem was not significant (P > 0.05). In addition, based on the results of the stepwise regression model, three dimensions of agreeableness, neuroticism, and extraversion could predict 27% of the women's sexual self-esteem variance.
Conclusions:
The results showed a correlation between women's personality characteristics and their sexual self-esteem. Paying attention to personality characteristics may be important to identify at-risk group or the women having low sexual self-esteem in premarital and family counseling.
... In the current application, nested survival models are used to examine the effect of the personality trait of agreeableness on reciprocal displays of positive emotion between members of social drinking groups. Research has linked the trait of agreeableness to motivation to maintain positive relationships with others (Graziano & Tobin, 2009), and agreeableness and perceptions surrounding agreeableness have been connected to specific patterns of smiling behavior (Graziano, Jensen-Campbell, & Hair, 1996;Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010). Here we apply these conceptualizations of agreeableness to examine smiling responsiveness during unstructured social discourse, examining whether those higher in agreeableness were more likely to reciprocate smiles compared with those low in agreeableness. ...
Patterns of behavior during social interaction have long been of interest to small group researchers. Within social interaction, the probability of an initial behavior meeting with a particular response (e.g., an angry comment meeting with an angry rejoinder) often depends, in part, on the duration of the initial behavior. This article presents a nested frailty approach that accounts for the duration of individual behavior and is well suited to the examination of small group data. While traditional sequential techniques disregard information about the duration of behaviors, survival methods are capable of modeling behavioral duration in sophisticated ways. Expanding on previously proposed survival methods for behavioral observation research, the nested frailty approach involves three levels of hierarchical clustering and is thus well suited to analyzing data from a variety of different social configurations. An example application explores the spreading of smiles within 160 groups of three in a laboratory-based social interaction.
... [20,28] Those who attain a high score in extroversion usually manifest their emotions and feelings conveniently and have less ability of avoidance. [20,29] Among those with lower extroversion, the likeliness of sexual aversion disorders is higher. These persons have more tendency to keep away and be formal with others, even with their sexual partner. ...
... A key component of our interpretation is that warmth and dominance can be understood as a 45 • rotation of extraversion and agreeableness (e.g., Markey & Markey, 2009), such that high extraversion is characterized by warm dominance and high agreeableness is characterized by warm submissiveness. Both extraversion and agreeableness have been implicated in interpersonal relationships, with extraversion primarily relating to impression formation (e.g., Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010) and agreeableness to maintaining relationships and relationship satisfaction (e.g., Malouff, Thorsteinsson, Schutte, Bhullar, & Rooke, 2010). Perhaps not surprisingly, and in keeping with the relationships seen between social anxiety and the interpersonal circumplex, (lower) extraversion and (lower) agreeableness have also been implicated in social anxiety and SAD, with a strong relationship with extraversion and a weaker relationship with agreeableness, or potentially only the trust facet of agreeableness (see e.g., Levinson, Kaplan, & Rodebaugh, 2014 for a review). ...
Social anxiety disorder is associated with interpersonal dysfunction, but it is not clear why people with the disorder feel unsatisfied with their relationships. One possibility is that higher social anxiety could lead to changes in sensitivity to interpersonal traits. We examined whether social anxiety moderates the types of interpersonal evaluations people make regarding warmth and dominance. We developed vignettes in which central characters systematically varied in dominance and warmth and asked two samples of participants (undergraduate students, n = 176, and online workers, n = 403) to rate their willingness to interact with, and the social desirability of, these characters. Participants in general reported stronger desire to interact with warmer and less dominant characters, and rated warmer and more dominant characters as being more socially desirable. People with higher social anxiety exhibited greater tolerance for colder and more submissive characters on both rated dimensions. The perceived similarity of the characters accounted for the bulk of these effects. Participants indicated a higher desire to interact with characters more similar to themselves, and people with higher social anxiety were more likely to rate submissive and cold characters as being like themselves. The results have implications for clinical interventions for social anxiety disorder.
... The positive attributions associated with physically attractive individuals may have a degree of accuracy. For example, individuals, who are rated as attractive by naïve judges from their facial photographs, evaluate themselves as more agreeable and extraverted than their less attractive peers do (Meier, Robinson, Carter, & Hinsz, 2010). Judge et al. (2009) argue that the link between attractive appearance and positive traits emerges due to expectancy confirmation (based on Langlois et al., 2000). ...
