The Impact of Actual and Perceived Changes in Body Weight on Women's Physical Attractiveness

To determine whether small changes in body weight are likely to alter women's physical attractiveness, 100 college students were asked to select the more attractive photograph of 33 young women. Each of these 33 women were photographed twice, separated by an 8-ween interval during which all of them changed weight. These pairs were presented in varied orders to control for the effects of order and side of presentation. All photographs showed women in a standardized pose and attire with their faced masked. Lighter targets were not consistently selected as more attractive though 66% of the pairs of photographs differed in perceived attractiveness. The percentage weight difference between the photographs in each pair did not significantly alter the level of preference for one of the photographs. Nonetheless, photographs did tend to receive higher attractiveness ratings when the targets were perceived as weighing less. The results suggest that attractiveness varies more as a function of perceived than actual weight and that small changes in weight may not have a reliable influence on physical attractiveness.     

The Aura of Tobacco Smoke: Cigars and Cigarettes as Image Makers

Male and female college undergraduates evaluated the character traits of men and women who were seen smoking cigars, smoking cigarettes, or not smoking. The evaluated adults were about 10 years older than the students. Irrespective of the evaluated persons' gender, ratings of appeal were specific to the gender of the evaluator. Men and women agreed in their perception of cigarette smokers as being less appealing than nonsmokers. However, whereas men ascribed markedly less appeal to cigar smokers than to cigarette smokers, women perceived cigar smokers as being as appealing as nonsmokers. This pattern was observed for all positive aspects of appeal; the inverse pattern was apparent for all negative aspects of appeal. In contrast, men and women concurred in judging cigar smokers as being more confident and secure than either nonsmokers or cigarette smokers.     

Predicting students’ intention to smoke by theory of planned behaviour variables and parental influences across school grade levels

Differences were examined in Theory of Planned Behaviour determinants of students’ intention to smoke including parents’ attitudes towards smoking and parents’ current cigarette use among Greek students of different school grade levels. Students (N?=?763) aged 10–18 years reported their attitudes towards smoking, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, self-identity and intention to smoke while their parents (N?=?525) reported their attitudes towards smoking and their current cigarette use. All the TPB variables increased from lower to higher school grade level. Multi-sample path analyses showed that parent's attitudes towards smoking positively predicted students’ intention to smoke only for elementary school children. Parents’ current cigarette use did not contribute significantly. Students’ attitudes, perceived behavioural control and self-identity predicted systematically intention to smoke in contrast to the subjective norm that did not contribute at all. Perceived behavioural control contributed to a higher degree in intention to smoke for senior high school students compared to the junior high school and elementary students. Self-identity contributed to a higher degree in intention to smoke for elementary compared to the junior high school students. The results of this study suggests that the determinants of smoking vary between early and late adolescence.     

Cigarette Smoking in the Movies: The Influence of Product Placement on Attitudes Toward Smoking and Smokers1

Product placement in which actors use products on screen to promote those products, has received little research attention. The current research examines the effects of cigarette use in movies on various attitudes toward smoking and to ward the actor using the product. Participants (N= 120) viewed a 20‐min clip of Die Hard; half viewing a clip in which the lead character smoked, and half viewing a clip in which the lead character did not smoke. Nonsmokers who were low in need for cognition and who saw the lead character smoking reported more favorable attitudes about smoking. In addition smokers who saw the character smoking rated him as more appealing, while nonsmokers' ratings of the character were not affected by his smoking. Results are discussed in terms of the role of the placement of cigarettes in movies in the development of important smoking‐related attitudes.     

Perceived locus of control and satisfaction in same–sex friendships

Two studies examined perceptions of locus of control (LofC) and friendship satisfaction. Study 1 tested the accuracy of college students’ perceptions of a friend's LofC and their friendship satisfaction. Participants perceived their friends to be similar to themselves on LofC and satisfaction but these perceptions did not match the friends’ self–ratings. Instead, the perceptions reflected a belief in the similarity to the self—the Attraction–Similarity Hypothesis. Study 2 tested whether own and perceived friend's LofC predicted own satisfaction. The Internality Hypothesis indicates that an external LofC would predict dissatisfaction but an internal LofC would predict satisfaction. It was also predicted that these effects would be stronger for women's friendships than for men's friendships. For female, but not male, friendships, perceptions of the friend's external LofC predicted dissatisfaction.     

