Facial Attractiveness Research Articles

Beauty premium: the impact of CEO facial attractiveness on corporate social responsibility

Purpose Face is the most intuitive and representative feature at the individual level. Many studies show that beautiful faces help individuals and enterprises obtain economic benefits and form a high economic premium, but the discussion of their potential social value is insufficient. This study aims to focus on the impact of the personal characteristics of executives. It mainly analyzes the impact mechanism of CEO facial attractiveness on corporate social responsibility (CSR) decision-making, clarifying the social value of beauty from the perspective of CSR. Design/methodology/approach The authors use the regression model to analyze the panel data set, which was conducted by a sample of Chinese publicly listed firms from 2016 to 2018. Findings The study found that CEOs with high facial attractiveness are more active in fulfilling CSR, which can usually bring higher social benefits. CEOs with beautiful faces are prone to overconfidence, are optimistic about their ability and the future development of the enterprise and are more willing to increase their investment in CSR. CEO duality can positively regulate the positive correlation between a CEO’s facial attractiveness and CSR. Originality/value Based on the perspective of upper echelons theory, this paper explores the mechanism of CEO facial attractiveness on CSR. This study enriches the perspective of the upper echelon’s theoretical research and has essential enlightenment for CEO selection and training practice.

The influence of featural and configural changes on the attractiveness evaluation of one’s own face

ABSTRACT In the present study, featural changes and configural changes were manipulated to explore the influence of such changes on the attractiveness evaluation of participants' own faces and other faces. Thirty female and 30 male participants were asked to complete three tasks, i.e., similarity rating of a given face to the original face, paired comparison of facial attractiveness, and subjective evaluation of facial attractiveness, on the same-sex original faces, featural faces and configural faces. The results revealed that the rank order of the attractiveness ratings of the three types of faces was generally identical: original faces > featural faces > configural faces, for both self-faces and other faces in male and female participants. More importantly, faces with configural changes were rated as less attractive than faces with featural changes, which is consistent with the configurational hypothesis. These findings have important implications for facial beautification.

HOW DOES WEARING A FACE MASK AFFECT PERSONS TRUSTWORTHINESS AND ATTRACTIVENES

Face masks became a necessary part of everyday life during the Covid-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, most people associated face masks with health care facilities and immunocompromised people. This effect leads to a lower evaluation of the attractiveness of the wearer's face. People's attractiveness correlates with trustworthiness and willingness to communicate. This study examined how the Covid-19 pandemic affected people's perceptions of attractiveness and trustworthiness when looking at faces with face masks. To investigate this question, research participants were presented with a series of photographs of men and women who were divided into three attractivity groups, wearing a black face mask, a white face mask, a blue surgical face mask, and faces without masks. A total of 209 respondents participated in the survey, 80.9% were female and 19.1% were male. Of these, 42.1% of respondents said they were in a relationship and 57.9% said they were not. As many as 80.9% of the respondents were aged between 18-25 years, 10% of the respondents were aged between 26-30 years and 9.1% of the respondents were aged above 30 years. The average age of respondents was 23.6 years. The results showed that the least attractive and trustworthy were the faces without face masks. Faces covered with a black face mask were perceived to be the most attractive and trustworthy. A statistically significant difference was found between men's and women's ratings of trustworthiness and attractiveness in favour of women. The influence of gender, age and relationship status of raters (respondents) on the attractiveness and trustworthiness ratings of models.

The Effects of Live Streamer's Facial Attractiveness and Product Type on Consumer Purchase Intention: An Exploratory Study with Eye Tracking Technology.