Positive associations between physical attractiveness and employee reward are well-documented within the organisational literature. Although the impact of facial cues to trustworthiness and dominance on a number of social outcomes has been established outside of the workplace, the extent to which they, in addition to attractiveness, affect pay at different managerial levels is yet to be investigated. This paper presents research into this issue using a face payment task for shop floor managers (Retail Managers) and senior managers (Heads of Retail Operations). Evaluations indicated that all three facial cues were positively associated with awarded pay at both managerial levels. Moreover, attractiveness had a significantly stronger link with shop-floor managers' than senior managers' pay, whereas perceived trustworthiness and perceived dominance had significantly stronger links with pay for senior managers than shop-floor managers. It further emerged that women were paid more in this experimental task where pay was awarded solely based on facial features and that the facial features were more predictive of women's than men's pay. Awareness of the role of physical cues in pay awards can be considered by organisations to reduce biases in remuneration.
Human resource (HR) professionals regularly draw personality inferences from applicants' resumés. Building on the lens model, we illuminate resumés' potential for accurately inferring personality by examining valid resumé cues indicating personality. We assessed self-reported big five traits and narcissism of 141 business students at career start applying with resumés for a fictional position. Drawing on personality theory and empirical findings, 70 resumé cues (e.g., appealing look and creative hobbies) were post hoc selected from a larger cue set comprising 160 cues coded by 11 trained coders. Computing bivariate correlations and multiple linear regressions, we identified easy-to-interpret valid resumé cues explaining substantial personality variance, with conscientiousness, openness, and narcissism being best explained by resumé cues (R2 > 20%). Although all considered personality traits were expressed in resumé cues, only a fraction of the cues (16 out of 70 cues) were related to personality traits. This suggests a rather mediocre upper limit to the potential of accurately inferring personality from resumés. We contribute to the literature on personality inferences at zero-acquaintance by adding valid resumé cues to recruitment-related information bases allowing to make (somewhat) accurate personality inferences. The results have practical implications for applying resumé-based personality inferences in recruitment and improving HR professionals' accuracy.
Understanding heuristics in stage financing is imperative, given the consequences of staging for both new venture entrepreneurs and VC investors. This study documents how entrepreneurs’ physical attractiveness affects VCs’ staging intensity during the early stages of the funding process, while taking into account the ethnic constellation of a given VC – entrepreneur dyad. Using a dataset for a representative sample of 231 European IT-ventures, the study finds that physical attractiveness of the lead entrepreneur and the ethnic constellation of a given VC-entrepreneur dyad independently and jointly affect a VC’s staging intensity during the early stages of the financing process. These findings were subjected to a two-stage least squares analysis and Heckman selection models.
Is what is beautiful good and more accurately understood? Lorenzo et al. (2010) explored this question and found that more attractive targets (as per consensus) were judged more positively and accurately. Perceivers’ specific (idiosyncratic) ratings of targets’ attractiveness were also related to more positive and accurate impressions, but the latter was only true for highly consensually attractive targets. With a larger sample (N=547), employing a round-robin study design, we aimed to replicate and extend these findings by 1) using a more reliable accuracy criterion, 2) using a direct measure of positive personality impressions, and 3) exploring attention as a potential mechanism of these links. We found that targets’ consensual attractiveness was not significantly related to the positivity or the accuracy of impressions. Replicating the original findings, idiosyncratic attractiveness was related to more positive impressions. The association between idiosyncratic attractiveness and accuracy was again dependent on consensual attractiveness, but here, idiosyncratic attractiveness was associated with lower accuracy for less consensually attractive targets. Perceivers’ attention helped explain these associations. These results partially replicate the original findings while also providing new insight: What is beautiful to the beholder is good but is less accurately understood if the target is consensually less attractive.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of cuteness and cool on the perceived quality of digital products, the mediating effect of brand perception (warmth and competence) and the moderating effect of the individual perception level.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper utilizes experimental design and survey methods to collect data and the ANOVA, independent sample t-test and bootstrap analysis methods to verify the assumed hypotheses.
Findings
Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that cuteness (vs cool) is more likely to promote the perception of brand warmth (vs competence), and the brand perception plays a mediating role between cuteness (cool) and the perceived quality. Study 3 replicates the findings of Study 2 and indicates that people with high-cuteness (vs low-cuteness) perception are the same to perceive the brand warmth to promote the perceived quality of digital products, but people with high-cool (vs low-cool) perception are more likely to perceive the brand competence to promote the perceived quality of digital products.
