Attractiveness Ratings Research Articles

Behavioral and neural evidence for the underestimated attractiveness of faces synthesized using an artificial neural network

Recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have not eased human anxiety about AI. If such anxiety diminishes human preference for AI-synthesized visual information, the preference should be reduced solely by the belief that the information is synthesized by AI, independently of its appearance. This study tested this hypothesis by asking experimental participants to rate the attractiveness of faces synthesized by an artificial neural network, under the false instruction that some faces were real and others were synthetic. This experimental design isolated the impact of belief on attractiveness ratings from the actual facial appearance. Brain responses were also recorded with fMRI to examine the neural basis of this belief effect. The results showed that participants rated faces significantly lower when they believed them to be synthetic, and this belief altered the responsiveness of fMRI signals to facial attractiveness in the right fusiform cortex. These findings support the notion that human preference for visual information is reduced solely due to the belief that the information is synthesized by AI, suggesting that AI and robot design should focus not only on enhancing appearance but also on alleviating human anxiety about them.

Social conformity updates the neural representation of facial attractiveness

People readily change their behavior to comply with others. However, to which extent they will internalize the social influence remains elusive. In this preregistered electroencephalogram (EEG) study, we investigated how learning from one’s in-group or out-group members about facial attractiveness would change explicit attractiveness ratings and spontaneous neural representations of facial attractiveness. Specifically, we quantified the neural representational similarities of learned faces with prototypical attractive faces during a face perception task without overt social influence and intentional evaluation. We found that participants changed their explicit attractiveness ratings to both in-group and out-group influences. Moreover, social conformity updated spontaneous neural representation of facial attractiveness, an effect particularly evident when participants learned from their in-group members and among those who perceived tighter social norms. These findings offer insights into how group affiliations and individual differences in perceived social norms modulate the internalization of social influence.

The relationship of tooth shade and skin tone and its influence on smile attractiveness in native South Indians: A web-based cross sectional survey

ObjectivesThis study aimed to investigate the influence of tooth shade and skin tone on smile attractiveness among native South Indians. The primary research question was whether there is a significant relationship between these variables and perceived smile attractiveness. Materials and methodsA web-based cross-sectional survey was conducted with approval from the Institutional Review Board of (Thai Moogambigai Dental College and Hospital, Chennai). Standardized smile photographs of two South Indian models (one male and one female) were digitally modified to display four different tooth shades and four different skin tones, resulting in 32 images. These images were incorporated into a Google Form along with a questionnaire and a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for attractiveness rating. The survey was distributed to 1200 participants, including both dental professionals and the general population, with 1000 valid responses recorded. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics, employing parametric tests to evaluate the data. ResultsThe study found that lighter tooth shades were consistently rated higher in attractiveness for both genders. Lighter tooth shades such as FS1T1 and FS2T1 scored means of 6.88 and 7.27 respectively for females, while darker shades like FS1T4 scored lower with a mean of 4.95. Similarly, males showed a preference for lighter tooth shades with MS1T1 and MS2T1 scoring means of 5.57 and 5.78 respectively compared to darker shades like MS1T4 with a mean of 3.63. Significant differences were noted across age groups and genders, with younger participants and females showing a stronger preference for lighter tooth shades. ConclusionsThe study concludes that both tooth shade and skin tone significantly influence smile attractiveness, with a clear preference for lighter tooth shades among the surveyed population. These findings suggest the importance of considering these factors in aesthetic dental treatments to enhance patient satisfaction and achieve optimal results. Clinical relevanceThe results underscore the necessity for dental practitioners to take into account both tooth shade and skin tone when planning aesthetic dental treatments. This approach will help in achieving a more harmonious and natural appearance, ultimately improving patient satisfaction with the treatment outcomes. Future research should continue to explore the cultural and individual factors that contribute to these preferences in dental aesthetics.

Оценка привлекательности ресторанных рынков регионов Сибирского федерального округа

Many restaurant companies turn to territorial expansion to restore and develop the restaurant market after COVID-19 restrictions and disruptions in logistics. As a result, they need to select territories with the greatest business development prospects. As a rule, they choose geographical markets for expansion based on attractiveness assessments and market ratings provided by various research companies and institutes. However, these reports often lack rating attractiveness assessments for separate regions and the domestic restaurant market as a whole. Moreover, a review of scientific publications revealed no standard approach to market parameters in this sphere. The authors employed three different methods to assess the attractiveness of restaurant markets in the regions of the Siberian Federal District. Each method included single-factor or multi-factor parameters that determined the state of the restaurant market at a static moment in time. The methods were based on objective statistical data, which provided a fairly high degree of reliability. The comprehensive diagnosis yielded an attractiveness rating for various regions of the Siberian Federal District and their territorial expansion prospects for restaurant companies. The Krasnoyarsk Region demonstrated the best results byall methods. The republics of Khakassia, Tyva, and Altai appeared to be the least attractive areas for restaurant business expansion. The remaining six regions of Novosibirsk, Altai, Kemerovo, Irkutsk, Omsk, and Tomsk occupied the middle ranking.