As a booming branch of online retailing, live-streaming e-commerce can present abundant information dimensions and diverse forms of expression. Live-streaming e-commerce has enabled online retailers to interact with customers face-to-face, resulting in widespread instances of emotional and impulse buying behavior. Prior research in live-streaming e-commerce has suggested that live streamers' characteristics, especially the live streamer's face, can affect customers' purchase intentions. The present research used questionnaire surveys and an eye tracking experiment to investigate the impact of live streamer's facial attractiveness on consumer purchase intention for search-based and experience-based products. The questionnaire survey analyzed 309 valid questionnaires and revealed that attractive faces are the key influencing factor driving consumers' impulse purchase intentions. Moreover, consumers' emotional experience plays a partial mediating role in the process of live streamers' faces influencing purchase intention. The eye tracking experiment further explored the mechanism of a live streamer's facial attractiveness on consumers' purchase intentions of search-based products and experience-based products from the perspective of visual attention by analyzing 64 valid sets of data. The results showed that attractive faces attract more consumers' attention and, therefore, increase their purchase intention. Furthermore, there is a significant interaction between product type, the live streamer's facial attractiveness, and consumers' purchase intentions. In the case of unattractive live streamers, consumers are more likely to buy search-based products than experience-based products, while the purchase intention does not vary between search-based products and experience-based products in the case of attractive live streamers. The present study provides evidence for 'beauty premium' in live-streaming e-commerce and sheds light on the design of the match between live streamers and different types of products.

Anthropometric Analysis of Indian Faces: A Systematic Review.

Facial anthropometric data vary significantly within the Indian population due to the racial, ethnic and geographic diversity. The anthropometric data of a given ethnic community may not match the other due to diverse ethnic variations, and hence, this study is intended to review the facial anthropometric data pertaining to the diverse Indian populace through a systematic literature survey. An electronic search done on Medline, Embase and Central databases was utilized to conduct a systematic review of literature. The available data were analyzed based on the various esthetic subunits of the face. The following inclusion criteria were considered: (1) studies depicting the anthropometric data of any ethnic group identified as belonging to India, (2) studies originating from Indian subcontinent, (3) studies which included data of male and female subjects separately and (4) articles in English language only. The following exclusion criteria were considered: (1) atudies conducted on participants with severe malocclusion, developmental craniofacial anomalies, post-traumatic facial deformities or with a history of previous craniofacial or cosmetic surgery, (2) studies which did not specify the anthropometric landmarks used to obtain the measurements, (3) studies in which the statistical analysis was not provided, or if data were grouped across genders and (4) editorials, commentaries, case reports, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and articles not available in English language. Twenty-one articles met the inclusion criteria. Majority of the Indians, particularly men, seem to have a mesoproscopic facial phenotype. The vertical and horizontal facial dimensions of the Indian male are comparably larger than the Indian female. There is sexual dimorphism among the Indian population with regard to the upper and lower thirds of the face, with little or no gender difference as regards the middle third of the face. It was observed that the nasal dimensions of the Indian race were not compatible with that of the occidental, oriental or the western race. The overall facial structure and the upper half of the face were critical in determining facial attractiveness in Indian males while the lower half of the face and the mandibular contour were critical in determining facial attractiveness in females. It is observed that there is a paucity of facial anthropometric data for the Indian population considering the ethnic, racial and geographic diversity. Since the prevalence of craniofacial anomalies and dentofacial deformities in India is high and thus the scope for corrective surgery, it is important to compile baseline facial anthropometric data based on the ethnic diversity of the Indian population.

The golden-mean fallacy: A medium-attractiveness face predicts less funding on a crowdfunding platform

We examine the effects of facial attractiveness stereotyping in reward-based crowdfunding decisions. Our findings indicate that to a certain extent, a project creator's facial attractiveness is a valid heuristic cue that influences the evaluation of the project's future potential. Based on a large dataset, we propose a U-shaped relationship between project creators’ facial attractiveness and crowdfunding performance. The results imply that potential backers believe that projects initiated by creators whose facial attractiveness is either high or low (vs. medium) have greater future potential, leading to better crowdfunding performance. Additionally, we find that the effects of attractiveness are moderated by the narrative person used in the project introduction and by project updates on the project's progress schedule. Specifically, the U-shaped effect is stronger when attractive (vs. less attractive) project creators describe their projects in first- (vs. third-) person narration, and the effects of facial attractiveness are also enhanced by project updates. Our findings suggest that facial attractiveness is an actionable funding tool, thereby extending our understanding of the complex effect of facial attractiveness in funding.