Practical implications
Based on the conclusions in this paper, marketers could emphasize the cool information of digital products in advertisements to promote the perceived quality to promote younger consumers' willingness to pay (WTP). Furthermore, firms could shape warm brand images by the perception of cuteness because cuteness is positively associated with the warmth of brand perception (e.g. the logo of Three Squirrels, a Chinese nut business brand that consists of three cute squirrels).
Originality/value
From a theoretical standpoint, this paper contributes to the brand perception when consumers accept product information with the characteristics of cuteness or cool. Second, a model of perceived quality of digital products is built based on the stereotype content theory. Third, this paper considers individual perception levels on cuteness and cool as the boundaries to conduct further conceptual model.
In this chapter, we summarize research on nonverbal expressions of behavior (nonverbal cues) and how they contribute to the accuracy of personality judgments. First, we present a conceptual overview of relevant nonverbal cues in the domains of facial expressions, body language, paralanguage, and appearance as well as approaches to assess these cues on different levels of aggregation. We then summarize research on the validity of nonverbal cues (what kind of nonverbal cues are good indicators of personality?) as well as the utilization of nonverbal cues (what kind of nonverbal cues lead to personality impressions?), resulting in a catalogue of those cues that drive judgment accuracy for different traits. Finally, we discuss personal and situational characteristics that moderate the expression and utilization of nonverbal cues and give an outlook for future research.
The second edition of this popular textbook encapsulates the excitement of the fascinating and fast-moving field of social psychology. A comprehensive and lively guide, it covers general principles, classic studies and cutting-edge research. Innovative features such as 'student projects' and 'exploring further' exercises place the student experience at the heart of this book.
This blend of approaches, from critical appraisal of important studies to real-world examples, will help students to develop a solid understanding of social psychology and the confidence to apply their knowledge in assignments and exams.
Game characters are the forefront of video games—they serve as the models that help sell the product. They are often designed to be attractive, both physically and psychologically. Being attractive has been heavily evidenced to have advantages; this significance led to investigate the influence of attractive game characters on players’ gaming purchases.
All participants in this research are Filipino game players. Both from a snowball sample, in-depth interviews were conducted to 11 highly experienced players, and 38 experienced players answered online questionnaires. The players described and identified their subjective views, ideas, and opinions on factors that they consider attractive and the effect it has on their gaming purchases. The gathered data has gone through the stages of Grounded Theory (GT), which helped in the creation of the quantitative survey. From an initial snowball sample, 200 survey responses were used after a simple random sampling. Ordinal Logistic Regression (OLR) was conducted to the data sample to investigate the association between the attractiveness factors and the players’ reported purchase behaviors.
Results showed that attractive game characters influence the gaming purchases and behavior of the players. Descriptive analysis showed high agreeability from the players, while the regression analysis identified predictor variables that influenced the effects.
Thus, attractive game characters truly influence the gaming purchases and spending behavior of players.
Keywords: Attractiveness, Game Characters, Gaming Purchases, Gamer Behavior, Player Perspective
In this chapter, we summarize research on nonverbal expressions of behavior (nonverbal cues) and how they contribute to the accuracy of personality judgments. First, we present a conceptual overview of relevant nonverbal cues in the domains of facial expressions, body language, paralanguage, and appearance as well as approaches to assess these cues on different levels of aggregation. We then summarize research on the validity of nonverbal cues (what kind of nonverbal cues are good indicators of personality?) as well as the utilization of nonverbal cues (what kind of nonverbal cues lead to personality impressions?), resulting in a catalogue of those cues that drive judgment accuracy for different traits. Finally, we discuss personal and situational characteristics that moderate the expression and utilization of nonverbal cues and give an outlook for future research.
This chapter reviews behavioral and neuroscience research aimed at understanding self‐evaluation. The chapter addresses several questions including: How do we learn who we are? How is information about the self represented? How are our emotions and behaviors shaped by self‐evaluation and self‐knowledge? What is the neural basis of self‐evaluation and self‐knowledge? Are self‐evaluation and self‐knowledge any different than the ways in which we evaluation and represent knowledge about other people (when is self similar to intimate others, when is it actually more similar to non‐intimate others?)? The chapter concludes by discussing future directions for research on the self with an aim toward bridging the psychological and neuroscience research.