Concurrent drinking and smoking among college students: An event-level analysis

Cigarette smoking and drinking commonly co-occur among college students, a population that is at high risk for developing alcohol and nicotine use disorders. Several studies have been conducted that have examined predictors of drinking or smoking to gain a better understanding of the antecedents of engaging in these behaviors. Yet, few studies have examined specific factors that influence concurrent smoking and drinking in this population. The current study used data from a 21-day electronic diary-based study of college students (n=86) who engaged in concurrent drinking and smoking to examine event-level associations between alcohol use and cigarette smoking in the student's natural environment. We specifically focused on within-person analyses of contexts in which students reported smoking and drinking simultaneously in comparison to contexts in which students reporting drinking without smoking. Situational contexts included environmental setting, whether s/he was alone or with others, and changes in stress and urges to smoke before initiating drinking. Results indicated that students drank more while smoking and smoked three times as many cigarettes, on average, during drinking episodes. Being with others at a party or a bar was associated with increased odds of smoking while drinking. Likewise, increased stress since the prior assessment predicted a greater likelihood of smoking while drinking. Based on the findings from the present study, it is important for future prevention and intervention efforts to consider social settings and heightened stress among students as potential risk factors for engaging in concurrent drinking and smoking.     

On Being the Same in Different Places: Evaluating Frame‐of‐Reference Effects Across Two Social Contexts

Frame‐of‐reference (FOR) effects in personality assessment are demonstrated when self‐rated items oriented to specific contexts (e.g., workplace) show better predictive validity than noncontextualized items. Empirical support of FOR effects typically relies on job performance ratings or academic grades for criteria. The current study evaluates FOR effects using ratings of personality provided by informants from the home or school context. Items from the NEO Five‐Factor Inventory (NEO‐FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1992) were contextualized to the home and school contexts to create NEO‐Home and NEO‐School versions. One hundred fifty‐eight college students completed the NEO‐Home and NEO‐School questionnaires, and 161 college students completed the standard, noncontextualized NEO‐FFI. All participants recruited one peer from college and at least one parent to complete standard rater versions of the NEO‐FFI. Contextualized self‐ratings did not show FOR effects. NEO‐Home self‐ratings did not correlate higher with parent ratings than with peer ratings, and NEO‐School self‐ratings did not correlate higher with peer ratings than with parent ratings. Standard NEO‐FFI self‐ratings generally showed higher self‐informant agreement with both types of informants than contextualized self‐ratings. The pattern of correlations suggests that validity is enhanced more by specific trait‐informant combinations than by the contextualization of items to social contexts.     

Romantic Commitment and the Perceived Availability of Opposite-Sex Persons: On Loving the One You're With1

This article reports a study that examined whether perceptions of the availability of members of the opposite sex are related to commitment to romantic relationships among students at two colleges. Analyses of students' anonymous questionnaire responses reveal that students who perceived that there were relatively few members of the opposite sex on their college's campus were more committed to their romantic relationship, considered their relationship to be more attractive, and invested more in it compared with other students. These relations involving the perceived opposite-sex ratio did not vary as a function of the length of the romantic involvement or the students' gender, race, or college. The perceived opposite-sex ratio was significantly related to the actual opposite-sex ratio, but the latter was not significantly related to commitment, investments, or perceived attractiveness of the relationship. Considering the sample as a whole, the students overestimated the availability of opposite-sex persons. It is concluded that perceptions of the availability of persons of the opposite sex may affect the dynamics of relationships between men and women. Implications of the findings for social exchange theories are discussed.     

