Physical Attractiveness Stereotype Research Articles

Words of advice: Exposure to website model pictures and online persuasive messages affects the linguistic content and style of Women’s weight-related social support messages

This study examined how exposure to thin/obese and attractive/unattractive model pictures in websites affected language use when responding to weight loss or body acceptance posts. Participants exposed to attractive models were less socially oriented as indicated by using fewer function words and pronouns. These participants also used fewer discrepancy words (e.g., could, would), which may reflect upward social comparisons and activation of physical attractiveness stereotypes. Additionally, participants exposed to obese and unattractive models used more pronouns and perception words (e.g., weight, thin), implying downward social comparisons and priming of unhealthiness stereotypes that increased attention to other people’s body shape. The findings show how words of advice are affected by situational cues including website images and persuasive posts.

Ghosts in the Machine II: Neural Correlates of Memory Interference from the Previous Trial.

Previous memoranda interfere with working memory. For example, spatial memories are biased toward locations memorized on the previous trial. We predicted, based on attractor network models of memory, that activity in the frontal eye fields (FEFs) encoding a previous target location can persist into the subsequent trial and that this ghost will then bias the readout of the current target. Contrary to this prediction, we find that FEF memory representations appear biased away from (not toward) the previous target location. The behavioral and neural data can be reconciled by a model in which receptive fields of memory neurons converge toward remembered locations, much as receptive fields converge toward attended locations. Convergence increases the resources available to encode the relevant memoranda and decreases overall error in the network, but the residual convergence from the previous trial can give rise to an attractive behavioral bias on the next trial.

Facial attractiveness, weight status, and personality trait attribution: The role of attractiveness in weight stigma

The current study examined the influence of facial attractiveness and weight status on personality trait attributions (e.g., honest, friendly) among more and less facially attractive as well as thin and overweight models. Participants viewed pictures of one of four types of models (overweight/less attractive, overweight/more attractive, thin/less attractive, thin/more attractive) and rated their attractiveness (facial, body, overall) and personality on 15 traits. Facial attractiveness and weight status additively impacted personality trait ratings. In mediation analyses, the facial attractiveness condition was no longer associated with personality traits after controlling for perceived facial attractiveness in 12 personality traits. Conversely, the thin and overweight condition was no longer associated with personality traits after controlling for perceived body attractiveness in only 2 personality traits. Post hoc moderation analysis indicated that weight status differently influenced the association between body attractiveness and personality trait attribution. Findings bear implications for attractiveness bias, weight bias, and discrimination research.

Measuring Implicit Sexual Response Biases to Nude Male and Female Pictures in Androphilic and Gynephilic Men.

Snowden, Wichter, and Gray (2008) demonstrated that an Implicit Association Test and a Priming Task both predicted the sexual orientation of gynephilic and androphilic men in terms of their attraction biases towards pictures of nude males and females. For both measures, relative bias scores were obtained, with no information on the separate response biases to each target gender. The present study sought to extend this research by assessing both relative and individual implicit biases using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). An explicit measure screened for men with androphilic (n = 16) or gynephilic (n = 16) orientations on the dimensions of “sexual attraction,” “sexual behavior,” “sexual fantasies,” “hetero/gay lifestyle,” and “self identification.” The IRAP involved responding “True” or “False” to pictures of nude males and females as either attractive or unattractive. Participants were required to respond in a manner consistent with their reported sexual orientation for half of the IRAP’s test blocks and inconsistent for the other half. Response latencies were recorded and analyzed. The IRAP revealed a non-orthogonal pattern of biases across the two groups and had an excellent ability to predict sexual orientation with areas under the curves of 1.0 for the relative bias score and .94 and .95 for the bias scores for the male and female pictures, respectively. Correlations between the IRAP and explicit measures of sexual orientation were consistently high. The findings support the IRAP as a potentially valuable tool in the study of sexual preferences.

Blinded by Beauty: Attractiveness Bias and Accurate Perceptions of Academic Performance.