Similar to their younger counterparts, older adults (age 60+) are increasingly turning to online dating sites to find potential romantic and sexual partners. In this paper, we draw upon qualitative data from a thematic analysis of 320 randomly selected online dating profiles posted by Canadian heterosexual older adults who self-identified as Asian, Black, Caucasian or Native American. In particular, we examined how the older adults’ self-presentations varied according to race/ethnicity, age and gender, and how the language they used to describe themselves and their preferred potential partners reflected and reinforced idealised images of ageing. Our analysis identified five primary ways in which the older adults portrayed themselves. They depicted themselves as active and busy with cultural/artistic, social and adventurous activities; and also as physically healthy and intellectually engaged. Third, they emphasised the ways in which they were productive through work and volunteer activities. Fourth, they accentuated their positive approach to life, identifying themselves as happy, fun-loving and humorous individuals. Finally, they highlighted their personable characteristics, portraying themselves as trustworthy and caring. We discuss our findings with a particular focus on gender differences, drawing on literature on masculinity and femininity, and also look at capital and power relations by considering the online dating setting as a field in the Bourdieusian sense.
In this article, we attempt to distinguish between the properties of moderator and mediator variables at a number of levels. First, we seek to make theorists and researchers aware of the importance of not using the terms moderator and mediator interchangeably by carefully elaborating, both conceptually and strategically, the many ways in which moderators and mediators differ. We then go beyond this largely pedagogical function and delineate the conceptual and strategic implications of making use of such distinctions with regard to a wide range of phenomena, including control and stress, attitudes, and personality traits. We also provide a specific compendium of analytic procedures appropriate for making the most effective use of the moderator and mediator distinction, both separately and in terms of a broader causal system that includes both moderators and mediators. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Male and female college students in the United States (N = 224) viewed models who had been prerated for physical attractiveness and who were dressed in costumes representing one of three levels of socioeconomic status (SES). Subjects reported their willingness to engage with these stimulus persons in six relationships involving various levels of marital potential and sexual involvement. Models' costume status had greater effects on female subjects' willingness than on male subjects' willingness to enter all six relationships. This difference was larger when the physical attractiveness of models was low than when it was high. Costume status also affected female subjects' ratings of male models' attractiveness but did not affect male subjects' ratings of female models' attractiveness. Results supported eight hypotheses derived from evolutionary theory: In choosing partners, men and women weighed potential partners' SES and physical attractiveness differently, and these factors may have different behavioral implications depending on the degree to which sexual relations, or marital potential, or both, are involved.
Examined whether physically attractive stimulus persons, both male and female, are (a) assumed to possess more socially desirable personality traits than physically unattractive stimulus persons, and (b) expected to lead better lives (e.g., be more competent husbands and wives and more successful occupationally) than unattractive stimulus persons. Sex of Subject * Sex of Stimulus Person interactions along these dimensions also were investigated. Results with 30 male and 30 female undergraduates indicate a "what is beautiful is good" stereotype along the physical attractiveness dimension with no Sex of Judge * Sex of Stimulus interaction. Implications of such a stereotype on self-concept development and the course of social interaction are discussed.
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)
Consensus between self-ratings and stranger ratings of personality traits was investigated. A sample of 100 adults was videotaped while entering and walking through a room, sitting down, looking into the camera, and reading a standard text. The targets then provided self-descriptions on 5 personality factors. A sample of 24 strangers who had never seen the targets before was given 1 of 4 types of information on the targets: (1) sound-film, (2) silent film, (3) still, or (4) audiotape. Strangers rated various physical attributes and 20 traits of each target. Level of information influenced the validity but not the reliability of the stranger ratings, which were most valid for extraversion and conscientiousness. Extraversion covaried most strongly with physical attributes, and implicit theories on the covariation of traits with physical attributes were more accurate for extraversion and conscientiousness than for agreeableness, emotional stability, and culture. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined the self-fulfilling influences of social stereotypes on dyadic social interaction. Conceptual analysis suggests that a perceiver's actions based upon stereotype-generated attributions about a specific target individual may cause the behavior of that individual to confirm the perceiver's initially erroneous attributions. A paradigmatic investigation of the behavioral confirmation of stereotypes involving physical attractiveness (e.g., "beautiful people are good people") is presented. 51 male "perceivers" interacted with 51 female "targets" (all undergraduates) whom they believed to be physically attractive or physically unattractive. Tape recordings of each participant's conversational behavior were analyzed by naive observer judges for evidence of behavioral confirmation. Results reveal that targets who were perceived (unknown to them) to be physically attractive came to behave in a friendly, likeable, and sociable manner in comparison with targets whose perceivers regarded them as unattractive. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Behavioral research has become increasingly concerned with the adaptive significance of facial expressions, which can be regarded as evolved social signals. In an attempt to uncover the function of smiling behavior, the assessment of various evolutionarily relevant traits was examined through people's judgments of neutral and smiling photographs. Pictures were rated for ten attributes: attractiveness, generosity, trustworthiness, competitiveness, health, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience. Although smiling faces received higher scores on several dimensions, the difference in judgments between neutral and smiling varied with the sex composition of the sender-receiver dyad. Overall, smiling influenced men's judgments in a larger extent than women's, especially when faces were female. Our data show that smiling positively affects the perception of personality traits in a way that could be adaptive to the sender of the signal.