Attraction is altered via modulation of the medial prefrontal cortex without explicit knowledge.

Previous studies have demonstrated that brain stimulation can alter an individual's physical appearance via dysregulation of the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). In this study, we attempted to determine if individuals who receive repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) delivered to the MPFC were rated as more attractive by others. It has been previously reported that 1 hertz (Hz) (inhibitory) TMS can alter one's facial expressions such that frontal cortex inhibition can increase expressiveness. These alterations, detected by external observation, remain below the level of awareness of the subject itself. In Phase I, subjects (N = 10) received MPFC rTMS and had their photographs taken after each of the five stimulation conditions, in addition to making self-ratings across a number of variables, including attractiveness. In Phase II, participants (N = 430) rated five pictures of each of the Phase 1 individuals on attractiveness. It was found that there were no significant differences in self-assessment following rTMS (Phase I). However, attractiveness ratings differed significantly in Phase II. There was a significant difference found between 10 Hz TMS delivered to the MPFC (p < 0.001), such that individuals were rated as less attractive. Furthermore, 1 Hz TMS to the MPFC increased the number of 'Most Attractive' ratings, while 10Hz TMS decreased the number of 'Most Attractive' ratings (p < 0.001). These results suggest that the MPFC plays a role in attractiveness ratings to others. These data also support research showing that one's appearance can be altered below the level of awareness via rTMS. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation to examine how brain stimulation influences one's attractiveness.

Behavioral and neural responses to social exclusion in women: the role of facial attractiveness and friendliness

The behavioral and neural responses to social exclusion were examined in women randomized to four conditions, varying in levels of attractiveness and friendliness. Informed by evolutionary theory, we predicted that being socially excluded by attractive unfriendly women would be more distressing than being excluded by unattractive women, irrespective of their friendliness level. Our results contradicted most of our predictions but provide important insights into women’s responses to interpersonal conflict. Accounting for rejection sensitivity, P300 event-related potential amplitudes were largest when women were excluded by unattractive unfriendly women. This may be due to an expectancy violation or an annoyance with being excluded by women low on social desirability. An examination of anger rumination rates by condition suggests the latter. Only attractive women’s attractiveness ratings were lowered in the unfriendly condition, indicating they were specifically punished for their exclusionary behavior. Women were more likely to select attractive women to compete against with one exception—they selected the Black attractive opponent less often than the White attractive opponent when presented as unfriendly. Finally, consistent with studies on retaliation in relation to social exclusion, women tended to rate competitors who rejected them as being more rude, more competitive, less attractive, less nice, and less happy than non-competitors. The ubiquity of social exclusion and its pointed emotional and physiological impact on women demands more research on this topic.

Perception of Voice Attractiveness: Effects of Speaking Rate, Gender, and Age

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the speaker’s speech rate level, listener’s age, and gender on the listener’s attractiveness evaluation of the speaker’s voice. Methods: A total of 8 speaker voices (4 males and 4 females in their 20s-30s) were selected from the speech corpus provided by the National Institute of Korean Language. These voices were manipulated to be 0.8 times and 1.2 times their original speed, resulting in 24 voice files for attractiveness evaluation. Evaluators were recruited from different age groups: adolescents (14), young adults (16), and middle-aged adults (14). They were instructed to perceptually evaluate the attractiveness of the speaker’s voice. In addition, speech data from evaluators were collected to measure their actual speech rates. Results: Evaluator age groups did not show significant differences in attractiveness scores. However, across all groups, the attractiveness ratings were consistently higher for normal speech rates. Middle-aged male evaluators reported a significant decrease in attractiveness for faster speech rates. The correlation between the actual speech rate of evaluators and speakers was significant only for slower speech rates, indicating that evaluators with faster speech rates, especially males, showed lower attractiveness. Conclusion: The listener’s attractiveness evaluation may depend on the listener’s gender and age according to the speaker’s speaking rate, with middle-aged male listeners being particularly inclined to find fast speech rates unacceptable. This study underscores the significance of speech rate as an acoustic evaluation factor influencing listener attractiveness.

