Judgments Of Facial Attractiveness Research Articles

Vocal and Facial Attractiveness Judgments of Children, Adolescents and Adults: the Ontogeny of Mate Choice

AbstractPhysical traits are thought to be used as indicators of mate quality, allowing individuals to select mates most likely to help them bear the fittest offspring. As the capacity for human sexual behaviour emerges at puberty, we investigated whether adult‐like judgments of the relative attractiveness of opposite‐sex individuals also arise at puberty. Following previous research, we focussed on facial and vocal attractiveness, which are known to be used in human mate choice and to carry concordant information regarding mate quality. Here we show that males with more attractive faces have more attractive voices as judged by female adults and adolescents, but not by female children. This suggests that cues of facial and vocal attractiveness provide similar information, but that awareness of these cues does not develop fully until reproductive capability, when mate choice judgments become relevant. Adolescents’ judgments also mirrored those of adults in that, like adults, they preferred lower‐pitched male voices, and as a group made concordant judgments about facial attractiveness. However, they did not make similarly concordant judgments about vocal attractiveness, suggesting that a further period of maturation and learning is required to fully develop optimal judgments for mate choice.

An Objective System for Measuring Facial Attractiveness

Research over the past 20 years has shown that judgments of facial attractiveness are universal; people from all cultures and backgrounds rank and rate faces for attractiveness the same. As such a model for objectively rating facial attractiveness is theoretically plausible, if designed, it would have many uses, including outcomes analysis in plastic surgery of the face. The authors tested a schematic facial composite/prototype mathematical model (the phi mask created by Dr. Stephen Marquardt) as a method for measuring facial attractiveness in an objective manner. Thirty-seven male and 35 female faces of 18- to 30-year-old whites of European extraction were rated, as were 31 composite faces of each sex using both Internet and direct survey judges. The faces were tested against the phi mask model analyzing deviations of facial anthropometric points from corresponding phi mask nodal points using equivalent weightings, and weightings arrived at by way of multiple linear regression. The deviation from the phi mask significantly correlates with attractiveness, explaining from 25 to 75 percent of the variance in attractiveness judgments, depending on the methodology used. The phi mask model supports averageness or prototypicality of the face as being the major component of the facial attractiveness gestalt and is a first step in producing an objective system for measuring facial attractiveness.

Once more: Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Relative contributions of private and shared taste to judgments of facial attractiveness.

Misconstruing the meaning of Cronbach's alpha, experts on facial attractiveness have conveyed the impression that facial-attractiveness judgment standards are largely shared. This claim is unsubstantiated, because information necessary for deciding whether judgments of facial attractiveness are more influenced by commonly shared or by privately held evaluation standards is lacking. Three experiments, using diverse face and rater samples to investigate the relative contributions of private and shared taste to judgments of facial attractiveness, are reported. These experiments show that for a variety of ancillary conditions, and contrary to the prevalent notion in the literature, private taste is about as powerful as shared taste. Important implications for scientific research strategy and laypeople's self-esteem are discussed.

Raise your hand if you think I am attractive: Second and fourth digit ratio as a predictor of self- and other-ratings of attractiveness

The 2D:4D digit ratio is sexually dimorphic where males have a lower 2D:4D than females. That is, the 4th digit (ring) is longer than the 2nd digit (index) in males. Researchers suggest that prenatal influences account for sex and ethnic differences found in 2D:4D ( Manning, 2002; Manning et al., 2000). The current study examines the prenatal effects and their relationship to judgments of facial attractiveness over two levels each of gender (male, female) and ethnicity (Hispanic, Anglo). Findings indicate that 2D:4D is not a good predictor of self- or perceived-attractiveness regardless of gender and ethnicity. These results suggest that developmental timing and/or experimental methods may account for the non-significant findings.

The influence of sexual orientation on participants’ judgements of facial attractiveness in older women

This paper explores whether sexual orientation has a significant effect on men and women's perceptions of attractiveness of 36–41-year-old women, and tests the validity of inversion theories of homosexuality. Previous research has established that female age is more salient to men than to women when judging female attractiveness. A web-based survey was implemented, attracting 135 male and 150 female British and American participants. They rated the age and attractiveness of 13 female images. Separate MANCOVAs were performed to analyse the effect of participant sex and sexual orientation on the perception of attractiveness. Consistent with prior research, men's ratings of attractiveness were lower than those of female participants. Sexual orientation was not found to be a significant variable in men's perceptions of attractiveness. The attractiveness ratings given by homosexual and bisexual women were significantly lower than those of heterosexual women. Sexual orientation may therefore be relevant to the ...

