The Impact of Face Skin Tone vs. Face Symmetry on Perceived Facial Attractiveness

The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the relative contribution of skin tone and symmetry on judgment of attractiveness regarding female faces. Two hundred and fifteen Mozambican adults were presented with a set of faces, and instructed to rate their degree of attractiveness along a continuous scale. Chi-square, factorial weight analyses and ANOVA were used to analyze the data. Face skin tone had a significant impact on the participants' attractiveness judgment of target faces. However, the target face skin tone contribution to the participants' attractiveness judgment (5% of the total variance) was much weaker than the contribution of the target face symmetry (85% of the total variance). These results imply that skin bleaching, common among Black people across sub-Saharan African countries, is not only dangerous to the health of those who practice it, but it is unlikely to make them appear much more attractive.     

Attractiveness as a Function of Skin Tone and Facial Features: Evidence from Categorization Studies

Participants rated the attractiveness and racial typicality of male faces varying in their facial features from Afrocentric to Eurocentric and in skin tone from dark to light in two experiments. Experiment 1 provided evidence that facial features and skin tone have an interactive effect on perceptions of attractiveness and mixed-race faces are perceived as more attractive than single-race faces. Experiment 2 further confirmed that faces with medium levels of skin tone and facial features are perceived as more attractive than faces with extreme levels of these factors. Black phenotypes (combinations of dark skin tone and Afrocentric facial features) were rated as more attractive than White phenotypes (combinations of light skin tone and Eurocentric facial features); ambiguous faces (combinations of Afrocentric and Eurocentric physiognomy) with medium levels of skin tone were rated as the most attractive in Experiment 2. Perceptions of attractiveness were relatively independent of racial categorization in both experiments.     

基于儒家文化的“帝王相”之民间意象的首次探索

本研究通过评价不同性别二态线索和吸引力的面孔图片来考察儒家文化下人们心中帝王面孔形象。采用FaceGen Modeller 3.1操作面孔性别二态线索,并通过PhotoShop CS5合成面孔材料。研究发现:被试认为女性化的男性面孔比男性化的男性面孔更具"帝王相";低吸引力的女性化男性面孔比高吸引力的女性化男性面孔更具"帝王相";不同性别被试之间的评价无显著差异。上述结果显示,在儒家文化影响下,人们偏好具有女性化面孔特点的帝王。     

The influence of position and context on facial attractiveness

It has been shown that a person's position in a group influences how that person is evaluated, with people in the middle perceived as more important than people on the fringe of a group. Four experiments examined whether the position of a face, in a line of five faces, influenced facial attractiveness. The middle position influenced the perceived attractiveness of the target face but the direction of this effect depended on the attractiveness of the target and the surrounding faces. Attractive faces were perceived as less attractive when in the middle of unattractive faces, or faces of average attractiveness. Conversely, unattractive faces were perceived as more attractive when in the middle of other unattractive faces. These results have wide implications, suggesting that the more central a stimulus is in a context then the greater the influence of the context on the judgment of that stimulus.     

How facial attractiveness affects sustained attention

The present study investigated whether and how facial attractiveness affects sustained attention. We adopted a multiple‐identity tracking paradigm, using attractive and unattractive faces as stimuli. Participants were required to track moving target faces amid distractor faces and report the final location of each target. In Experiment 1, the attractive and unattractive faces differed in both the low‐level properties (i.e., luminance, contrast, and color saturation) and high‐level properties (i.e., physical beauty and age). The results showed that the attractiveness of both the target and distractor faces affected the tracking performance: The attractive target faces were tracked better than the unattractive target faces; when the targets and distractors were both unattractive male faces, the tracking performance was poorer than when they were of different attractiveness. In Experiment 2, the low‐level properties of the facial images were equalized. The results showed that the attractive target faces were still tracked better than unattractive targets while the effects related to distractor attractiveness ceased to exist. Taken together, the results indicate that during attentional tracking the high‐level properties related to the attractiveness of the target faces can be automatically processed, and then they can facilitate the sustained attention on the attractive targets, either with or without the supplement of low‐level properties. On the other hand, only low‐level properties of the distractor faces can be processed. When the distractors share similar low‐level properties with the targets, they can be grouped together, so that it would be more difficult to sustain attention on the individual targets.     