Male-to-female transgenders demonstrated unique perspectives on perceived facial attractiveness and orthognathic surgery need

The esthetic preference and decision concerning undergoing orthognathic surgery in the transgender population have not been reported. The aims of this study were to examine the influence of the sagittal mandibular position on the esthetic perception and perceived surgery need in male-to-female transgenders (MTFTs) compared with male and female laypeople. A questionnaire study was performed by male-to-female transgender, male and female laypeople. Three-dimensional black & white male and female facial images with facial contour angle (FCA) of 3°, 1°, 5°, 9°,13°, 17°, and 21° were shown to the participants. The participants scored the images' perceived facial attractiveness using visual analog scales (VAS) and indicated whether orthognathic surgery was needed. The participants included 85 MTFTs, 85 males, and 85 females. The results revealed that there were significant differences in the VAS scores between the MTFT and male participants. The MTFTs rated the male images with prognathism of 1° and -3°FCA in significantly lower scores compared with the males (P = 0.033, P = 0.010). Female images with prognathism 1°FCA was rated by the MTFTs in significantly lower scores compared with the males (P = 0.041). A significantly higher number of surgery needs was found in the MTFTs compared with the other groups. Gender influences esthetic perception and the decision to undergo orthognathic surgery. MTFTs have a unique perspective on facial esthetics, being more desirous of surgery than males and females. Clinicians should be aware of the ideal expectation in facial esthetics in MTFTs.

Sexual orientation as a contextual frame for attractiveness judgments.

Despite strong consensus about the basic features that make someone look objectively attractive, contextual variation may modulate subjective assessments. Here, we investigate how social group membership provides such a context, comparing attractiveness judgments between lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) versus straight perceivers, and examining how these attractiveness judgments relate to beliefs about the target person's sexual orientation. We indeed find that perceivers rate targets as more attractive when they believe the target's sexual majority/minority status matches their own (Study 1). This association differs according to context, however: Although straight and LGB perceivers evaluate the components of facial attractiveness similarly (Study 2), straight men use attractiveness as a cue to sexual orientation (i.e., deeming unattractive women lesbians; Study 3) whereas LGB perceivers use sexual orientation as a cue to attractiveness (e.g., gay men rate men they believe are gay as more attractive than men they believe are straight; Studies 4 and 5). Thus, LGB identity seems to create a context in which sexual minority perceivers learn to attend to information about sexual diversity that straight perceivers may ignore. These findings highlight how group membership provides a lens for social perception, specifically pointing to how the contextual mindset of partner selection may transmute otherwise objective judgments, such as facial attractiveness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Tooth Colour and Facial Attractiveness: Study Protocol for Self-Perception with a Gender-Based Approach.

(1) Background. The aim of the present protocol is to assess whether self-perception of tooth colour and facial attractiveness correlates with gender and mood state. (2) Study protocol. The protocol foresees a cross-sectional clinical study, developed by Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, Department of Oral and MaxilloFacial Sciences, and 15 UNID (Unione Nazionale Igienisti Dentali-National Union of Dental Hygienists)-affiliated clinical centers in Italy. The protocol consists of a clinical visit, during which photographic documentation of the face and smile is collected with spectrophotometric evaluation of tooth colour. During the visit, two validated questionnaires are filled in. The first one is filled by the operator for the collection of data on: i) patient's face and smile colorimetric characteristics; ii) patient's and operator's evaluations of the dental colour and smile attractiveness. The second one is completed by the patient for the assessment of his/her mood state. (3) Conclusions. This protocol highlights the importance in aesthetic dentistry of a gender-specific approach and the limitations of gender-neutral models, revealing the existing gender differences in aesthetic self-perception. In addition, the colour-matching relationships between facial and dental colour characteristics will be explored. This approach improves the accuracy and personalization of aesthetic assessments in dentistry, by addressing personalized and gender-specific needs. A gender-inclusive methodology that takes a more nuanced and culturally aware approach to aesthetic dentistry is a useful adjunct to modern clinical practices.