Despite the old adage not to ‘judge a book by its cover’, facial cues often guide first impressions and these first impressions guide our decisions. Literature suggests there are valid facial cues that assist us in assessing someone’s health or intelligence, but such cues are overshadowed by an ‘attractiveness halo’ whereby desirable attributions are preferentially ascribed to attractive people. The impact of the attractiveness halo effect on perceptions of academic performance in the classroom is concerning as this has shown to influence students’ future performance. We investigated the limiting effects of the attractiveness halo on perceptions of actual academic performance in faces of 100 university students. Given the ambiguity and various perspectives on the definition of intelligence and the growing consensus on the importance of conscientiousness over intelligence in predicting actual academic performance, we also investigated whether perceived conscientiousness was a more accurate predictor of academic performance than perceived intelligence. Perceived conscientiousness was found to be a better predictor of actual academic performance when compared to perceived intelligence and perceived academic performance, and accuracy was improved when controlling for the influence of attractiveness on judgments. These findings emphasize the misleading effect of attractiveness on the accuracy of first impressions of competence, which can have serious consequences in areas such as education and hiring. The findings also have implications for future research investigating impression accuracy based on facial stimuli.

The Implicit Relational Assessment procedure (IRAP) and attractiveness bias

The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) was used in the area of attractiveness bias and attributions of successfulness. Alternate IRAP trial-blocks required participants to affirm consistent (attractive–successful) and inconsistent (unattractive–successful) relations; shorter mean response latencies across consistent trial-blocks were interpreted as implicit attractiveness.stereotyping. Participants also completed a rating scale for successfulness of attractive versus unattractive individuals. Both implicit and explicit (rating data) data showed statistically significant attractiveness bias for male and female participants. Directionality of bias was analyzed via the IRAP 4 trial-type methodology to determine if it was pro-attractive or anti-unattractive, or if bias was evident.in both directions, or if no bias was shown. For both gender groups, bias was shown to be proattractive.and not antiunattractive. Findings are discussed with regard to a comprehensive account of attractiveness bias, directionality, and contextual influences.

Perception and evaluation of women's bodies in adolescents and adults with anorexia nervosa.

Body image disturbance in anorexia nervosa (AN) has been widely studied with regard to the patient's own body, but little is known about perception of or attitude towards other women's bodies in AN. The aim of the present study was to investigate how 20 girls aged 12-18 years and 19 adult women suffering from AN compared to 37 healthy adolescent girls and women estimate weight and attractiveness of women's bodies belonging to different BMI categories (BMI 13.8-61.3 kg/m²). Weight and attractiveness ratings of the participant's own body and information on physical comparisons were obtained, and effects on others' weight and attractiveness ratings investigated. Differential evaluation processes were found: AN patients estimated other women's weight higher than control participants. Patients showed a bias towards assessing extremely underweight women as more attractive and normal weight and overweight women as less attractive than healthy girls and women. These effects were more pronounced in adult than in adolescent AN patients. The tendency to engage in physical comparison with others significantly correlated with weight as well as attractiveness ratings in patients. A logistic regression model encompassing own attractiveness ratings, attractiveness bias towards strongly underweight others' bodies and the interaction of this bias with age as predictors differentiated best between AN patients and controls. Our results indicate that females suffering from AN and healthy girls and women perceive other women's bodies differently. Assessment of others' weight and attractiveness may contribute to the maintenance of dysfunctional physical comparison processes.

Attractiveness and Facial Competence Bias Face‐Based Inferences of Candidate Ideology

Can voters infer candidates' political orientations from their faces? We report evidence that observers make systematic judgment errors, ascribing their own political views to attractive or competent‐looking candidates. Subjects judged headshot images of student candidates running in university elections (Experiment 1), as well as professional politicians from state election races in Germany (Experiment 2), according to whether the person(s) displayed held ideologically leftist or rightist views. While prediction accuracy was above chance level in both experiments, candidate attractiveness (Experiment 1) and perceived competence (Experiment 2) increased a subject's likelihood of attributing her political views to a candidate. These findings suggest that the value of face‐based inferences in choosing the candidate who best represents one's views is more limited than previously assumed. They also suggest that good looks may help extremist candidates in presenting themselves as more moderate.

Bayesian long branch attraction bias and corrections.