The effects of attitudes toward feminism and perceived feminism on physical attractiveness ratings

The effects of perceived feminism of females and attitudes toward feminism of males on physical attractiveness ratings of female stimulus persons (SPs) were investigated, using two alternative hypotheses: first, SPs who are perceived as feminists would be rated as less attractive than SPs not perceived as feminists; second, profeminist males would rate profeminist women as more attractive than nonfeminist women, and vice versa for nonfeminist males. Seventy-six male college students responded to the Smith-Ferree-Miller questionnaire on attitudes toward feminism and then rated on an 8-point scale of attractiveness 6 photographs of female SPs which had been selected from a pretested sample of 18 photographs. Perceived feminism of the SPs in the photographs was manipulated by presenting the raters with four attitude statements, two of which related to feminism. Although there were no main effects for the two variables, significant interaction did occur, confirming the second (attitude similarity) hypothesis. A negative halo effect, as opposed to a belief in the unattractiveness of feminists, was offered as an explanation of the difference in results between this study and the Goldberg, Gottesdiener, and Abramson (1975) study.     

Pluralistic Ignorance and Health Risk Behaviors: Do College Students Misperceive Social Approval for Risky Behaviors on Campus and in Media?

Pluralistic ignorance is a psychological state in which individuals believe that their own beliefs and feelings differ from others' in a group despite the fact that they all behave similarly (Miller & McFarland, 1991). For example, college students reported that they were less comfortable with campus drinking than were other students on their campus (Prentice & Miller, 1993). We replicated this finding and investigated whether college students would show this pluralistic ignorance effect for other health-related risk behaviors (smoking, sexual behavior, and illegal drug use). In addition, we tested whether media portrayals of these behaviors also might result in pluralistic ignorance. The results show that a significant effect of pluralistic ignorance occurred for all 4 health-related risk behaviors, both in ratings of campus behaviors and in ratings of media portrayals of these behaviors. Participants indicated that other students on their campus would have higher comfort ratings with campus patterns of smoking, drinking, illegal drug use, and sexual behaviors than their own comfort ratings. Participants also indicated that other students would have higher comfort ratings with the same 4 behaviors as they are portrayed in the media than their own comfort ratings.     

Adolescent Smoking Behavior and the Recognition of Cigarette Advertisements1

In a study designed to assess the relationship between smoking status and correct identification of cigarette brands, junior high school students from two schools viewed cigarette and automobile advertisements with brand and model identification deleted. Results showed that adolescents with higher ad recognition scores were more likely to smoke cigarettes. In addition, a relationship was found between age and correct identification of cigarette advertisements, with older students identifying more ads correctly than younger students. No significant effects emerged for identification of automobile advertisements except for sex, with boys identifying more advertisements than girls. Additional findings indicated that even “experimental” smokers, who smoked as little as once per year, recognized significantly more cigarette advertisements than nonsmokers. These and other results are discussed in terms of their implications for prevention and policy issues. It is argued that society's allowance of printed cigarette advertising overlooks adolescents' heightened vulnerability to the kinds of appeals used in cigarette advertisements. Present policy also overlooks adolescents' relative unresponsiveness to the health risk information required in cigarette advertisements.     

Effects of Potential Partners' Costume and Physical Attractiveness on Sexuality and Partner Selection

Male and female college students in the United States (N = 224) viewed models who had been prerated for physical attractiveness and who were dressed in costumes representing one of three levels of socioeconomic status (SES). Subjects reported their willingness to engage with these stimulus persons in six relationships involving various levels of marital potential and sexual involvement. Models' costume status had greater effects on female subjects' willingness than on male subjects' willingness to enter all six relationships. This difference was larger when the physical attractiveness of models was low than when it was high. Costume status also affected female subjects' ratings of male models' attractiveness but did not affect male subjects' ratings of female models' attractiveness. Results supported eight hypotheses derived from evolutionary theory: In choosing partners, men and women weighed potential partners' SES and physical attractiveness differently, and these factors may have different behavioral implications depending on the degree to which sexual relations, or marital potential, or both, are involved.     

More Than Just Skin Deep? Personality Information Influences Men's Ratings of the Attractiveness of Women's Body Sizes

ABSTRACT

This study examined the influence of personality information on perceptions of the physical attractiveness of a range of female body sizes. A sample of 2,157 male university students were randomly assigned to one of 10 groups in which they received personality information about women they were rating, or a control group in which they received no personality information. Controlling for participants' age and body mass index, results showed no significant between-group differences in the body size that participants found most attractive. However, participants provided with positive personality information perceived a wider range of body sizes as physically attractive compared with the control group, whereas participants provided with negative personality information perceived a narrower range of body sizes as attractive. Correlations showed that participants' own Extraversion was associated with their body size ratings. These results suggest that non-physical cues have an influence on the perception of physical beauty.     