The role of attention in the effect of facial attractiveness on time perception.

Recent research has indicated that attractive faces often cause a dilation of our time perception thus affecting physical and mental health, and speculates that this could be relevant to the fact that attractive faces capture people's attention.Nevertheless, there was no direct experimental data to support this speculation. The present work was designed to illustrate how attention affects time perception of facial attractiveness. It utilized two experiments to investigate this phenomenon. In Experiment 1, perception of timing and attention bias were assessed using a temporal reproduction task and a dot-probe task. Increased attention bias was found to mediate the time dilation effect of facial attractiveness. Experiment 2 adopted dual-task paradigm, combining a temporal reproduction task and attractiveness rating task, to manipulate attention allocation. The findings suggested that allocating more attention to the task requiring timing enhanced the time dilation effect caused by the faces. Results of Experiments 1 and 2 converge to show that attention plays an essential role in the effects of facial attractiveness on time perception.

The “Central Tendency Bias” in the assessment of facial attractiveness in group-based and individual ratings—A survey-based study in 727 volunteers

BackgroundThe increasing number of esthetic procedures emphasizes the need for effective evaluation methods of outcomes. Current practices include the individual practitioners' judgment in conjunction with standardized scales, often relying on the comparison of before and after photographs. This study investigates whether comparative evaluations influence the perception of beauty and aims to enhance the accuracy of esthetic assessments in clinical and research settings. ObjectiveTo compare the evaluation of attractiveness and gender characteristics of faces in group-based versus individual ratings. MethodsA sample of 727 volunteers (average age of 29.5 years) assessed 40 facial photographs (20 male, 20 female) for attractiveness, masculinity, and femininity using a 5-point Likert scale. Each face was digitally edited to display varying ratios in four lip-related proportions: vertical lip position, lip width, upper lip esthetics, and lower lip esthetics. Participants rated these images both in an image series (group-based) and individually. ResultsDifferences in the perception of the most attractive/masculine/feminine ratios for each lip proportion were found in both the group-based and individual ratings. Group ratings exhibited a significant central tendency bias, with a preference for more average outcomes compared with individual ratings, with an average difference of 0.50 versus 1.00. (p = 0.033) ConclusionA central tendency bias was noted in evaluations of attractiveness, masculinity, and femininity in group-based image presentation, indicating a bias toward more “average” features. Conversely, individual assessments displayed a preference for more pronounced, “non-average” appearances, thereby possibly pointing toward a malleable "intrinsic esthetic blueprint" shaped by comparative context.

Frontal facial analysis of female celebrity attractiveness standards through artificial intelligence