Previous work on the star-tree paradox has shown that Bayesian methods suffer from a long branch attraction bias. That work is extended to settings involving more taxa and partially resolved trees. The long branch attraction bias is confirmed to arise more broadly and an additional source of bias is found. A by-product of the analysis is methods that correct for biases toward particular topologies. The corrections can be easily calculated using existing Bayesian software. Posterior support for a set of two or more trees can thus be supplemented with corrected versions to cross-check or replace results. Simulations show the corrections to be highly effective.

Awareness is the key to attraction: dissociating the tilt illusions via conscious perception.

The tilt illusion is a compelling example of contextual influence exerted by an oriented surround on a target's perceived orientation. A vertical target appears to be tilted away from a 15° oriented surround but appears to be tilted toward a 75° tilted surround. We tested the claim that these biases result from distinct sensory processes: a low-level repulsive process and a higher-level attractive process. If this claim were correct, then surround visibility would be a requirement for attraction, but it would not necessarily be a requirement for repulsion. Indeed, Motoyoshi and Hayakawa (2010) have demonstrated that repulsion can survive removal of the surround from phenomenal awareness using adaptation-induced blindness. Here we sought to test this prediction by measuring the orientation biases in a parafoveally presented Gabor patch surrounded by tilted gratings after 20-s adaptation. The adapting stimulus was an annularly windowed plaid composed of vertical and horizontal jittering gratings. Observers were instructed to maintain fixation throughout the trial and report whether the Gabor appeared to be tilted clockwise or anticlockwise of vertical. They also had to indicate whether the surround was visible after adaptation. Postadaptation biases were then compared with those obtained in a control experiment without dynamic adaptation. We found large repulsive biases induced by 15° oriented surrounds, but no attractive biases were induced by 75° tilted surrounds. This result shows that attractive effects do require visual awareness and thereby provides robust evidence for the existence of two separate mechanisms mediating the phenomenology of the tilt illusions.

Measuring sexual dimorphism with a race-gender face space.

Faces are complex visual objects, and faces chosen to vary in 1 regard may unintentionally vary in other ways, particularly if the correlation is a property of the population of faces. Here, we present an example of a correlation that arises from differences in the degree of sexual dimorphism. In Experiment 1, paired similarity ratings were collected for a set of 40 real face images chosen to vary in terms of gender and race (Asian vs. White). Multidimensional scaling (MDS) placed these stimuli in a "face space," with different attributes corresponding to different dimensions. Gender was found to vary more for White faces, resulting in a negative or positive correlation between gender and race when only considering male or only considering female faces. This increased sexual dimorphism for White faces may provide an alternative explanation for differences in face processing between White and Asian faces (e.g., the own-race bias, face attractiveness biases, etc.). Studies of face processing that are unconfounded by this difference in the degree of sexual dimorphism require stimuli that are decorrelated in terms of race and gender. Decorrelated faces were created using a morphing technique, spacing the morphs uniformly around a ring in the 2-dimensional (2D) race-gender plane. In Experiment 2, paired similarity ratings confirmed the 2D positions of the morph faces. In Experiment 3, race and gender category judgments varied uniformly for these decorrelated stimuli. Our results and stimuli should prove useful for studying sexual dimorphism and for the study of face processing more generally.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Scutopus ventrolineatus (Mollusca: Chaetodermomorpha) supports the Aculifera hypothesis.

BackgroundWith more than 100000 living species, mollusks are the second most diverse metazoan phylum. The current taxonomic classification of mollusks recognizes eight classes (Neomeniomorpha, Chaetodermomorpha, Polyplacophora, Monoplacophora, Cephalopoda, Gastropoda, Bivalvia, and Scaphopoda) that exhibit very distinct body plans. In the past, phylogenetic relationships among mollusk classes have been contentious due to the lack of indisputable morphological synapomorphies. Fortunately, recent phylogenetic analyses based on multi-gene data sets are rendering promising results. In this regard, mitochondrial genomes have been widely used to reconstruct deep phylogenies. For mollusks, complete mitochondrial genomes are mostly available for gastropods, bivalves, and cephalopods, whereas other less-diverse lineages have few or none reported.ResultsThe complete DNA sequence (14662 bp) of the mitochondrial genome of the chaetodermomorph Scutopus ventrolineatus Salvini-Plawen, 1968 was determined. Compared with other mollusks, the relative position of protein-coding genes in the mitochondrial genome of S. ventrolineatus is very similar to those reported for Polyplacophora, Cephalopoda and early-diverging lineages of Bivalvia and Gastropoda (Vetigastropoda and Neritimorpha; but not Patellogastropoda). The reconstructed phylogenetic tree based on combined mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data recovered monophyletic Aplacophora, Aculifera, and Conchifera. Within the latter, Cephalopoda was the sister group of Gastropoda and Bivalvia + Scaphopoda.ConclusionsPhylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial sequences showed strong among-lineage rate heterogeneity that produced long-branch attraction biases. Removal of long branches (namely those of bivalves and patellogastropods) ameliorated but not fully resolved the problem. Best results in terms of statistical support were achieved when mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data were concatenated.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-014-0197-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Effects of Race of Attractiveness Ratings and Individuals Physical Attractiveness Stereotypes