The role of masculinity and distinctiveness in judgments of human male facial attractiveness.

Masculinity and distinctiveness have been found to influence the attractiveness of human male faces. The relationship between masculinity and distinctiveness, however, has received little attention. In Expt 1, we examine how current averaging techniques and manipulated sexual dimorphism influence ratings of attractiveness, masculinity, and distinctiveness. In agreement with previous studies, composite faces were found to be more attractive than individual faces. Averaging resulted in increased ratings of attractiveness but decreased ratings of masculinity and distinctiveness. This supports both that attractiveness is related to averageness and findings showing a preference for feminine traits in male faces. When controlling for attractiveness, no significant relationship was found between masculinity and distinctiveness. Manipulating sexual dimorphism did not alter distinctiveness ratings, indicating that feminized and masculinized faces are equally distinctive. These results are suggestive that masculinity and distinctiveness are separable components in face perception. In Expt 2, we look to improve on previous studies utilizing composite faces by examining how averaging in texture-only or shape-only changes perceptions of attractiveness, masculinity, and distinctiveness. Averaging in both shape and texture were found to increase attractiveness independently, showing that the increased attractiveness of composites is due to the combined action of these two manipulations.

Facial attractiveness judgements reflect learning of parental age characteristics.

Mate preferences are shaped by infant experience of parental characteristics in a wide variety of species. Similar processes in humans may lead to physical similarity between parents and mates, yet this possibility has received little attention. The age of parents is one salient physical characteristic that offspring may attend to. The current study used computer-graphic faces to examine how preferences for age in faces were influenced by parental age. We found that women born to 'old' parents (over 30) were less impressed by youth, and more attracted to age cues in male faces than women with 'young' parents (under 30). For men, preferences for female faces were influenced by their mother's age and not their father's age, but only for long-term relationships. These data indicate that judgements of facial attractiveness in humans reflect the learning of parental characteristics.

Computer graphic studies of the role of facial similarity in judgements of attractiveness

Anecdotally, spouses are often said to resemble one another. This study investigates the effects of similarity between participants and stimuli on judgements of facial attractiveness: does “like prefer like”? Using computer graphic techniques, opposite sex facial stimuli were generated from subjects' photographs. Experiment 1 showed a correlation between attractiveness and similarity but the effect can be explained by the attractiveness of average faces. Beyond this, there was a trend for individual subjects to rate opposite sex images with a similar face shape to their own face as more attractive than other subjects. Experiment 2 allowed subjects to interactively manipulate an opposite sex facial image along a continuum from a self-similar shape, through an average face shape, to a face with opposite characteristics. No significant preferences for self-similar or opposite characteristics were found. Preferences for average faces are stronger than preferences for self-similar faces.

Facial attractiveness and the aged.

This study examined the relationship between dentofacial appearance and judgments of facial attractiveness in a sample of 60 subjects between ages 65 and 75. Subjects completed questionnaires regarding their current dental appearance and level of satisfaction with their facial attractiveness. Subjects then viewed and ranked four sets of five photographs that had been digitally manipulated to simulate common dental defects. Regardless of background facial attractiveness or gender of stimulus photographs, a specific ranking order for dental defects emerged with rank-order correlations in the 90% range. Findings suggest that dental appearance affects judgments of facial attractiveness regardless of gender or background facial attractiveness.

Effects of Social Deviance Labels on Judgements of Facial Attractiveness: A Comparison of Labelling Procedures Using Japanese Raters

Are people labelled as social deviants also perceived as less physically attractive? Four studies conducted in Japan examined judgements of male social‐deviants' attractiveness using several labelling procedures. Study 1 determined attractiveness judgement and social distance of various social groups, and Study 2 examined the effect of three labels on attractiveness judgement of 16 portraits. In Studies 3 and 4 subjects were asked to match 8 or an unlimited number of the 16 portraits with the same 3 labels. Findings indicate that labelling a person negatively resulted in a decrease in attractiveness ratings. Overall, however, the labelling pattern was found to affect attractiveness judgement. Finally, this study provides cross‐cultural support for the stereotypical association between social deviants and low attractiveness.