The contemporary significance of celebrities’ facial aesthetics underscores their heightened importance in shaping attractiveness standards. This retrospective study aimed to investigate the impact of patterns on aesthetic canons in the profile views of female celebrities, using artificial intelligence. The study sought to compare different races and propose standards for attractive faces.In this retrospective cohort study, a Python-based algorithm was used to analyze frontal patterns and evaluate their influence on aesthetic norms in publicly accessible images of female global celebrities. Ten ideal angular or proportional measures were gathered from the literature, and were trained to serve as a benchmark for the analysis of facial attractiveness. Demographic characteristics were described statistically. A one-way ANOVA test was employed to assess data distribution. Differences in means between groups were evaluated using nonparametric independent-sample tests, with statistical significance set at < 0.05.The study involved facial analyses for 115 female celebrities. It revealed variations in facial features among races. The mean golden ratio differed, with African and Asian individuals showing lower ratios. Symmetry varied, with Latin and Caucasian faces considered the most symmetrical. The zygomatic-to-mandibular width ratio was similar across races, with a ratio close to 80% being associated with more attractive faces. Differences in nose-to-mouth ratio, lips, alar base width, and chin angle were noted among race groups.The study concluded that, regardless of race, an attractive female face is characterized by specific ratios and angles. Facial symmetry, though desirable, is not strictly necessary. Irrespective of race background, an appealing female face is characterized by a zygomatic-to-mandibular width ratio nearing 80%, a mid-facial third that is slightly larger than the lower third, and a distinctive chin angle of approximately 138°, contributing to a trapezoidal facial shape. The findings contribute valuable insights into attractiveness standards and the impact of frontal patterns on aesthetic canons in female celebrities.

Comparison of facial attractiveness with golden proportion anthropometrically in young North Indian females

The purpose of this anthropometric study was to assess the facial attractiveness by directly measuring various facial proportions and comparing them to golden ratio in a sample of young adult North Indian females. 120 female sample subjects were assessed for facial attractiveness. Frontal facial photographs of these females were obtained and subjected to score evaluation for grouping into 3 groups viz group I unpleasant face group, group II acceptable face group, group III pleasant face group, by a group of 6 evaluators individually. Anthropometric measurements were taken on the subject’s face in frontal view by marking various landmarks. Various facial proportions were measured and recorded using calibrated calipers and then compared with golden proportion.In group I, facial indices ratio Al-Al/ Ch-Ch (0.697) shows a comparable ratio to the golden proportion. Group II showed no relationship with golden proportion for any facial ratios. In group III, facial ratio Al-Al/ N-Sn (0.685) shows a comparable ratio to the golden proportion. There was no statistically significant difference found in the golden proportion among the three groups viz unpleasant face group, acceptable face group and pleasant face group. Ideal golden proportions may partially govern the standards of beauty, but they were not analogous to the beauty or facial esthetics of the attractive females in the present study. This may be the result because beauty perception is subjective &amp; depends on a variety of factors.

Learning feature alignment across attribute domains for improving facial beauty prediction

Facial beauty prediction (FBP) aims to develop a system to assess facial attractiveness automatically. Through prior research and our own observations, it has become evident that attribute information, such as gender and race, is a key factor leading to the distribution discrepancy in the FBP data. Such distribution discrepancy hinders current conventional FBP models from generalizing effectively to unseen attribute domain data, thereby discounting further performance improvement. To address this problem, in this paper, we exploit the attribute information to guide the training of convolutional neural networks (CNNs), with the final purpose of implicit feature alignment across various attribute domain data. To this end, we introduce the attribute information into convolution layer and batch normalization (BN) layer, respectively, as they are the most crucial parts for representation learning in CNNs. Specifically, our method includes: 1) Attribute-guided convolution (AgConv) that dynamically updates convolutional filters based on attributes by parameter tuning or parameter rebirth; 2) Attribute-guided batch normalization (AgBN) is developed to compute the attribute-specific statistics through an attribute guided batch sampling strategy; 3) To benefit from both approaches, we construct an integrated framework by combining AgConv and AgBN to achieve a more thorough feature alignment across different attribute domains. Extensive qualitative and quantitative experiments have been conducted on the SCUT-FBP, SCUT-FBP5500 and HotOrNot benchmark datasets. The results show that AgConv significantly improves the attribute-guided representation learning capacity and AgBN provides more stable optimization. Owing to the combination of AgConv and AgBN, the proposed framework (Ag-Net) achieves further performance improvement and is superior to other state-of-the-art approaches for FBP.

