Fruit over sunbed : carotenoid skin coloration is found more attractive than melanin coloration

Skin coloration appears to play a pivotal part in facial attractiveness. Skin yellowness contributes to an attractive appearance and is influenced both by dietary carotenoids and by melanin. While both increased carotenoid coloration and increased melanin coloration enhance apparent health in Caucasian faces by increasing skin yellowness, it remains unclear firstly, whether both pigments contribute to attractiveness judgements, secondly, whether one pigment is clearly preferred over the other, and thirdly, whether these effects depend on the sex of the face. Here, in three studies, we examine these questions using controlled facial stimuli transformed to be either high or low in (a) carotenoid coloration, or (b) melanin coloration. We show, firstly, that both increased carotenoid coloration and increased melanin coloration are found attractive compared to lower levels of these pigments. Secondly, we show that carotenoid coloration is consistently preferred over melanin coloration when levels of coloration are matched. In addition, we find an effect of the sex of stimuli with stronger preferences for carotenoids over melanin in female compared to male faces, irrespective of the sex of the observer. These results are interpreted as reflecting preferences for sex-typical skin coloration: men have darker skin than women and high melanisation in male faces may further enhance this masculine trait, thus carotenoid coloration is not less desirable, but melanin coloration is relatively more desirable in males compared to females. Taken together, our findings provide further support for a carotenoid-linked health-signalling system that is highly important in mate choice.PostprintPeer reviewe

Representations of facial expressions since Darwin

Darwin’s book on expressions of emotion was one of the first publications to include photographs (Darwin, 1872). The inclusion of expression photographs meant that readers could form their own opinions and could, like Darwin, survey others for their interpretations. As such, the images provided an evidence base and an ‘open source’. Since Darwin, increases in representativeness and realism of emotional expressions come from the use of composite images, colour, multiple views and dynamic displays. Research on understanding emotional expressions has been aided by the use of computer graphics to interpolate parametrically between different expressions and to extrapolate exaggerations. This review tracks the developments in how emotions are illustrated and studied and considers where to go next.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Social transmission of leadership preference:knowledge of group membership and partisan media reporting moderates perceptions of leadership ability from facial cues to competence and dominance

While first impressions of dominance and competence can influence leadership preference, social transmission of leadership preference has received little attention. The capacity to transmit, store and compute information has increased greatly over recent history, and the new media environment may encourage partisanship (i.e. ‘echo chambers’), misinformation and rumour spreading to support political and social causes and be conducive both to emotive writing and emotional contagion, which may shape voting behaviour. In our pre-registered experiment, we examined whether implicit associations between facial cues to dominance and competence (intelligence) and leadership ability are strengthened by partisan media and knowledge that leaders support or oppose us on a socio-political issue of personal importance. Social information, in general, reduced well-established implicit associations between facial cues and leadership ability. However, as predicted, social knowledge of group membership reduced preferences for facial cues to high dominance and intelligence in out-group leaders. In the opposite-direction to our original prediction, this ‘in-group bias’ was greater under less partisan versus partisan media, with partisan writing eliciting greater state anxiety across the sample. Partisanship also altered the salience of women’s facial appearance (i.e., cues to high dominance and intelligence) in out-group versus in-group leaders. Independent of the media environment, men and women displayed an in-group bias toward facial cues of dominance in same-sex leaders. Our findings reveal effects of minimal social information (facial appearance, group membership, media reporting) on leadership judgements, which may have implications for patterns of voting or socio-political behaviour at the local or national level

How the harsh environment of an army training camp changes human (Homo sapiens) facial preferences

Previous studies suggest that facial preferences may be contingent on an individual’s environment, yet no study has traced how the preferences of the same individuals change as their environment changes. We therefore sought to determine if, and to what extent, adiposity and masculinity preferences are malleable by repeatedly testing students whose environment was not changing as well students undergoing intensive training at an army camp. Our results showed that at baseline, the students at the training camp preferred more feminine male faces. This suggests that even before the training commenced, participants in the training camp may have been in a psychological state that predisposed them to prefer more trustworthy (i.e., more feminine) men. Additionally, we found that the students at the training camp reported increases in multiple stressors as well as showed changes in adiposity preferences. More specifically, we found that increases in the harshness of the environment led to an increased male attraction to cues of higher weight in female faces. Such changes in preferences may be adaptive because they allow men more opportunities to mate with women who are better equipped to survive and reproduce. These findings thus provide new evidence for the malleability of preferences depending on the environment.PostprintPeer reviewe

Misperceptions of opposite-sex preferences for thinness and muscularity

The data that support the findings of this study will be openly available in Mendeley Data at http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/769zgnsm9w.1 following an embargo from 2020-08-09.Thin and muscular have been characterized as ideals for women and men, respectively. Little research has investigated whether men and women have accurate perceptions of opposite‐sex preferences of thinness and muscularity. Further, no study has explored whether opposite‐sex perceptions of thinness and muscularity preferences differ for short‐term and long‐term relationships. The present study set out to address these questions. We used interactive 3D human models to represent bodies varying in size (body mass index/BMI weight scaled by height) and body composition. University‐aged (18–31) White European heterosexual men and women were asked to choose their own and ideal body shape, the ideal body shape for a short‐ and a long‐term partner, and the body shape they thought the opposite‐sex would most like for short‐ and long‐term partners. Women overestimated the thinness that men prefer in a partner and men overestimated the heaviness and muscularity that women prefer in a partner. These misperceptions were more exaggerated for short‐term relationships than for long‐term relationships. The results illustrate the importance of investigating misperceptions of opposite‐sex preferences and raise the possibility that correcting misperceptions might have utility in reducing body dissatisfaction or eating disorders.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Concordant preferences for actual height and facial cues to height