Something to smile about: The interrelationship between attractiveness and emotional expression

Previous studies have suggested a link between the processing of the emotional expression of a face and how attractive it appears. In two experiments we investigated the interrelationship between attractiveness and happiness. In Experiment 1 we presented morphed faces varying in attractiveness and happiness and asked participants to choose the more attractive of two simultaneously presented faces. In the second experiment we used the same stimuli as in Experiment 1 and asked participants to choose the happier face. The results of Experiment 1 revealed that the evaluation of attractiveness is strongly influenced by the intensity of a smile expressed on a face: A happy facial expression could even compensate for relative unattractiveness. Conversely, the findings of Experiment 2 showed that facial attractiveness also influences the evaluation of happiness: It was easier to choose the happier of two faces if the happier face was also more attractive. We discuss the interrelationship of happiness and attractiveness with regard to evolutionary relevance of positive affective status and rewarding effects.     

Familiarity breeds attraction: effects of exposure on the attractiveness of typical and distinctive faces

Several studies have shown that facial attractiveness is positively correlated with both familiarity and typicality. Here we manipulated the familiarity of typical and distinctive faces to measure the effect on attractiveness. In our first experiment, we collected ratings of attractiveness, distinctiveness, and familiarity using three different groups of participants. Our stimuli included 84 images of female faces, presented in a full-face view. We replicated the finding that attractiveness ratings negatively correlate with distinctiveness ratings. In addition, we showed that attractiveness ratings were positively correlated with familiarity ratings. In our second experiment, we demonstrated that increasing exposure to faces increases their attractiveness, although there was no differential effect of exposure on typical and distinctive faces. Our results suggest that episodic familiarity affects attractiveness ratings independently of general or structural familiarity. The implications of our findings for the 'face-space' model are discussed.     

男性对女性面孔吸引力的认知偏好: 来自ERP的证据

运用事件相关电位(ERPs)技术, 采用学习-再认实验任务, 探讨了男性对有、无吸引力女性面孔图片进行判断和再认时脑内时程的动态变化。行为数据结果表明, 男性对有吸引力女性面孔的反应时更长, 再认正确率更高。ERP结果发现, 有、无吸引力面孔诱发的ERP早成分和晚成分都存在显著差异, 最强效应出现在大脑皮层的中前部。在判断任务和再认任务中, 有吸引力的女性面孔都比无吸引力的女性面孔诱发出更大的ERP成分(分别为N300、P350~550ms和P160、N300~500ms、P500~700ms)。结果表明, 男性对有吸引力的女性面孔的判断和再认存在偏好。     

Preferences for sexual dimorphism on attractiveness levels: An eye-tracking study

Previous studies on sexual dimorphism showed feminine preferences in female faces and mixed findings in male faces by choosing which is more attractive in a pair of a masculine face and a feminine face. However, very little is known about how people make fine-grained visual assessments of such images and the attractiveness levels of faces are not received much attention. Recently a large number of androgynous stars appear in the media, which triggers a hot phenomenon of imitating them. Here we examine the influence of androgynous stars on people’s facial preferences for sexual dimorphism in male and female faces on different attractiveness levels using eye-tracking techniques. In male faces we found both male and female participants preferred masculine faces to androgynous faces in high attractiveness, but mixed results in low attractiveness. In female faces we found both male and female participants preferred feminine faces to androgynous faces in high attractiveness, but no preferences in low attractiveness. Results suggest that attractiveness levels of faces might be a factor causing inconsistency in sexual dimorphism preference for male faces and that androgynous faces are not preferred, which reveals that androgynous phenomenon might not be caused by facial attractiveness.     

Context effects on the perceived physical attractiveness of faces

Four experiments were conducted to study the nature of context effects on the perceived physical attractiveness of faces. In Experiment 1, photos of faces scaled on attractiveness were presented in sets of three, with target faces appearing in the middle flanked by two context faces. The target faces were of average attractiveness, with the context faces being either high, average, or low in attractiveness. The effect of the context was one of assimilation, rather than contrast, regardless of whether the persons in the photos were portrayed to be associated. This result was interpreted in terms of a “generalized halo effect” for judgments of the physical attractiveness of stimuli within a group. Presenting the persons of a set as friends enhanced the perceived attractiveness of the target face but only when the context did not contain a face of low attractiveness. In Experiment 2, the assimilation effect was observed to carry over to influence ratings of the target faces several minutes after the context faces had been removed. Experiment 3 showed the assimilation effect to be robust regardless of whether the context was composed of two faces or one, but Experiment 4 showed the assimilation effect to be evident only when the context faces were presented simultaneously with the target.     