Cross-cultural perception of strength, attractiveness, aggressiveness and helpfulness of Maasai male faces calibrated to handgrip strength

Previous research has demonstrated that Maasai and Europeans tend to align in their ratings of the physical strength and aggressiveness of Maasai male faces, calibrated to hand grip strength (HGS). However, perceptions of attractiveness of these faces differed among populations. In this study, three morphs of young Maasai men created by means of geometric morphometrics, and depicting the average sample and two extrema (± 4 SD of HGS), were assessed by men and women from Tanzania, Czech Republic, Russia, Pakistan, China, and Mexico (total sample = 1540). The aim of this study was to test cross-cultural differences in the perception of young Maasai men’s composites calibrated to HGS, focusing on four traits: physical strength, attractiveness, aggressiveness, and helpfulness. Individuals from all six cultures were able to distinguish between low, medium, and high HGS portraits. Across all study populations, portrait of Maasai men with lower HGS was perceived as less attractive, more aggressive, and less helpful. This suggests that people from diverse populations share similar perceptions of physical strength based on facial shape, as well as attribute similar social qualities like aggressiveness and helpfulness to these facial images. Participants from all samples rated the composite image of weak Maasai men as the least attractive.

Chronic and immediate refined carbohydrate consumption and facial attractiveness.

The Western diet has undergone a massive switch since the second half of the 20th century, with the massive increase of the consumption of refined carbohydrate associated with many adverse health effects. The physiological mechanisms linked to this consumption, such as hyperglycaemia and hyperinsulinemia, may impact non medical traits such as facial attractiveness. To explore this issue, the relationship between facial attractiveness and immediate and chronic refined carbohydrate consumption estimated by glycemic load was studied for 104 French subjects. Facial attractiveness was assessed by opposite sex raters using pictures taken two hours after a controlled breakfast. Chronic consumption was assessed considering three high glycemic risk meals: breakfast, afternoon snacking and between-meal snacking. Immediate consumption of a high glycemic breakfast decreased facial attractiveness for men and women while controlling for several control variables, including energy intake. Chronic refined carbohydrate consumption had different effects on attractiveness depending on the meal and/or the sex. Chronic refined carbohydrate consumption, estimated by the glycemic load, during the three studied meals reduced attractiveness, while a high energy intake increased it. Nevertheless, the effect was reversed for men concerning the afternoon snack, for which a high energy intake reduced attractiveness and a high glycemic load increased it. These effects were maintained when potential confounders for facial attractiveness were controlled such as age, age departure from actual age, masculinity/femininity (perceived and measured), BMI, physical activity, parental home ownership, smoking, couple status, hormonal contraceptive use (for women), and facial hairiness (for men). Results were possibly mediated by an increase in age appearance for women and a decrease in perceived masculinity for men. The physiological differences between the three meals studied and the interpretation of the results from an adaptive/maladaptive point of view in relation to our new dietary environment are discussed.

Beauty is in the nose of the beholder: Fragrance modulates attractiveness, confidence and femininity ratings and neural responses to faces of self and others

Previous research investigated cross-modal influence of olfactory stimuli on perception and evaluation of faces. However, little is known about the neural dynamics underpinning this multisensory perception, and no research examined perception for images of oneself, and others, in presence of fragrances. This study investigated the neural mechanisms of olfactory-visual processing using electroencephalography (EEG) and subjective evaluations of self- and other-images.22 female participants evaluated images of female actors and themselves while being exposed to the fragrance of a commercially available body wash or clean air delivered via olfactometer. Participants rated faces for attractiveness, femininity, confidence and glamorousness on visual analogue scales. EEG data was recorded and event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with onset of face stimuli were analysed to consider effects of fragrance presence on face processing, and interactions between fragrance and self-other image-type.Subjective ratings of confidence, attractiveness and femininity were increased for both image-types in pleasant fragrance relative to clean air condition. ERP components covering early-to-late stages of face processing were modulated by the presence of fragrance. Findings also revealed a cross-modal fragrance-face interaction, with pleasant fragrance particularly affecting ERPs to self-images in mid-latency ERP components.Results showed that the pleasant fragrance of the commercially available body wash impacted how participants perceived faces of self and others. Self- and other-image faces were subjectively rated as more attractive, confident and feminine in the presence of the pleasant fragrance compared to an un-fragranced control. The pleasant fragrance also modulated underlying electrophysiological activity. For the first time, an effect of pleasant fragrance on face perception was observed in the N1 component, suggesting impact within 100 ms. Pleasant fragrance also demonstrated greater impact on subsequent neural processing for self, relative to other-faces. The findings have implications for understanding multisensory integration during evaluations of oneself and others.