Perceptual asymmetries in judgements of facial attractiveness, age, gender, speech and expression

Lateralization of perception of various facial attributes (age, attractiveness, gender, lip-reading and expression) was studied using chimaeric faces in which the sides of the face differed along one dimension (e.g. the left side was male and the right side female). Computer graphics were used to eliminate naturally occurring physical asymmetries (e.g. those present in the mouth during speech and spontaneous smiles) and obvious vertical mid-line joins in the photo-realistic chimaeric stimuli. Following previous studies, we found that subjects' judgements of gender and expression were influenced more by the left than the right side of the face (viewer's perspective). This left of face stimulus bias extended to judgements about facial attractiveness and facial age. This was not true of lip-reading stimuli; for these stimuli subjects were influenced more by the right than the left side of the face. Thus using free fixation, it appears possible to demonstrate in normal subjects that brain processes underlying judgements of facial speech display different lateralization from the judgements of other facial dimensions.

Facial asymmetry and attractiveness judgment in developmental perspective.

This study examined the role of facial symmetry in the judgment of physical attractiveness. Four experiments investigated people's preference for either somewhat asymmetrical portraits or their symmetrical chimeric composites when presented simultaneously. Experiment 1 found a higher selection rate for symmetrical faces with neutral expression for portraits of old people, and Experiment 2 indicated this may be because symmetry serves as cue for youth in old age. In Experiments 3 and 4 participants examined portraits with emotional expressions. Experiment 3 found a higher selection rate for asymmetrical faces, and Experiment 4 indicated this may be because observers perceived them as more genuine and natural. This study suggests that the low degree of facial asymmetry found in normal people does not affect attractiveness ratings (except for old age), probably because observers are not tuned to perceive it.

Rating of facial attractiveness.

Epidemiologic investigations of orthodontic treatment should include both objective clinical measures and elements of perceptual assessment in the definition of malocclusion and skeletal disproportion. The effect of dental training and the view of the face presented as a stimulus on judgments of facial attractiveness were evaluated using a method recommended by Howells & Shaw (1) for epidemiologic surveys. Three views (two full face and one profile) of 18 orthodontic patients were presented as stimuli to three panels of judges with different levels of dental training (16 orthodontic residents, 17 dental students, and 71 undergraduate students). Ratings for facial attractiveness were obtained using a visual analog scale. The visual analog scores given the series of 54 slides by each judge were then ranked to create a "location-free" outcome measure. Both the ratings and the rankings of these ratings differed significantly among the three views for 80% of the patients. However, no view was consistently rated or ranked as most attractive across all patients. The ordering of the views from least to most attractive for a given patient appears to be highly dependent on the patient being presented as stimulus. Future studies should consider showing multiple views of a subject simultaneously if the intent is to obtain an overall treatment need score that incorporates assessment of facial attractiveness. The patients were consistently rated as more attractive by the orthodontic residents than by either dental or undergraduate students. When the ranks were analyzed, there were significant differences between the panels but the consistent pattern of differences between the panels disappeared.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A developmental study of children's stereotyping of facially deformed adults.

A frequent complaint of facially deformed people is that they are rejected by others. This study was designed to examine whether negative reactions to facially deformed people would be demonstrated by girls and boys aged 5-11 years. The children were asked to attribute positive or negative characteristics to photographs in which adults were shown before and after minor oral surgery. Despite the relatively small differences in appearance between each adult's before- and after-operation photographs, it was found that, whereas overall the younger children selected faces at around chance level (i.e. 50 per cent), the 11-year-olds on 75 per cent of occasions selected in response to questions concerning friendliness and helping (deemed 'positive') the after-operation photographs, and in response to questions concerning fear and anger (deemed 'negative') the before-operation photographs. When the children's own judgements of facial attractiveness were related to the faces they had chosen in response to positive and negative questions, while again for the five-year-olds only chance responding (50 per cent) was observed, by age seven 75 per cent, and by age 11 90 per cent, of choices suggested facial stereotyping.

Judgments of facial attractiveness in the absence of eye movements

Forty portraits were selected from a larger number of portraits previously rated by five judges on a 6-step scale of attractiveness. In a subsequent study, subjects also rated the 40 faces on the same scale, but viewing time was restricted to either 150 or 1,000 msec per portrait. Even at exposures of 150 msec, correlation of subjects’ ratings with judges’ ratings was highly reliable.