Effects of Race of Attractiveness Ratings and Individuals Physical Attractiveness Stereotypes

A Bayesian observer model constrained by efficient coding accounts for both attractive and repulsive biases

Bayesian observer models have been quite successful in accounting for perceptual behavior. However, it is a common challenge to specify the two fundamental components of a Bayesian model, the prior distribution and the likelihood function, because they are formally unconstrained. We argue that a perceptual system that is adapted to the statistical structure of its environment naturally imposes constraints on its corresponding Bayesian model description. In particular, we assume the prior to reflect the stimulus distribution and the likelihood to be constrained by a sensory representation that is efficient. We show that these assumptions lead to an observer model that makes two counter-intuitive predictions: First, perceptual biases can be repulsive (i.e. biased away from the peak of the prior), which is in stark contrast to the traditional Bayesian view. Second, the model predicts that neural and stimulus noise are differentially affecting perceptual bias, with larger neural noise leading to an increase in repulsive bias while larger stimulus noise leading to a decrease. We tested our model against reported experimental data regarding two perceptual variables for which the natural stimulus statistics are known (orientation and spatial frequency of visual stimuli). We found that the model predicts the reported repulsive biases from the cardinal orientations and low spatial frequencies, respectively. Furthermore, it also accounts for the observed increase in bias with increasing levels of neural noise, as well as the relative attractive bias when comparing stimuli with high versus low stimulus noise. The model is capable of making quantitative predictions up to a scaling factor for any perceptual variable for which the stimulus statistics are known. Our results suggest that efficient coding provides a powerful constraint in specifying Bayesian observer models, and leads to successful predictions of perceptual effects that have been considered incompatible with the Bayesian framework. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2014

Contributions of dental colour to the physical attractiveness stereotype.

Dental appearance may play a key role on the way we develop a first impression of another person. To test whether relatively minor changes in the lightness of tooth colour would influence the perceived social appeal (social, intellectual, psychological and relational abilities) of an unknown male and unknown female, this cross-sectional study was performed on 555 Spanish adults. The two major independent variables related to the photograph were tooth lightness (computer-derived), divided into three levels that included lightened teeth, natural teeth and darkened teeth, and the gender of the observed face. Moreover, six independent variables related to the observer were assessed (age, gender, educational level, place of residence, frequency of brushing and self-reported health status). The dependent variables were scored on five-point Likert scales designed to quantify four domains (social, intellectual, psychological and relationship competences) of the Social Appeal Scale (SAS). Tooth lightness influences the perception of social appeal in all dimensions, as darkened smiles received significantly poorer scores than natural-colour smiles, but these were also worse than lightened smiles. A logistic regression analysis revealed that the major predictor of social appeal was tooth lightness, and for each increment in lightness (from darkened to lightened smiles), the odds ratio (OR) of positive values being perceived increased significantly in all items (from 2·3 in Popularity to 6·9 in Happiness). A perceptible change in dental lightness is the strongest factor associated with the dental attractiveness stereotype, affecting significantly the 12 traits assessed, but mainly the Happiness, Social Relations and Academic Performance.