The existence of a beauty premium in the labor market and the male–female wage gap suggests that appearance can matter in the real world. We explore beauty and gender in a public goods experiment and find similar effects. We find a beauty premium, even though beautiful people contribute, on average, no more or less than others. The beauty premium, however, disappears when we provide information on individual contributions, and becomes a beauty penalty. Players seem to expect beautiful people to be more cooperative. Relative to these expectations, they appear more selfish, which in turn results in less cooperation by others. These appear to be clear examples of stereotyping. We also find a substantial benefit to being male, especially with information. This is primarily due to men being better “leaders.” Men tend to make large contributions, and people follow their example and give more in later rounds.
Despite the crucial role of physical appearance in forming first impressions, little research has examined the accuracy of personality impressions based on appearance alone. This study examined the accuracy of observers' impressions on 10 personality traits based on full-body photographs using criterion measures based on self and peer reports. When targets' posture and expression were constrained (standardized condition), observers' judgments were accurate for extraversion, self-esteem, and religiosity. When targets were photographed with a spontaneous pose and facial expression (spontaneous condition), observers' judgments were accurate for almost all of the traits examined. Lens model analyses demonstrated that both static cues (e.g., clothing style) and dynamic cues (e.g., facial expression, posture) offered valuable personality-relevant information. These results suggest that personality is manifested through both static and expressive channels of appearance, and observers use this information to form accurate judgments for a variety of traits.
For the past 2 decades the person–situation debate has dominated personality psychology and had repercussions in clinical, social, and organizational psychology. This controversy puts on trial the central assumption that internal dispositions have an important influence on behavior. According to emerging views of scientific progress, controversy serves the function of narrowing the field of competing hypotheses. We examine 7 hypotheses that arose during the course of the person–situation debate, ranging from most to least pessimistic about the existence of consensual, discriminative personality traits. The evidence fails to support the hypotheses that personality traits are (a) in the eye of the beholder, (b) semantic illusions, (c) artifacts of base-rate accuracy, (d) artifacts of shared stereotypes, (e) due to discussion between observers (who ignore behavior in favor of verbal self-presentation or reputation), or (f) by-products of situational consistencies. Evidence also fails to support the hypothesis (g) that although traits are related to behavior, the relationship is too small to be important. Research generated by these hypotheses has allowed us to better specify the circumstances under which personality assessments will be valid. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In this article, we attempt to distinguish between the properties of moderator and mediator variables at a number of levels. First, we seek to make theorists and researchers aware of the importance of not using the terms moderator and mediator interchangeably by carefully elaborating, both conceptually and strategically, the many ways in which moderators and mediators differ. We then go beyond this largely pedagogical function and delineate the conceptual and strategic implications of making use of such distinctions with regard to a wide range of phenomena, including control and stress, attitudes, and personality traits. We also provide a specific compendium of analytic procedures appropriate for making the most effective use of the moderator and mediator distinction, both separately and in terms of a broader causal system that includes both moderators and mediators.
The "accuracy paradigm" for the study of personality judgment provides an important, new complement to the "error paradigm" that dominated this area of research for almost 2 decades. The present article introduces a specific approach within the accuracy paradigm called the Realistic Accuracy Model (RAM). RAM begins with the assumption that personality traits are real attributes of individuals. This assumption entails the use of a broad array of criteria for the evaluation of personality judgment and leads to a model that describes accuracy as a function of the availability, detection, and utilization of relevant behavioral cues. RAM provides a common explanation for basic moderators of accuracy, sheds light on how these moderators interact, and outlines a research agenda that includes the reintegration of the study of error with the study of accuracy.