Социально-экономическая устойчивость муниципалитетов: методика и опыт исследования

Introduction. The issue of socio-economic sustainability of territories has been studied in depth in the scientific literature. This concerns both the concept of socio-economic sustainability itself and its application to the analysis of regional and municipal development. Various aspects of socio-economic sustainability are also addressed in a significant number of territorial ratings currently available on the information market and published by both government agencies and non-governmental structures – analytical centers, rating agencies (RA), and mass media. Most of these information and analytical products relate to the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. A striking example is the rating of regions for the implementation of the federal project “Formation of a Comfortable Urban Environment” from the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation. This series also includes the rating of the quality of life in the regions from the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), the rating of the socio-economic sustainability of regions from the Civil Society Development Fund, the rating of the socio-economic development of regions from RIA Novosti, the rating of the investment attractiveness of regions from RA Expert, and a number of others. A significantly smaller number of such products relate to the municipal level. And this is a big problem of practical and scientific nature, which, in the author's opinion, can be overcome by the developed assessment of the socio-economic sustainability of Russian municipalities.Materials and methods. The presented study used indicators of socio-economic and electoral statistics of municipalities relating to 2022-2023. The main source is Rosstat data. In addition, information contained on the official websites or in the official publications of regional and municipal authorities was used. The work used universal methods of scientific knowledge: analysis, synthesis, generalization.Results. The result of the study was regional ratings of the socio-economic sustainability of municipalities in five subjects of the Russian Federation within the Ural Federal District: Sverdlovsk, Tyumen and Chelyabinsk regions, Khanty-Mansiysk – Yugra and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs.

Effects of exposure to plus-size fashion models on weight-related attitudes in bulimia nervosa: Findings from an exploratory study

Background and ObjectivesEating disorders are often linked to the internalization of the thin-ideal and weight stigma. The present exploratory study investigates the effects of plus-sized fashion media on weight-related attitudes in bulimia nervosa (BN). MethodsWomen with BN (n=27) and without an eating disorder (n=28) were exposed to 17 pictures of plus-size fashion models. Participants rated the attractiveness of the models. Before and after the exposure task, participants completed questionnaires on their attitudes towards people with higher weight as well as thin-ideal media. ResultsThe BN group rated the bodies of the plus-size fashion models as less attractive than controls, whereas no group differences were found in attractiveness ratings for the models' faces or full images. In both groups, negative attitudes about people with higher weight significantly decreased after viewing plus-size model pictures. Attitudes toward thin-ideal media remained unchanged, with scores higher for BN than controls. LimitationsThis exploratory study has several limitations, such as the lack of a control condition, small sample size, and reliance on only self-report data. ConclusionsThese exploratory results imply that the positive effects of plus-sized model images on reducing negative assumptions about people with high weight may not be limited to healthy individuals but also seem to extend to women with BN. Further controlled studies with larger samples and long-term assessments are needed to confirm these findings.

Effects of testosterone on speech production and perception: Linking hormone levels in males to vocal cues and female voice attractiveness ratings

This study sets out to investigate the potential effect of males’ testosterone level on speech production and speech perception. Regarding speech production, we investigate intra- and inter-individual variation in mean fundamental frequency (fo) and formant frequencies and highlight the potential interacting effect of another hormone, i.e. cortisol. In addition, we investigate the influence of different speech materials on the relationship between testosterone and speech production. Regarding speech perception, we investigate the potential effect of individual differences in males’ testosterone level on ratings of attractiveness of female voices.In the production study, data is gathered from 30 healthy adult males ranging from 19 to 27 years (mean age: 22.4, SD: 2.2) who recorded their voices and provided saliva samples at 9 am, 12 noon and 3 pm on a single day. Speech material consists of sustained vowels, counting, read speech and a free description of pictures. Biological measures comprise speakers’ height, grip strength, and hormone levels (testosterone and cortisol). In the perception study, participants were asked to rate the attractiveness of female voice stimuli (sentence stimulus, same-speaker pairs) that were manipulated in three steps regarding mean fo and formant frequencies.Regarding speech production, our results show that testosterone affected mean fo (but not formants) both within and between speakers. This relationship was weakened in speakers with high cortisol levels and depended on the speech material. Regarding speech perception, we found female stimuli with higher mean fo and formants to be rated as sounding more attractive than stimuli with lower mean fo and formants. Moreover, listeners with low testosterone showed an increased sensitivity to vocal cues of female attractiveness.While our results of the production study support earlier findings of a relationship between testosterone and mean fo in males (which is mediated by cortisol), they also highlight the relevance of the speech material: The effect of testosterone was strongest in sustained vowels, potentially due to a strengthened effect of hormones on physiologically strongly influenced tasks such as sustained vowels in contrast to more free speech tasks such as a picture description. The perception study is the first to show an effect of males’ testosterone level on female attractiveness ratings using voice stimuli.