Body Weight Bias in Hiring Decisions: Identifying Explanatory Mechanisms

We examined the impact of job applicant body weight on employability ratings via the mediators of obesity and physical attractiveness stereotypes, organizational costs, and rational bias. The moderating effect of job type was also examined. A sample of 202 (75% female) university students assessed a job applicant on the basis of a résumé which was accompanied by a photograph (overweight vs. average weight) and a position description (face-to-face vs. telephone sales). Results revealed that the overweight applicant was rated significantly higher on the obesity stereotype, significantly lower on the physical attractiveness stereotype, and as significantly less employable. Stereotypes failed to mediate between applicant weight and employability, and rational bias only was found to be a significant mediator. There was no significant interaction between applicant weight and job type when the mediators were controlled. Our findings in this study underscore the importance of examining multiple pathways from applicant weight to employment-related weight discrimination.

Children's Attractiveness, Gender, and Race Biases: A Comparison of Their Strength and Generality

Although research suggests that facial attractiveness biases significantly affect social development and interactions, these biases are understudied in the developmental literature and are overlooked when designing interventions relative to gender and race. The authors, therefore, compared how much bias 3- to 11-year-olds (N=102) displayed in the three domains. They also examined whether bias and flexibility (understanding that different social groups can possess similar attributes) were related across domains. Children's attractiveness biases, particularly for girl targets, were as strong as or stronger than gender or race biases. Flexibility, but not bias, was related across domains. Developmental scientists and policy makers should increase efforts toward understanding development of attractiveness biases and determine which methods of teaching flexibility are most successful at reducing bias across domains.

Assessing the What Is Beautiful Is Good Stereotype and the Influence of Moderately Attractive and Less Attractive Advertising Models on Self-Perception, Ad Attitudes, and Purchase Intentions of 8–13-Year-Old Children

This paper investigates (1) whether the physical attractiveness stereotype applies to children, (2) whether children’s self-perception is influenced by the attractiveness of an advertising model, (3) whether children’s attitudes towards an ad and buying intentions for a non-beauty-related product are influenced by the attractiveness of an advertising model, and (4) whether age affects (1), (2), and (3). Results of two experimental studies with respectively 8–9-year-old (N = 75) and 12–13 year old (N = 57) girls and boys confirm the presence of the physical attractiveness stereotype in children. The presence of a moderately attractive (vs. less attractive) model has a negative influence on general self-worth for 8–9-year-old boys, but not for girls, nor for 12–13-year-old children. Exposure to a moderately attractive (vs. less attractive) model also has a positive influence on perceived physical appearance of 8–9-year-old girls, but this effect does not occur for boys, nor for 12–13-year-olds. The studies also show that moderately attractive (vs. less attractive) models increase attitudes and buying intentions for 8–9-year-olds, but not for 12–13-year-old boys and girls.

R-metathesis in English: An account based on perception and frequency of use

The main properties of r-metathesis in English are its bi-directionality, variability and the attractive biases towards r created by some consonants but not by others. This article argues that a fully predictive and explanatory account of r-metathesis must consider evidence from two areas: phonetics and language use. On the perception side, the indeterminacy of the temporal organization of sequences involving r is an effective predictor of the instability of metathesis. The proposed analysis makes reference to extended phonetic cues and intrusive vowels that appear in the context of rhotics. The language-specific frequency of occurrence of phonotactic patterns is held responsible for the greater chance of some clusters to arise through metathesis than others. It is demonstrated that r-metathesis is best defined as a listener-initiated process rooted in perception. Abstract concepts like markedness have no obvious role to play as the process does not optimize syllable structure, nor does it improve on featural similarity.

When Romance and Rivalry Awaken

Previous research indicates positive effects of a person's attractiveness on evaluations of opposite-sex persons, but less positive or even negative effects of attractiveness on same-sex evaluations. These biases are consistent with social motives linked to mate search and intrasexual rivalry. In line with the hypothesis that such motives should not become operative until after puberty, 6- to 12-year-old participants (i.e., children) displayed no evidence for biased social evaluations based on other people's attractiveness. In contrast, 13- to 19-year-old participants (i.e., adolescents) displayed positive and negative attractiveness biases toward opposite- and same-sex targets, respectively. Moreover, these biases increased with the age-and thus the reproductive relevance-of the targets being evaluated. Findings corroborate the relevance of mating-related motives for social judgment and illustrate how such biases can grow during human development. At a broader conceptual level, this research demonstrates the utility of investigating proximate social judgment processes through the lens of adaptationist thinking.