Two converging, multimethod studies probed the hypothesis that individual differences in Agreeableness are related to patterns of interpersonal conflict. In Study 1, participants (N = 263) evaluated the efficacy of 11 modes of conflict resolution within the context of 5 different interpersonal relationships. Across all relationships, high- and low-agreeable participants rated negotiation and disengagement tactics as better choices that power assertion tactics. However, low-agreeable participants rated power assertion as a better choice than did high-agreeable participants. In Study 2, participants (N = 124) were assigned partners and were asked to resolve jointly 2 social conflict problems. Partners were videotaped, and observers coded behaviors. Participants also completed ratings of perceived conflict, partner perception, and liking of their partner. Agreeableness differences, sex of participant, and type of dyad partner were related to patterns of interpersonal conflict. Results were discussed in terms of personality and social influences during interpersonal conflict.
Common maxims about beauty suggest that attractiveness is not important in life. In contrast, both fitness-related evolutionary theory and socialization theory suggest that attractiveness influences development and interaction. In 11 meta-analyses, the authors evaluate these contradictory claims, demonstrating that (a) raters agree about who is and is not attractive, both within and across cultures; (b) attractive children and adults are judged more positively than unattractive children and adults, even by those who know them; (c) attractive children and adults are treated more positively than unattractive children and adults, even by those who know them; and (d) attractive children and adults exhibit more positive behaviors and traits than unattractive children and adults. Results are used to evaluate social and fitness-related evolutionary theories and the veracity of maxims about beauty.
Physically attractive individuals are often viewed more favorably than unattractive people on dimensions that are weakly related or unrelated to physical looks, such as intelligence, sociability, and morality. Our study investigated the role of U.S. films in this "beauty-and-goodness" stereotype. In Study 1, we established that attractive characters were portrayed more favorably than unattractive characters on multiple dimensions (e.g., intelligence, friendliness) across a random sample from 5 decades of top-grossing films. The link between beauty and positive characteristics was stable across time periods, character sex, and characters' centrality to the plot. Study 2 established that exposure to highly stereotyped films can elicit stronger beauty-and-goodness stereotyping. Participants watching a highly biased film subsequently showed greater favoritism toward an attractive graduate school candidate (compared with ratings of an unattractive candidate) than participants viewing a less biased film.
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.
This study examined sex differences in men's and women's accuracy at assessing their own attractiveness, using subjects' self-ratings as predictors and judges' ratings of the subjects' phothographs as the criteria. Female subjects were significantly accurate, as defined by positive correlations between predictors and criteria, whereas the correlations for male subjects were small and nonsignificant. The results are discussed in terms of the different cultural demands on women and men.
Although folk wisdom suggests that a smile may enhance physical attractiveness, most studies in the area have failed to consider or control this factor. The present study was intended to examine the impact of smiling on judgements of physical attractiveness and other characteristics stereotypically ascribed to attractive persons. Consistent with predictions, it was found that smiling increased rated attractiveness when compared to a non‐smiling neutral expression. The necessity for controlling this factor in studies of attractiveness is therefore indicated. It was also demonstrated that smiling subjects were attributed greater degrees of sincerity, sociability, and competence, but lesser levels of independence and masculinity. Mediation analysis revealed that the effects of smiling on trait attribution were not due to increases in perceived attractiveness, suggesting that the impact of smiling on ratings of beauty and goodness occurs through independent processes. Potential explanations and implications of these processes were discussed.
Most previous research has investigated the impact of physical attractiveness on young adults' first impressions of peers. The present study examined the relationship between physical attractiveness and peer perception at an earlier period of peer interaction in a setting where subjectes were personally acquainted. Using a picture-board sociometric technique, young children (4-6 years) indicated which classmates they liked and disliked and also nominated peers who exhibited various social behaviors. With the exception of younger females, unattractive children were relatively less popular than attractive children. Furthermore, unattractive children, particularly males were more frequently nominated as exhibiting antisocial behaviors than were attractive children. In contrast, attractive children tended to be perceived as more self-sufficient and independent in behavior than unattractive children.
The present study used videotape to examine selected determinants of perceptions of physical attractiveness and gender (masculinity/femininity) in a college student sample of 30 men and 85 women. Both body and facial attractiveness contributed to the prediction of overall attractiveness, although neither variable was a more powerful predictor than the other. Perceptions of overall physical attractiveness, both static (“fixed target”) and dynamic (“moving target”), were positively related to perceptions of grooming. In predicting dynamic physical attractiveness from static physical attractiveness and certain nonverbal indices thought to be related to attractiveness evaluations in naturally occurring conditions, only static physical attractiveness entered the regression equation at a significant level. Still, perceived friendliness and natural body movement were related to overall attractiveness perceptions. Finally, physical attractiveness was significantly related to gender perceptions in both males and females, with natural body movement and tight-fitting clothes also predictive of perceived masculinity in males and overall grooming and natural body movement predictive of perceived femininity in females.
