Facial Physical Attractiveness Research Articles

Racial stereotypes and facial physical attractiveness: exploring their implications in moral assessments in healthcare.

In this study of 333 participants, we investigated how racial stereotypes and facial attractiveness impact moral evaluations in healthcare. We used pictures of faces with different levels of attractiveness in moral dilemma scenarios, performing statistical analyses such as ANOVA and ANCOVA to examine these complex interactions. We found that physical attractiveness positively influences moral evaluations only in low moral conflict scenarios and does not apply to high conflict or impersonal situations. The relationship between self-declared skin color and participants' gender was only confirmed in a specific scenario, highlighting the complexity of these influences. Hypotheses three and four, which suggested that participants' ethnic and moral identity would suppress the effects of racial stereotypes and facial attractiveness, were not confirmed. However, we observed that the ethnic profile of the faces and the participants' motivation to control prejudice positively influenced moral evaluations. These results are interpreted in light of theories on interpersonal attraction, moral judgment, and intergroup relationships, providing essential insights into the complex dynamics that shape moral evaluations in healthcare.

Perception and Expressing Habits of Smiling and Angry Expressions Modulated by Facial Physical Attractiveness in Asian Female Persons

Perception and Expressing Habits of Smiling and Angry Expressions Modulated by Facial Physical Attractiveness in Asian Female Persons

Facial attractiveness ratings and perfectionism in body dysmorphic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder

Individuals with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) suffer from a preoccupation about imagined or slight appearance flaws. We evaluated facial physical attractiveness ratings and perfectionistic thinking among individuals with BDD ( n = 19), individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD; n = 21), and mentally healthy control participants ( n = 21). We presented participants with photographs displaying faces varying in facial attractiveness (attractive, average, unattractive) and asked them to rate them in terms of their physical attractiveness. We further examined how the participants evaluated their own physical attractiveness, relative to independent evaluators (IEs). As predicted, BDD participants perceived their own attractiveness as significantly lower than did the IEs, and they rated photographs from the category “Attractive” as significantly more attractive than did the other groups. Furthermore, both clinical groups were characterized by more perfectionistic thinking than controls. These findings mostly support cognitive-behavioral models of BDD that suggest that individuals with BDD exhibit perfectionistic thinking and maladaptive attractiveness beliefs.

Importance of Facial Physical Attractiveness of Audiovisual Models in Descriptions and Preferences of Children and Adolescents

We performed a cross-sectional study with three age groups (8, 14, and 17 years) to evaluate developmental differences in stereotyped beliefs about physical attractiveness and the value of this as perceived by the participants. Given the current importance of television in the development of social knowledge, television models were used. The children and adolescents were asked to evaluate, using bipolar open scales, the physical attractiveness, likeableness, generosity, intelligence, fun, and altruism of 12 television models of both sexes, previously selected by judges, as well as the desire to resemble or feel close to the models. Analysis showed developmental differences across age groups both in the concept of physical attractiveness and in stereotyped beliefs about this. As in other areas of social knowledge, the younger children's responses were bipolar, global, and much more stereotyped, while the adolescents introduced subtle distinctions and elaborated their responses. Nevertheless, physical attractiveness appeared a desirable characteristic for all age groups.

Lying to Get a Date: The Effect of Facial Physical Attractiveness on the Willingness to Deceive Prospective Dating Partners

This research explored the extent to which people use deception to initiate a date with opposite-sex prospects who varied in facial physical attractiveness. Participants reviewed profiles of prospective dates varying in facial attractiveness, described their own personal characteristics to the prospective dates (study 1), and rated their willingness to lie to make themselves appear to be more desirable to each prospect (study 2). Both men and women deceptively altered their self-presented expressivity and love attitudes to more attractive prospects (study 1), and reported being more willing to lie about their personal appearance, personality traits, income, past relationship outcomes, career skills and intelligence to prospective dates who were higher in facial physical attractiveness, compared with prospective dates who were lower in facial physical attractiveness (study 2). No sex-differences in the willingness to use deceptive self-presentational tactics were found. A strong positive correlation was found between people’s willingness to lie about a specific personal dimension and the extent to which physically attractive individuals differed from other people on that dimension. Thus, it appears that people endeavor to lie to physically attractive people in ways that maximize their similarity with the attractive target.

What do women want? Facialmetric assessment of multiple motives in the perception of male facial physical attractiveness.

What do women want? Facialmetric assessment of multiple motives in the perception of male facial physical attractiveness.

What do women want? Facialmetric assessment of multiple motives in the perception of male facial physical attractiveness.

The multiple motive hypothesis of physical attractiveness suggests that women are attracted to men whose appearances elicit their nurturant feelings, who appear to possess sexual maturity and dominance characteristics, who seem sociable, approacheable, and of high social status. Those multiple motives may cause people to be attracted to individuals who display an optimal combination of neotenous, mature, and expressive facial features, plus desirable grooming attributes. Three quasi-experiments demonstrated that men who possessed the neotenous features of large eyes, the mature features of prominent cheekbones and a large chin, the expressive feature of a big smile, and high-status clothing were seen as more attractive than other men. Further supporting the multiple motive hypothesis, the 2nd and 3rd studies indicated that impressions of attractiveness had strong relations with selections of men to date and to marry but had a curvilinear relation with perceptions of a baby face vs. a mature face.

The Social Psychological Implications of Facial Physical Attractiveness

The relatively swift alteration of facial form —where it also significantly lowers or enhances a patient’s physical attractiveness—may alter an individual’s life in ways that neither the patient nor the practitioner fully anticipated. This article briefly reviews what is now known of the social psychological consequences of physical attractiveness so that these consequences may be better anticipated, investigated, and ultimately understood.

Physical Attractiveness and Expectations of Success

To examine the relationship between physical attractiveness and expectations of success, 60 women rated their expected success at social and nonsocial tasks and their physical attractiveness. Observers also judged the women's overall and facial physical attractiveness. Self and observers' overall ratings of physical attractiveness correlated positively with success expectations in social situations. These ratings of physical attractiveness were particularly predictive of success expectations for affective relationships, but less predictive of success expectations for tasks requiring manipulative, skilled, or intellectual abilities. A lifespan developmental explanation of the forces of reciprocal determinism was offered as an interpretation of these results.