Physical height has a well-documented effect on human mate preferences. In general, both sexes prefer opposite-sex romantic relationships in which the man is taller than the woman, while individual preferences for height are affected by a person’s own height. Research in human mate choice has demonstrated that attraction to facial characteristics, such as facial adiposity, may reflect references for body characteristics. Here, we tested preferences for facial cues to height. In general, increasing apparent height in men’s faces and slightly decreasing apparent height in women’s faces maximizes perceived attractiveness. Individual preferences for facial cues to height were predicted by self-reported preferences for actual height. Furthermore, women’s own height predicted opposite-sex preferences for facial cues to apparent height, though this finding did not extend to male participants. These findings validate the use of facial cues to height and demonstrate a further component of facial attractiveness that reflects preferences for body characteristics.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Female reproductive strategy predicts preferences for sexual dimorphism in male faces

The aim of the current studies was to test an assumption that variation in female preferences for sexually dimorphic male facial characteristics reflects strategic optimisation of investment in offspring. A negative relationship was predicted between ideal number of children and preferences for masculine male face shapes, as the benefits of securing paternal investment should outweigh the benefits of securing good genes as the costs of raising offspring increase. In Study 1 desired number of children and preferences for masculine face shapes were compared in a sample of female students. In study 2, the prediction was tested in a sample with a wider age profile while controlling for relationship status. Preferences for explicit partner characteristics were also assessed. The prediction was supported: women who desired a higher number of children preferred more feminine male face shapes and ranked cues to investment of parental care over cues to immunocompetence in a partner more highly than those who desired fewer children. Results indicate that female mate preferences vary with reproductive strategy and support assumptions that preferences for feminine male faces reflect preferences for “good dads”

The influence of intelligence on the endorsement of the intelligence–attractiveness halo

While some theories emphasize the influence of the ‘attractiveness halo’ on perceptions of intelligence, empirical evidence suggests that perceptions of attractiveness themselves can be influenced by perceptions of other desired traits such as intelligence. In an educational context, the effect of impressions of intelligence on teachers' expectations of students gives them particular significance. Research on kin selection and cognitive biases highlight the possibility that intelligent people endorse the intelligence–attractiveness relationship more strongly than less intelligent people. We investigated how a perceiver's intelligence can influence the association between perceived intelligence and attractiveness of others. We asked 126 participants to rate 48 children's faces for perceived intelligence and attractiveness and then asked them to complete the International Cognitive Ability Resource (ICAR) intelligence test. Ratings by participants who scored higher on the intelligence test showed a stronger relationship between perceptions of intelligence and attractiveness than participants who scored lower on the intelligence test. This effect was significant even after controlling for differences in participants' scale use. These findings, while preliminary, illuminate an individual difference that influences perceptions of intelligence with potentially concerning implications regarding expectancy effects in educational settings.PostprintPeer reviewe

Apparent emotional expression explains the effects of head posture on perceived trustworthiness and dominance, but a measure of facial width does not

This research was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61602079; No.61632011) and the Humanity and Social Science Youth Foundation of Ministry of Education of China (No. 16YJCZH141).Interpreting the personality and the disposition of people is important for social interaction. Both emotional expression and facial width are known to affect personality perception. Moreover, both the apparent emotional expression and the apparent width-to-height ratio of the face change with head tilt. We investigated how head tilt affects judgements of trustworthiness and dominance and whether such trait judgements reflect apparent emotion or facial width. Sixty-seven participants rated the dominance, emotion, and trustworthiness of 24 faces posing with different head tilts while maintaining eye gaze at the camera. Both the 30° up and 20° down head postures were perceived as less trustworthy and more dominant (less submissive) than the head-level posture. Change in perceived trustworthiness and submissiveness with head tilt correlated with change in apparent emotional positivity but not change in facial width. Hence, our analysis suggests that apparent emotional expression provides a better explanation of perceived trustworthiness and dominance compared with cues to facial structure.PostprintPeer reviewe

How head posture affects perceived cooperativeness : a cross-cultural perspective

This research was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 62076051).Previous research has tested whether culture moderates the relationship between head tilt and perceptions of a cooperation-relevant construct. In this paper, we replicated the effects of head posture on perceived traits and compared Chinese and American participants to explore whether difference in cultural background (collectivist and individualist) affects perceptual attribution. Specifically, we investigated how head posture (level, up or down) affects perceptions of cooperativeness. In Experiment 1, Chinese and American participants rated Asian and Caucasian faces in three postures for perceived cooperativeness on a seven-point Likert scale. In Experiment 2, participants ranked the cooperativeness of the three postures of the same faces. In Experiment 3, participants scrolled through face images and manually manipulated vertical head angle to maximise apparent cooperativeness. We found that for both Chinese and American participants a neutral head level posture was perceived as more cooperative than head up and down postures. The optimal head posture for maximised apparent cooperativeness was close to level but with a slight downward rotation. While there was cross-cultural consistency in perceptions, Chinese participants exhibited greater sensitivity to postural cues in their judgments of cooperation compared to American participants. Our results suggest a profound effect of posture on the perception of cooperativeness that is common across cultures and that there are additional subtle cross-cultural differences in the cues to cooperativeness.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe