Physical Attractiveness Stereotype Research Articles

Serial dependence generalizes across different stimulus formats, but not different sensory modalities

Visual perception is thought to be supported by a stabilization mechanism integrating information over time, resulting in a systematic attractive bias in experimental contexts. Previous studies show that this effect, whereby a current stimulus appears more similar to the one previous to it, depends on attention, suggesting an active high-level mechanism that modulates perception. Here, we test the hypothesis that such a mechanism generalizes across different stimulus formats or sensory modalities, effectively abstracting from the low-level properties of the stimuli. Participants performed a numerosity discrimination task, with task-relevant dot-array stimuli preceded by a sequence of visual (flashes) or auditory (tones) stimuli encompassing different numerosities. Our results show a clear attractive bias induced by visual sequential numerosity affecting an array of simultaneously presented dots, thus operating across different stimulus formats. Conversely, auditory sequences did not affect the judgment on visual numerosities. Overall, our results demonstrate that serial dependence in numerosity perception operates according to the abstract representation of numerical magnitude of visual stimuli irrespective of their format. These results thus support the idea that a high-level mechanism mediates visual stability and continuity, which integrates relevant information over time irrespective of the low-level sensory properties of the stimuli.

Laws of concatenated perception: Vision goes for novelty, decisions for perseverance.

Every instant of perception depends on a cascade of brain processes calibrated to the history of sensory and decisional events. In the present work, we show that human visual perception is constantly shaped by two contrasting forces exerted by sensory adaptation and past decisions. In a series of experiments, we used multilevel modeling and cross-validation approaches to investigate the impact of previous stimuli and decisions on behavioral reports during adjustment and forced-choice tasks. Our results revealed that each perceptual report is permeated by opposite biases from a hierarchy of serially dependent processes: Low-level adaptation repels perception away from previous stimuli, whereas decisional traces attract perceptual reports toward the recent past. In this hierarchy of serial dependence, “continuity fields” arise from the inertia of decisional templates and not from low-level sensory processes. This finding is consistent with a Two-process model of serial dependence in which the persistence of readout weights in a decision unit compensates for sensory adaptation, leading to attractive biases in sequential perception. We propose a unified account of serial dependence in which functionally distinct mechanisms, operating at different stages, promote the differentiation and integration of visual information over time.

Do fine feathers make a fine bird? The influence of attractiveness on fraud‐risk judgments by internal auditors

Independence and objectivity are key principles assumed to underlie internal auditors' fraud‐risk judgments. However, a substantial body of evidence suggests that physical attractiveness of suspects may influence internal auditors' fraud‐risk judgments. In this experimental study we investigated whether internal auditors are susceptible to appearance‐related biases, or whether they correct for them due to their expertise and motivation. A total of 193 internal auditors were presented a misappropriation‐of‐assets scenario in which the attractiveness of a suspect was manipulated. To determine whether professional expertise is associated with increased resilience to appearance‐related biases, their fraud‐risk judgments were contrasted with those acquired from 240 subjects without auditing experience (“naive subjects”). In line with our predictions, attractiveness modulated naive subjects' fraud‐risk judgments, whereas internal auditors did not show any indication for appearance‐related biases. Our findings suggest that internal auditors' experience and motivation may immunize them to the phenomena of physical attractiveness stereotyping and the attractiveness halo effect.

Serial dependence in numerosity perception.

Our conscious experience of the external world is remarkably stable and seamless, despite the intrinsically discontinuous and noisy nature of sensory information. Serial dependencies in visual perception—reflecting attractive biases making a current stimulus to appear more similar to previous ones—have been recently hypothesized to be involved in perceptual continuity. However, while these effects have been observed across a variety of visual features and at the neural level, several aspects of serial dependence and how it generalizes across visual dimensions is still unknown. Here we explore the behavioral signature of serial dependence in numerosity perception by assessing how the perceived numerosity of dot-array stimuli is biased by a task-irrelevant “inducer” stimulus presented before task-relevant stimuli. First, although prior work suggests that numerosity perception starts in the subcortex, the current study rules out a possible involvement of subcortical processing in serial dependence, confirming that the effect likely starts in the visual cortex. Second, we show that the effect is coarsely spatially localized to the position of the inducer stimulus. Third, we demonstrate that the effect is present even with a stimulus presentation procedure minimizing the involvement of post-perceptual processes, but only when participants actively pay attention to the inducer stimulus. Overall, these results provide a comprehensive characterization of serial dependencies in numerosity perception, demonstrating that attractive biases occur by means of spatially localized attentional modulations of early sensory activity.

Laws of concatenated perception: Vision goes for novelty, Decisions for perseverance

Every instant of perception depends on a cascade of brain processes calibrated to the history of sensory and decisional events. In the present work, we show that human visual perception is constantly shaped by two contrasting forces exerted by sensory adaptation and past decisions. In a series of experiments, we used multilevel modeling and cross-validation approaches to investigate the impact of previous stimuli and decisions on behavioral reports during adjustment and forced-choice tasks. Our results revealed that each perceptual report is permeated by opposite biases from a hierarchy of serially dependent processes: Low-level adaptation repels perception away from previous stimuli, whereas decisional traces attract perceptual reports toward the recent past. In this hierarchy of serial dependence, “continuity fields” arise from the inertia of decisional templates and not from low-level sensory processes. This finding is consistent with a Two-process model of serial dependence in which the persistence of readout weights in a decision unit compensates for sensory adaptation, leading to attractive biases in sequential perception. We propose a unified account of serial dependence in which functionally distinct mechanisms, operating at different stages, promote the differentiation and integration of visual information over time.

Chivalry and attractiveness bias in police officer forensic judgments in Israel

ABSTRACTThe chivalry hypothesis and attractiveness bias were evaluated among 323 police officers and 364 students, serving as a control group. The participants were asked to read a description of a swindle, where the offender was either physically attractive or unattractive. They then had to assign a punishment to the offender and judge the blame ascribed to both offender and victim. The findings showed that the offender’s sex, more than his or her external appearance, affects differences in punishment severity. Female offenders were treated more forgivingly than male offenders. Nonetheless, analysis of blame attributions shows that attractive offenders are blamed more than unattractive offenders. Women were also found to dispense severe punishments more than men.

Comparison of the human-baited double net trap with the human landing catch for Aedes albopictus monitoring in Shanghai, China

BackgroundHuman landing catch (HLC) is the most efficient method for Aedes monitoring, but it is not ethical due to its high risk of human exposure to pathogens. We designed trials to assess the performance of an alternative human-baited double net trap (HDN) for field Aedes albopictus monitoring compared with the standard HLC.MethodsOutdoor HDN and HLC catches were conducted simultaneously at 15 field sites on two sunny days in mid-July and August. The tests were performed 3 h apart: an early morning period (7:30–8:30 h), a pre-sunset period (16:30–17:30 h) and a post-sunset period (18:30–19:30 h). A total of 90 comparisons were made between the two methods. Field comparisons were designed to minimize half-hour bias and human-bait attraction bias.ResultsTwo mosquito species were collected by HDN and HLC, with the predominated species being Ae. albopictus (HDN: n = 1325, 97.35% of total; HLC: n = 531, 92.51% of total). A small proportion were adults of the Culex pipiens complex (HDN: n = 36, 2.65% of total; HLC: n = 43, 7.49% of total). Although the mean Ae. albopictus catch per hour of HLC was significantly higher than HDN (14.72 vs 5.90 per h, t(178) = 3.151, P = 0.003), there were significant positive spatial and temporal correlations between HLC and HDN for Ae. albopictus sampling among different sites and hours (r(90) = 0.785, P < 0.001; r(90) = 0.785, P < 0.001). Both methods proved that Ae. albopictus was most active during the hours before sunset and least active after sunset. No significant variation was observed in Ae. albopictus catch size of HDN between groups of more attractive and less attractive humans (3.38 vs 2.51 per 30 min, t(88) = 1.283, P = 0.201).ConclusionsWith moderate sampling efficiency, significantly positive spatial correlation with HLC, and less human-bait attraction bias, HDN appears to be a safer alternative to HLC for Ae. albopictus monitoring in Shanghai. With mosquito activity peaking in the pre-sunset hours, Ae. albopictus catches of HDN should be performed in the hours before dark. The trap design could be improved to make it more portable and easier for field operation.

When Does Beauty Pay? A Large Scale Image Based Appearance Analysis on Career Transitions

A rich literature has demonstrated facial attractiveness related discrimination (beauty bias ) in a wide range of contexts, such as personal marketing, election voting and employment. Under a controlled lab setting, most of these studies have found that attractiveness is rewarded. However, these studies cannot imitate long-term, real world interactions and thus lack external validity. In this paper, we show the long-term dynamics of bias to discern among sources of attractiveness bias. We investigate two sources of attractiveness bias, namely, belief based and preference based. Belief based bias against subjects exists because evaluators have group-level priors based on the subjects’ attractiveness. These priors are overcome as the evaluator obtains objective signals of performance. Preference based bias exists because evaluators have an inherent taste for a social, romantic or marital relationship with attractive subjects. We use one of the largest archival longitudinal data sets (43,533 MBA graduates) in this area of research to identify these two sources. We find that attractiveness is associated with a 2.4% gap over a 15-year career period. This gap is largely explained by preference bias which is associated with attractiveness gap of 0.52% per year. On the other hand, belief bias has no significant role in post-MBA professional careers. This is a significant finding because belief bias towards an individual can be minimized by the individuals’ performance information. However, preference based biases are much harder to remove. In our setting, there are two key challenges in working with unstructured data. First, for an individual, we observe only one current picture, which is taken up to 25 years after the start of the individual’s professional career. We build a generative deep learning model to create life-like versions of a face, thus allowing us to emulate the employers’ perceptions of how the individual looked at a younger age. Second, individuals move across job profiles, companies and locations, thereby making it difficult to directly compare their career milestones. We construct a preference order for jobs (job rank) based on observed job switching and text-based job title similarities.

Flexible Coding of Visual Working Memory Representations during Distraction.

Visual working memory (VWM) recruits a broad network of brain regions, including prefrontal, parietal, and visual cortices. Recent evidence supports a "sensory recruitment" model of VWM, whereby precise visual details are maintained in the same stimulus-selective regions responsible for perception. A key question in evaluating the sensory recruitment model is how VWM representations persist through distracting visual input, given that the early visual areas that putatively represent VWM content are susceptible to interference from visual stimulation.To address this question, we used a functional magnetic resonance imaging inverted encoding model approach to quantitatively assess the effect of distractors on VWM representations in early visual cortex and the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), another region previously implicated in the storage of VWM information. This approach allowed us to reconstruct VWM representations for orientation, both before and after visual interference, and to examine whether oriented distractors systematically biased these representations. In our human participants (both male and female), we found that orientation information was maintained simultaneously in early visual areas and IPS in anticipation of possible distraction, and these representations persisted in the absence of distraction. Importantly, early visual representations were susceptible to interference; VWM orientations reconstructed from visual cortex were significantly biased toward distractors, corresponding to a small attractive bias in behavior. In contrast, IPS representations did not show such a bias. These results provide quantitative insight into the effect of interference on VWM representations, and they suggest a dynamic tradeoff between visual and parietal regions that allows flexible adaptation to task demands in service of VWM.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Despite considerable evidence that stimulus-selective visual regions maintain precise visual information in working memory, it remains unclear how these representations persist through subsequent input. Here, we used quantitative model-based fMRI analyses to reconstruct the contents of working memory and examine the effects of distracting input. Although representations in the early visual areas were systematically biased by distractors, those in the intraparietal sulcus appeared distractor-resistant. In contrast, early visual representations were most reliable in the absence of distraction. These results demonstrate the dynamic, adaptive nature of visual working memory processes, and provide quantitative insight into the ways in which representations can be affected by interference. Further, they suggest that current models of working memory should be revised to incorporate this flexibility.

Deep mitochondrial origin outside the sampled alphaproteobacteria.