Using archival data, the relationship of appearance to personality was investigated from childhood to age 60. Lagged effects of appearance on personality and vice versa, as well as accuracy of appearance stereotypes, were assessed. For men, lagged effects of attractiveness on personality were consistent with a self fulfilling prophecy; for adolescent boys, lagged effects of babyfaceness on personality were consistent with a self-defeating prophecy; for women, lagged effects of personality on attractiveness were consistent with a Dorian Gray effect, whereby early personality produces a congruent later appearance. There was no evidence for accuracy of the baby-face stereotype, which was significantly inaccurate for adolescent boys. Accuracy of the attractiveness stereotype required effects of a stable earlier appearance on later personality or a stable earlier personality on later appearance.
Physically attractive individuals are often viewed more favorably than unattractive people on dimensions that are weakly related or unrelated to physical looks, such as intelligence, sociability, and morality. Our study investigated the role of U.S. films in this "beauty-and-goodness" stereotype. In Study 1, we established that attractive characters were portrayed more favorably than unattractive characters on multiple dimensions (e.g., intelligence, friendliness) across a random sample from 5 decades of top-grossing films. The link between beauty and positive characteristics was stable across time periods, character sex, and characters' centrality to the plot. Study 2 established that exposure to highly stereotyped films can elicit stronger beauty-and-goodness stereotyping. Participants watching a highly biased film subsequently showed greater favoritism toward an attractive graduate school candidate (compared with ratings of an unattractive candidate) than participants viewing a less biased film.
Examined the impact of smiling on judgments of physical attractiveness and other characteristics stereotypically ascribed to attractive persons. 30 undergraduates served as stimulus persons. Each was photographed with a neutral facial expression and while smiling. One photograph of each person was shown to 100 college students, who rated each photograph on 20 trait adjectives. Consistent with predictions, smiling increased rated attractiveness compared with a nonsmiling neutral expression. Smiling Ss were attributed greater degrees of sincerity, sociability, and competence, but lesser levels of independence and masculinity. Mediation analysis suggested that the impact of smiling on ratings of beauty and goodness occurred through independent processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
hold that [applications of the circumplex model] reflect interpersonal processes, which in turn express the basic interpersonal relations of status and love / describe the development of a new scale for measuring individual dispositions toward social support of others / the scale, called the Supportive Actions Scale, was shown to form a circumplex and a goodness of fit measure confirms its circumplex nature / relations between trait measures and social support style measures were moderate / the properties of this scale suggest that it may be used to assign individuals to types and also may provide a theoretical basis for evaluating the general adequacy of other inventories designed to measure the same general concept (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Two studies explored Dion and Dion’s (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 775–780, 1987) suggestion that the belief in a just world may contribute to the “beauty is good” stereotype. In Study 1, we found that
participants rated the death of a woman as more tragic and unfair when she was physically attractive than less attractive.
Participants were also more punitive towards agents of harm when the victim was physically attractive. In Study 2, we varied
the extent to which a woman suffered from a house fire and asked participants to later recognize the woman’s picture among
several choices varying in physical attractiveness. Participants who learned that the woman suffered a great deal remembered
her to be less physically attractive than when her suffering was minimal. The results are discussed in terms of how the justice
motive contributes to the evaluative and moral importance attached to physical attractiveness.
The possibility that the so-called physical attractiveness stereotype may contain a “kernel of truth” was investigated in a study where college students interacted with opposite sex partners whom they could not see. Each student engaged in three telephone conversations and rated their telephone partners for social skill, anxiety, liking, and desirability for future interaction, and were themselves subsequently rated for physical attractiveness by three independent observers. As hypothesized, the more physically attractive students were rated by their telephone partners as more socially skillful and more likable than their less attractive counterparts.
The human face communicates an impressive number of visual signals. Although adults' ratings of facial attractiveness are consistent across studies, even cross-culturally, there has been considerable controversy surrounding attempts to identify the facial features that cause faces to be judged attractive or unattractive. Studies of physical attractiveness have attempted to identify the features that contribute to attractiveness by studying the relationships between attractiveness and (a) symmetry, (b) averageness, and (c) nonaverage sexually dimorphic features (hormone markers). Evolutionary psychology proposes that these characteristics all pertain to health, suggesting that humans have evolved to view certain features as attractive because they were displayed by healthy individuals. However, the question remains how single features that are considered attractive relate to each other, and if they form a single ornament that signals mate quality. Moreover, some researchers have recently explained attractiveness preferences in terms of individual differences that are predictable. This article briefly describes what is currently known from attractiveness research, reviews some recent advances, and suggests areas for future researchers' attention.