Processing of negative stimuli facilitates event-based prospective memory only under low memory load

Event-based prospective memory (PM) is related to the ability to execute a previously planned action at the appropriate situation. Previous literature showed enhanced performance when emotional stimuli are used as PM targets. However, it was entirely unexplored whether this effect is susceptible to prospective memory load (PML), related to the number of target events that are relevant for the pending PM task. Here we presented participants with angry or neutral faces for an identity judgment (ongoing task). A different number of faces, depending on low vs. high levels of PML, served as PM targets. The results showed better PM performance following negative than neutral targets, but only under low levels of PML. This indicates that the bottom-up facilitation driven by negative stimuli serving as PM targets dramatically depends on the available attention resources allocated for monitoring the incoming information.     

面孔吸引力同化的连续性效应

以往研究表明目标面孔的吸引力评价会偏向背景面孔, 产生同化效应。但同化效应的计算常常是对不同背景下目标面孔吸引力评分进行比较, 并没有考虑目标面孔单独呈现时的吸引力评分, 可能是虚假的同化效应。本文以单独呈现的目标面孔吸引力评分作为基准值计算同化效应, 考察了呈现时间和目标与背景面孔吸引力的差异对目标面孔吸引力评价的影响。结果发现, 个体对目标面孔吸引力的评分会偏向背景面孔的吸引力, 并表现出同化的连续性效应, 即目标和背景面孔的吸引力差异越大, 同化效应越小。     

The two sides of beauty: Laterality and the duality of facial attractiveness

We hypothesized that facial attractiveness represents a dual judgment, a combination of reward-based, sexual processes, and aesthetic, cognitive processes. Herein we describe a study that demonstrates that sexual and nonsexual processes both contribute to attractiveness judgments and that these processes can be dissociated. Female participants rated the general attractiveness of faces presented in either their left or right visual field. In order to examine sexual and nonsexual components of these judgments, general attractiveness ratings were correlated with ratings of these same faces made by two independent groups of raters in two specific contexts, one sexual and one nonsexual. Based on an items analysis, partial correlation coefficients were computed for each individual and used as the dependent variable of interest in a 2 (laterality: right, left) by 2 (context: sexual, nonsexual) ANOVA. This analysis revealed an interaction such that faces rated in a sexual context better predicted attractiveness ratings of faces shown in the left than right visual field, whereas faces rated in a nonsexual context better predicted attractiveness of faces shown in the right than left visual field. This finding is consistent with the assertion that sexual and nonsexual preferences involve predominantly lateralized processing routes that independently contribute to what is perceived to be attractive.     

Sequential effects in face-attractiveness judgment

A number of studies have shown that current-trial responses are biased toward the response of the preceding trial in perceptual decisionmaking tasks (the sequential effect-Holland and Lockhead, 1968 Perception & Psychophysics 3 409-414). The sequential effect has been widely observed in evaluation of the physical properties of stimuli as well as more complex properties. However, it is unclear whether subjective decisions (e.g., attractiveness judgments) are also susceptible to the sequential effect. Here, we examined whether the sequential effect would occur in face-attractiveness judgments. Forty-eight pictures of male and female faces were presented successively. Participants rated the attractiveness of each face on a 7-point scale. The results showed that the attractiveness rating of a given face assimilated toward the rating of the preceding trial. In a separate experiment, we provided the average attractiveness rating by others for each trial as feedback. The feedback weakened the sequential effect. These findings suggest that attractiveness judgment is also biased toward the preceding judgment, and hence the sequential effect can be extended into the domain of subjective decisionmaking.     