Mitochondria are ATP-generating organelles, the endosymbiotic origin of which was a key event in the evolution of eukaryotic cells 1 . Despite strong phylogenetic evidence that mitochondria had an alphaproteobacterial ancestry 2 , efforts to pinpoint their closest relatives among sampled alphaproteobacteria have generated conflicting results, complicating detailed inferences about the identity and nature of the mitochondrial ancestor. While most studies support the idea that mitochondria evolved from an ancestor related to Rickettsiales3-9, an order that includes several host-associated pathogenic and endosymbiotic lineages10,11, others have suggested that mitochondria evolved from a free-living group12-14. Here we re-evaluate the phylogenetic placement of mitochondria. We used genome-resolved binning of oceanic metagenome datasets and increased the genomic sampling of Alphaproteobacteria with twelve divergent clades, and one clade representing a sister group to all Alphaproteobacteria. Subsequent phylogenomic analyses that specifically address long branch attraction and compositional bias artefacts suggest that mitochondria did not evolve from Rickettsiales or any other currently recognized alphaproteobacterial lineage. Rather, our analyses indicate that mitochondria evolved from a proteobacterial lineage that branched off before the divergence of all sampled alphaproteobacteria. In light of this new result, previous hypotheses on the nature of the mitochondrial ancestor6,15,16 should be re-evaluated.

Do Fine Feathers Make a Fine Bird? The Influence of Attractiveness on Fraud-Risk Judgments by Internal Auditors

Independence and objectivity are the chief principles assumed to underlie internal auditors’ fraud-risk judgments. However, a substantial body of evidence regarding attractiveness stereotyping and the attractiveness halo effect suggests that physical attractiveness of potential suspects may influence internal auditors’ fraud-risk judgments according to the proverb “what is beautiful is good”. In this seminal inter-disciplinary experimental study we investigated whether internal auditors are susceptible to such appearance-related biases, or whether they correct for them due to their expertise and motivation as suggested by the process model of appearance-based stereotyping. 193 internal auditors were presented a misappropriation-of-assets scenario, in which the attractiveness of a suspect was manipulated. To determine whether professional expertise is associated with increased resilience to appearance-related biases, their fraud-risk judgments were contrasted with those acquired from 240 control subjects with no auditing experience. In line with our predictions attractiveness modulated naive subjects’ fraud-risk judgments, whereas internal auditors did not show any indication for appearance-related biases. Our findings demonstrate that internal auditors’ experience and motivation immunize them to the well-documented phenomena of physical attractiveness stereotyping and the attractiveness halo effect – at least when fraud-risk judgments do not involve face-to-face interactions. We propose a two-step procedure to maximize objectivity of internal auditors’ fraud-risk judgments.

Exploring the Effects of Physical Attractiveness in Job Applicant Evaluations: Taking into Account Stimulus Variability

Previous research on physical attractiveness bias in job applicant evaluations has ignored three important issues. First, the sex-typing of the positions for which applicants are evaluated is usually weak despite the need to provide strongly male and female-typed positions in testing for beauty is beastly effects. Second, the samples of stimuli used in the manipulations of applicant sex, attractiveness, and sex-typing of the job are small. Third, the statistical analyses used in testing hypotheses fail to incorporate variability among both human participants and stimuli. The present research corrected for these three omissions in an experiment in which participants evaluated the suitability of applicants who were physically attractive or unattractive, male or female, and were applying for a male-typed or female-typed position. The experimental design was a within-person 2 (applicant sex) X 2 (applicant attractiveness) X 2 (sex-type of job) ANOVA. Each participant received a set of eight applicants with the photograph used in the manipulation of sex and attractiveness and the type of job randomly drawn from a pool of photographs and jobs. Consistent with the recommendations of Clark (1973), the hypotheses were tested using as subjects the human participants (F1 analyses), pictures (F2 analyses), positions (F2 analyses), and picture-position combinations (F2 analyses). Also, quasi-Fs were conducted to incorporate variability of both human participants and stimuli. All the analyses revealed an attractiveness bias in which the attractive candidates were evaluated more favorably than unattractive candidates. A job sex-type X applicant sex interaction revealed that males were evaluated more favorably for male-typed positions and females for female-typed positions. Also found were main effects for applicant sex and job-type, although these effects were subsumed by the job sex-type X applicant sex interaction. The analyses of the ratings of suitability were consistent with chi-square analyses of best- and worst-fit choices. The findings suggest that the bias against attractive applicants is robust across stimuli as well as human participants. No evidence was found for a beauty is beastly effect. Exploratory analyses suggested that a bias against attractive females is limited to a narrow domain of jobs.