Measurements of oculo-palpebral landmarks and evaluation of patient's head position.

Keeping the head in a neutral position is requisite for glasses/lenses/head-up designs, the suitability of oculo-plastic surgery and for the grading the eye shift. Anatomically incompatible glasses are one of the common problems affecting accommodation, reducing comfort and disturbing by causing symptoms such as dizziness and nausea. The oculo-palpebral measurements act as a key determinant in symmetrical facial attractiveness. This study aims to investigate the most effective oculo-palpebral landmarks, head-neutral as the ideal position, taking into account of individual anatomical differences of these patients. 100 females and 100 males aged between 18 and 20 years were photographed. Digital photogrammetric measurements were made with the ImageJ program. Interpupillary and interhelical distances, besides bilateral palpebral fissure length and height, and iris diameter were calculated on front-facing photographs. Mean interpupillary distance was measured wider in males than in females. The mean length of palpebral fissure was 31mm; palpebral fissure height was 10mm. These figures were valid in both eyes and gender. The interhelical distance was calculated as the mean and was measured longer in men. Since the measurement values were the same in both sexes and on both sides, they were determined as important landmarks for controlling the head-neutral position, evaluating whether there was a deviation in the eye, and measuring the numerical value when detected. It is essential to check the side-symmetry of the patient's palpebral fissure height, palpebral fissure length, diameter of iris and corneal depth during oculo-plastic invention and artificial design.

Moral inferences from androgynous faces are beyond categorical uncertainty: Evidence of a positive bias towards androgynous targets

AbstractPostulating a negative bias towards social ambiguity, we conducted cross‐cultural online research to assess whether categorical discrepancies in the perception of androgynous faces were associated with the uncanny feeling and inferences of different morality. Across four studies, we found that androgynous faces were harder to classify into a binary sex category than sex‐typical faces, but this difficulty did not influence social judgements of androgynous targets in a negative fashion. In Study 1 (Spanish‐speaking sample, N = 76), we found that androgynous faces were rated as more trustworthy, less creepy, and less morally different than sex‐typical faces. Study 2 replicated most of the findings from Study 1 in an Italian sample (N = 45). Positive bias towards androgyny was not replicated with a different set of stimuli featuring faces of diverse ethnic backgrounds (Study 3, Spanish‐speaking sample, N = 140). However, results revealed a main effect of ethnicity in participants’ responses. When controlling for the effect of morphing procedures in stimuli selection, an overall positive bias towards androgynous targets arose, especially when compared to masculine targets (Study 4, Spanish‐speaking sample, N = 85). These findings suggest that, at least in certain conditions, a positive social bias towards androgynous faces may emerge that does not depend on categorical uncertainty and facial attractiveness.

Peer desirability and academic achievement

SummaryUsing the random assignment of university engineering students to peer groups during introductory freshmen weeks, this paper studies how a student's parental income and facial attractiveness affect the grade outcomes of peers. The results show that exposure to highly desirable peers with respect to socioeconomic background and beauty improves grades. The results operate chiefly through a direct spillover channel and also through an indirect marriage market channel, through which exposure to high‐desirability peers improves well‐being. A field experiment suggests that the marriage market mechanism is likely to be limited to students not currently in a romantic relationship.