That woman looks pretty,but is she attractive? Female perceptions of facial beauty and the impact of cultural labels

This study examined women's looking time towards female faces while they judged them for attractiveness, prettiness, cuteness and beauty. In Study 1, ratings were similar for scales of attractiveness and prettiness, and participants looked longer at prettier over less pretty faces. Judging female faces on the basis of attractiveness did not elicit visual preferences, although in this case females’ biases to look at attractive women might have been inhibited by the physical presence of an experimenter while looking times were being recorded. In Study 2, duration of viewing time was computer-recorded without participants’ knowledge, after priming them to judge faces in terms of attractiveness, prettiness, beauty or cuteness. Viewing time increased with face appeal; the differences between low and high appeal faces turned out to be greatest when participants evaluated them in terms of attractiveness and least apparent when asked to judge them in cuteness. In conclusion, both studies revealed a correspondence between aesthetic and looking preferences, yet some variation in women's visual attention depending on how female beauty is labeled.     

Nervous Instability and Genius: Military and Political Leaders

Participants (N = 106) performed an affective priming task with facial primes that varied in their skin tone and facial physiognomy, and, which were presented either in color or in gray-scale. Participants' racial evaluations were more positive for Eurocentric than for Afrocentric physiognomy faces. Light skin tone faces were evaluated more positively than dark skin tone faces, but the magnitude of this effect depended on the mode of color presentation. The results suggest that in affective priming tasks, faces might not be processed holistically, and instead, visual features of facial priming stimuli independently affect implicit evaluations.     

Computer graphic studies of the role of facial similarity in judgements of attractiveness

Anecdotally, spouses are often said to resemble one another. This study investigates the effects of similarity between participants and stimuli on judgements of facial attractiveness: does “like prefer like”? Using computer graphic techniques, opposite sex facial stimuli were generated from subjects' photographs. Experiment 1 showed a correlation between attractiveness and similarity but the effect can be explained by the attractiveness of average faces. Beyond this, there was a trend for individual subjects to rate opposite sex images with a similar face shape to their own face as more attractive than other subjects. Experiment 2 allowed subjects to interactively manipulate an opposite sex facial image along a continuum from a self-similar shape, through an average face shape, to a face with opposite characteristics. No significant preferences for self-similar or opposite characteristics were found. Preferences for average faces are stronger than preferences for self-similar faces.     

Computer graphic studies of the role of facial similarity in judgements of attractiveness

Anecdotally, spouses are often said to resemble one another. This study investigates the effects of similarity between participants and stimuli on judgements of facial attractiveness: does “like prefer like”? Using computer graphic techniques, opposite sex facial stimuli were generated from subjects' photographs. Experiment 1 showed a correlation between attractiveness and similarity but the effect can be explained by the attractiveness of average faces. Beyond this, there was a trend for individual subjects to rate opposite sex images with a similar face shape to their own face as more attractive than other subjects. Experiment 2 allowed subjects to interactively manipulate an opposite sex facial image along a continuum from a self-similar shape, through an average face shape, to a face with opposite characteristics. No significant preferences for self-similar or opposite characteristics were found. Preferences for average faces are stronger than preferences for self-similar faces.     

Beauty is better pursued: Effects of attractiveness in multiple-face tracking

Using the multiple-object tracking paradigm, this study examines how spontaneous appraisal for facial beauty affects distributed attention to multiple faces in dynamic displays. Observers tracked attractive faces more effectively than unattractive faces in this task. Tracking performance was only affected by target attractiveness, suggesting an absence of appraisal for distractor attractiveness. Attractive male faces also produced stronger binding of face identity and location for female participants. Together, the results suggest that facial attractiveness was appraised during tracking even though this was task irrelevant. Contrary to the theory that multiple-object tracking is driven by encapsulated low-level vision, our results show that the content of target representation is not only penetrable by social cognition but also modulates the course of tracking operations.     

Beauty is better pursued: effects of attractiveness in multiple-face tracking

Using the multiple-object tracking paradigm, this study examines how spontaneous appraisal for facial beauty affects distributed attention to multiple faces in dynamic displays. Observers tracked attractive faces more effectively than unattractive faces in this task. Tracking performance was only affected by target attractiveness, suggesting an absence of appraisal for distractor attractiveness. Attractive male faces also produced stronger binding of face identity and location for female participants. Together, the results suggest that facial attractiveness was appraised during tracking even though this was task irrelevant. Contrary to the theory that multiple-object tracking is driven by encapsulated low-level vision, our results show that the content of target representation is not only penetrable by social cognition but also modulates the course of tracking operations.