Women prefer men who use metaphorical language when paying compliments in a romantic context

Language plays an important role in romantic attachment. However, it is unclear whether the structure and topic of language use might influence potential mate choice. We investigated 124 female students’ preference for compliments paid by males incorporating either literal or metaphoric (conventional/novel) language and targeting their appearance or possessions (house) throughout their menstrual cycle. Male faces paired with novel metaphorical compliments were rated as more attractive by women than those paired with literal ones. Compliments targeting appearance increased male attractiveness more than possessions. Interestingly, compliments on appearance using novel metaphors were preferred by women in a relationship during the fertile phase but by single women during the luteal phase. A similar pattern of altered face attraction ratings was subsequently shown by subjects in the absence of the verbal compliments and even though they were unable to recognize the faces. Thus the maintained attraction bias for faces previously associated with figurative language compliments appears to be unconscious. Overall this study provides the first evidence that women find men who typically use novel metaphorical language to compliment appearance more attractive than those using prosaic language or complimenting possessions. The evolutionary significance for such a language use bias in mate selection is discussed.

Context matters for attractiveness bias.

To fully understand the attractiveness bias, we propose that contextual factors or affordances should be integrated into the mating-based evolutionary account of Maestripieri et al. We review examples highlighting the role of contextual factors in the perception of attractiveness and in attractiveness bias. These suggest contextual factors differentially afford the development of preference for attractive others into observed habits of mind.

Attractiveness biases are the tip of the iceberg in biological markets.

Physical attractiveness affects how one gets treated, but it is just a single component of one's overall "market value." One's treatment depends on other markers of market value, including social status, competence, warmth, and any other cues of one's ability or willingness to confer benefits on partners. To completely understand biased treatment, we must also incorporate these other factors.

Attractiveness bias: A cognitive explanation.

According to cognitive averaging theory, preferences for attractive faces result from their similarity to facial prototypes, the categorical central tendencies of a population of faces. Prototypical faces are processed more fluently, resulting in increased positive affect in the viewer.

What does evolutionary theory add to stereotype theory in the explanation of attractiveness bias?

Maestripieri et al. seem to put forth an argument in which they become vulnerable to some of the same criticisms that they level against stereotype theory As a result, the explanatory utility of their account of attractiveness bias comes into question, and it is unclear whether it offers anything superior to stereotype theory in conceptual soundness.

Strong but flexible: How fundamental social motives support but sometimes also thwart favorable attractiveness biases.

Research corroborates the notion that fundamental social motives play an important role in biases that favor attractive people. Although an adaptationist framework expects favorable social effects of good looks in most situations and contexts, it simultaneously allows for potential negative social reactions and outcomes that may be elicited by physical attractiveness in other contexts. These effects of attractiveness reflect the reproductive opportunities and threats posed by potential mates and rivals.

Omitted evidence undermines sexual motives explanation for attractiveness bias.

This commentary makes three points: (1) the existing evidence does not consistently favor the proposed sex difference in attractiveness preferences, nor the fitness-related outcomes of attractiveness; (2) the neglected association of perceived attractiveness and trustworthiness allowed the authors to incorrectly attribute many findings solely to attractiveness, and (3) the importance accorded attractiveness in mate preferences is culturally shaped and likely evolutionarily novel.

Patient attractiveness reduces the likelihood of a missed diagnosis: implications for person-centered healthcare

Objective: No study has so far examined the biases associated with the physical attractiveness stereotype during the process of medical decision making. This study assessed the impact of patients' attractiveness on the diagnosis of kidney or bladder stones.Methods: A computer-based, within-subjects experimental design was used. 34 male family physicians were presented with the same clinical scenario of a 25-year old woman presenting with dysuria complaints. Participants were then presented with facial photos of attractive and unattractive female patients interchangeably. Each photo was followed by a KUB X-ray of kidney or bladder stones. Participants were asked to describe the X-rays.Results: Controlling for the effect of clinical experience, doctors were 3.67 times more likely to miss the diagnosis of kidney or bladder stones on the X-rays of unattractive patients compared to the X-rays of attractive patients (B=1.299, p = .020, Exp(B)=3.667).Conclusion: This study highlights the cognitive biases associated with patient attractiveness during the diagnostic process. It shows that patient attractiveness interferes with physicians' information processing when reading an X-ray, and decreases the likelihood of a missed diagnosis.Practice Implications: The results of this study have severe implications in patient safety and the improvement of the delivered quality of care.