Social and nonsocial synchrony are interrelated and romantically attractive

The mechanisms of romantic bonding in humans are largely unknown. Recent research suggests that physiological synchrony between partners is associated with bonding. This study combines an experimental approach with a naturalistic dating setup to test whether the individual differences in social and nonsocial synchrony are interdependent, and linked to romantic attractiveness. In a preregistered online experiment with 144 participants, we discover that inducing physiological synchrony between an actor and an actress determines their attractiveness ratings by participants, indicating that synchrony can increase perceived attraction. In a lab-based naturalistic speed-dating experiment, we quantify in 48 participants the individual tendency for social physiological synchrony, nonsocial sensorimotor synchrony, and romantic attractiveness. We discover that the individual propensity to synchronize in social and nonsocial tasks is correlated. Some individuals synchronize better regardless of partners or tasks, and such Super Synchronizers are rated as more attractive. Altogether, this demonstrates that humans prefer romantic partners who can synchronize.

The psychometrics of rating facial attractiveness using different response scales.

Perceiving facial attractiveness is an important behaviour across psychological science due to these judgments having real-world consequences. However, there is little consensus on the measurement of this behaviour, and practices differ widely. Research typically asks participants to provide ratings of attractiveness across a multitude of different response scales, with little consideration of the psychometric properties of these scales. Here, we make psychometric comparisons across nine different response scales. Specifically, we analysed the psychometric properties of a binary response, a 0-100 scale, a visual analogue scale, and a set of Likert scales (1-3, 1-5, 1-7, 1-8, 1-9, 1-10) as tools to measure attractiveness, calculating a range of commonly used statistics for each. While certain properties suggested researchers might choose to favour the 1-5, 1-7 and 1-8 scales, we generally found little evidence of an advantage for one scale over any other. Taken together, our investigation provides consideration of currently used techniques for measuring facial attractiveness and makes recommendations for researchers in this field.

Truth Lies in the Depths: Novel Insights into Facial Aesthetic Measurements from a U.S. Survey Panel.

Aesthetic facial bone surgery and facial implantology expand the boundaries of conventional facial surgery that focus on facial soft tissue. This study aimed to reveal novel aesthetic facial measurements to provide tailored treatment concepts and advance patient care. A total of n=101 study participants (46 females and 55 males) were presented with 120 patient portraits (frontal images in natural head posture; 60 females and 60 males) and asked to assess the facial attractiveness (scale 0-10; "How attractive do you find the person in the image?") and the model capability score (MCS; scale 0-10; "How likely do you think the person in the image could pursue a modelling career?"). For each frontal photograph, defined facial measurements and ratios were taken to analyse their relationship with the perception of facial attractiveness and MCS. The overall attractiveness rating was 4.3 ± 1.1, while the mean MCS was 3.4 ± 1.1. In young males, there was a significant correlation between attractiveness and the zygoma-mandible angle (ZMA)2 (r= - 0.553; p= 0.011). In young and middle-aged females, MCS was significantly correlated with facial width (FW)1-FW2 ratio (r= 0.475; p= 0.034). For all male individuals, a ZMA1 value of 171.79 degrees (Y= 0.313; p= 0.024) was the most robust cut-off to determine facial attractiveness. The majority of human evaluators (n=62; 51.7%) considered facial implants a potential treatment to improve the patient's facial attractiveness. This study introduced novel metrics of facial attractiveness, focusing on the facial skeleton. Our findings emphasized the significance of zygomatic measurements and mandibular projections for facial aesthetics, with FI representing a promising surgical approach to optimize facial aesthetics. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

Multisensory contributions to skin-cosmetic product interactions.