Previous research has shown that males value a potential partner’s physical attractiveness more than females do, whereas females value a potential partner’s socioeconomic status (SES) more than males do. But are men really so unconcerned about a potential partner’s SES? Five studies revealed that men do integrate information about a woman’s SES into their decisions on whether to consider her as a romantic partner or not. Results consistently demonstrated that male participants preferred women with lower SES. Female participants, in contrast, preferred men with higher SES. These sex differences were more pronounced when a long-term romantic relationship rather than a one-night stand was being considered. In addition, men’s lower reported likelihood of romantic contact with a woman with high SES was due to her high educational level rather than her high income. Mediational analyses showed that men perceived a potential partner with high educational level as less likeable and less faithful, and thus reported less likelihood of romantic contact.
The five-factor model of personality is a hierarchical organization of personality traits in terms of five basic dimensions: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience. Research using both natural language adjectives and theoretically based personality questionnaires supports the comprehensiveness of the model and its applicability across observers and cultures. This article summarizes the history of the model and its supporting evidence; discusses conceptions of the nature of the factors; and outlines an agenda for theorizing about the origins and operation of the factors. We argue that the model should prove useful both for individual assessment and for the elucidation of a number of topics of interest to personality psychologists.
Faculty members rated 54 applicants to a medical residency training program on their social skills and professional commitment. Independent ratings of the candidates' physical attractiveness, neatness and grooming, and (for 18 of these applicants) professional demeanor also were obtained. Professional demeanor ratings were related significantly to the faculty interview ratings of professional commitment and to the subsequent final rankings of the 10 male and the eight female applicants for whom demeanor ratings were available. Ratings of neatness and grooming were related significantly to the faculty interview ratings of social skills and to the subsequent final rankings of the 21 female applicants but not for the 33 male applicants. Physical attractiveness ratings were not related significantly to the faculty interview ratings or the final rankings of candidates of either sex. These data suggest that physical appearance may have had some effect on the interview evaluations and selection of female applicants, and that professional demeanor had a marked influence on the evaluation and selection of both male and female applicants.
We review research on accurate social perception at zero acquaintance and apply a Gibsonian ecological approach to redress several shortcomings. We argue that recent use of Brunswik's lens model to determine what physical qualities accurately communicate psychological traits has limited utility because it fails to consider the structured information provided by configural physical qualities that is central to Gibson's (1979) theory. We elaborate a developmental model of relationships between physical and psychological qualities that highlights research needed to identify configural physical qualities that may inform accurate perceptions. This model and tenets of the ecological theory yield several hypotheses regarding such qualities. Finally, we advocate the value of studying perceived affordances (opportunities for acting, interacting, or being acted upon) because this will focus attention on the neglected issue of contextual influences on social perception accuracy, and because affordances may be perceived more accurately than global personality traits.
Previously unacquainted participants (N = 218) were assessed in small-group sessions in which they rated themselves and each other on (a) the Big Five (e.g., Costa & McCrae, 19924.
Costa , P. T. Jr. and
McCrae , R. R. 1992. Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO–PI–R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO–FFI) professional manual, Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources. View all references) and (b) an instrument assessing various traits not traditionally measured in the Big Five taxonomy as well as sociopolitical attitudes. Replicating earlier research, we obtained a significant self–stranger correlation on Extraversion; in addition, we found significant agreement on ratings of thriftiness, athleticism, traditionalism, conservatism, and attractiveness. Assumed similarity correlations were substantial for Neuroticism, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness; furthermore, consistent with previous findings, there was a strong inverse relation between agreement and assumed similarity across the assessed characteristics. Finally, the correlations between Neuroticism, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness were significantly greater in the strangers' ratings than in the self-ratings, indicating that these peer judgments are less complex. We also compared our Big Five findings with those from previous samples of varying acquaintanceship; these analyses indicated that the strangers' ratings were characterized by lower levels of self–other agreement (for all traits except Extraversion) and somewhat higher levels of assumed similarity (for ratings of Neuroticism and Agreeableness).
The big five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives Handbook of personality: Theory and research
- O P John
- S Srivastava
John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The big five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 102–138). New York: Guilford.