Situational and Individual Influences on Judgments of Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment1

The current research examines the judgment processes of third-party evaluators of sexual harassment situations. Four situational variables were hypothesized to influence ratings of situation appropriateness and judgments of sexual harassment. The evaluator's gender and personality also were hypothesized to influence both ratings. Participants were 73 male and 51 female undergraduate students. Results indicated that behavior severity and victim response significantly influenced ratings. The frequency of the behavior influenced appropriateness ratings, but interacted with behavior severity for harassment judgments. The effects of the gender of the evaluator were mediated by the evaluator's level of tolerance for harassment. The effects of the power relationship and rater personality were not significant.     

Effects of Exposure to Cigarette Advertisements on Adolescents' Attitudes Toward Smoking1

One hundred seventy-eight adolescents viewed a magazine that either contained or did not contain 4 cigarette advertisements. Adolescents who have tried smoking reported more positive attitudes toward smoking. Of the adolescents who have tried smoking, those in the cigarette-advertisement-present condition expressed more positive attitudes toward smoking than did those in the cigarette-advertisement-absent condition. Consistent with the prediction that adolescents who have tried (vs. never tried) smoking would attend more to cigarette advertisements, adolescents in the cigarette-advertisement-present condition who have tried (vs. never tried) smoking correctly recognized more cigarette advertisements. Taken together, these results suggest that adolescents who have tried smoking are attending to cigarette advertisements and are impacted by cigarette advertisements; specifically, cigarette advertisements bolster these adolescents' attitudes toward smoking.     

Optimism and Attributional Retraining: Longitudinal Effects on Academic Achievement,Test Anxiety,and Voluntary Course Withdrawal in College Students1

A longitudinal study examined how optimism and attributional retraining (AR) influenced 256 first‐year college students' test anxiety, cumulative academic achievement, and course persistence in college over an academic year. Students' optimism was assessed at the start of the academic year and they were assigned to either an AR or no‐AR (control) condition. Measures of students' test anxiety, cumulative grade point average, and voluntary course withdrawal were obtained at the end of the academic year. Results suggest that although high optimism was an academic risk factor among students who did not receive AR, high‐optimism students who did receive the AR cognitive intervention benefited from its effects to a greater extent than did low‐optimism students.     

友伴网络结构与中学生的吸烟行为

运用社会网络理论和分析技术考察友伴网络结构与中学生吸烟行为的关系。被试选自北京两所中学1091名初一至高三学生,要求他们最多提名10名友伴,并报告自己及其友伴的吸烟行为。然后,使用NEGOPY社会网络分析软件对中学生的友伴网络结构进行分析。研究结果表明,中学生的友伴网络结构存在团体成员、团体联系者和孤立者三种类型,团体成员所占比例超过团体联系者和孤立者,但随年级升高,团体成员有下降趋势。此外,团体成员的吸烟率显著低于孤立者和团体联系者,即使排除性别、年龄和学校类型的影响后,友伴网络结构与中学生的吸烟行为仍然有非常明显的关系。     

Smoking, caffeine, and stress: effects on blood pressure and heart rate in male and female college students

This study examined the independent and joint effects of cigarette smoking and caffeine consumption on blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) reactions to stress in male and female college students. Following an initial physiological baseline, participants received one of four experimental treatments (paced smoking, caffeine, smoking plus caffeine, or neither) and had BP and HR measured before, during, and after two stressful tasks. The results revealed that, compared with the control condition, caffeine ingestion enhanced the magnitude of stress-induced systolic BP and HR reactions. Smoking combined additively with stress, and the joint effect of smoking and caffeine was no greater than either taken alone. Males and females were generally similar in their BP and HR responses to smoking, caffeine, and stress. Inconsistencies with previous research and possible physiological mechanisms underlying the observed effects are discussed.