The human face is one of the most salient regions of the body surface. Ratings of facial attractiveness, as well as judgements of a person's age, are influenced by the appearance of facial skin (not to mention the presence/absence of wrinkles). Unsurprisingly, many consumers spend huge amounts of money on trying to protect, maintain, and/or enhance their facial appearance. As highlighted by the evidence presented in this narrative review, both the skin and the cosmetic products that many consumers use are fundamentally multisensory in nature. The complex interaction between the particular skin site stimulated and the multisensory attributes of the product (e.g., when it is applied) can exert a number of effects on an individual's mood, their emotions, as well as on their self-perception (and self-confidence), over-and-above any functional effects that the cream or lotion may have on the skin itself. In this narrative historical review, the literature on the multisensory perception of facial skin is summarized and critically evaluated. Multisensory interactions taking place between the cosmetic product, its packaging, as well as its use/application at the sensory, cognitive, and emotional levels are all discussed.

No evidence that averaging voices influences attractiveness

Vocal attractiveness influences important social outcomes. While most research on the acoustic parameters that influence vocal attractiveness has focused on the possible roles of sexually dimorphic characteristics of voices, such as fundamental frequency (i.e., pitch) and formant frequencies (i.e., a correlate of body size), other work has reported that increasing vocal averageness increases attractiveness. Here we investigated the roles these three characteristics play in judgments of the attractiveness of male and female voices. In Study 1, we found that increasing vocal averageness significantly decreased distinctiveness ratings, demonstrating that participants could detect manipulations of vocal averageness in this stimulus set and using this testing paradigm. However, in Study 2, we found no evidence that increasing averageness significantly increased attractiveness ratings of voices. In Study 3, we found that fundamental frequency was negatively correlated with male vocal attractiveness and positively correlated with female vocal attractiveness. By contrast with these results for fundamental frequency, vocal attractiveness and formant frequencies were not significantly correlated. Collectively, our results suggest that averageness may not necessarily significantly increase attractiveness judgments of voices and are consistent with previous work reporting significant associations between attractiveness and voice pitch.

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 aggressive face of melasma: unveiling the influence of upper lip pigmentation on social perception.

Although melasma leads to emotional distress and quality-of-life reduction, indigenous cultures practice female facial tattooing. Facial cues influence personality trait inferences and attractiveness ratings. Skin lesions have been shown to alter gaze patterns, emotion perception, and social evaluations. This study aimed to evaluate melasma's impact on visual attention, perceived attractiveness, and social evaluations, considering distinct anatomical areas. Additionally, we sought to compare perceptions of traditional facial tattoos due to their purposeful placement. Gaze fixation patterns were examined via eye-tracking, and image-based personality questionnaires were completed for psychological trait assessment. Visual stimuli showcased anatomic melasma variants and tattoo patterns. Traditional tattoos often follow midline patterns, sparing the upper lip. Both melasma and tattoos significantly affected visual attention (p < 0.001), with chin and upper lip melasma garnering increased attention. Upper lip melasma decreased gaze to the ocular area (p ≤ 0.002). while increasing perioral fixations (p < 0.001) compared to healthy faces. Upper lip tattoos conveyed increased perceived aggressiveness (p = 0.004). Ratings for attractiveness and personality traits were lower for centrofacial melasma than other variants, with no significant difference between centrofacial and isolated upper lip melasma. The global avoidance of upper lip pigmentation underscores its perceptual burden. Upper lip pigmentation directs gaze towards anger-signalling regions, increasing perceived aggression and reducing attractiveness. Centrofacial melasma's impact parallels an isolated upper lip pattern, underscoring the disproportionate role of upper lip pigmentation. These findings warrant considering upper lip melasma's significant influence when evaluating quality of life and establishing treatment goals.

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.

In the eye of the promoter? How faculty ratings of attractiveness matter for junior academic careers

We investigate whether junior researchers’ attractiveness matters for obtaining an academic job post-PhD in a specific field within the social sciences, using faculty ratings on photographs along with data on publications, quality of PhD-granting university and employment type. The use of faculty ratings rather than external rating platforms allows for a closer match to a real-life academic setting. We find a significant association between faculty-perceived attractiveness and the probability of junior female researchers being in academic positions. A one standard deviation increase in the faculty attractiveness rating is associated with an increase in female junior researchers’ academic job holding by 25 % of the mean. This association is equally strong for the full sample of females and a seasoned subsample of females, observed at least 5 years post-PhD. We show that faculty ratings are different from general perceptions, the latter being irrelevant for junior researchers’ academic job holding. We also find that research productivity or access to high-quality coauthorship networks cannot explain the association. Collegiality, inferred using facial action coding of the photographs, is associated with the probability of females being in academia, but does not alter the association between faculty perceived attractiveness and females’ chances of an academic job post-PhD.