The effects of self-monitoring on the expressive display of masculinity-femininity

Do self-monitoring processes influence (1) the correspondence between assessed personality and expressive masculinity-femininity, and (2) the cross-channel consistency (face, body, voice) of expressive masculinity-femininity? To answer these questions, 36 male and 36 females completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and Snyder's Self-Monitoring Scale, and then were videotaped as teachers. Five groups of naive judges rated these stimulus subjects on expressive masculinity-femininity, basing their respective ratings on: video pictures and voices, just pictures, just faces, just bodies, or just voices. A sixth group of judges rated subjects on physical attractiveness. The results indicated that judged physical attractiveness was significantly correlated with judged masculinity-femininity, with men being judged more masculine and females more feminine the more attractive they were. BSRI femininity correlated strongly with judged masculinity-femininity, and BSRI masculinity, less so. Finally, self-monitoring did prove to moderate the correspondence between personality and expressive behavior, and the cross-channel consistency of masculinity-femininity cues: however, these moderating effects were different for males and females.     

Facial attractiveness and vocal likeability as determinants of nonverbal sending skills1

Recent studies have examined the self-fulfilling effects of the physical attractiveness stereotype on a person's development of social skills. The potential of vocal qualities to have similar effects has not been investigated. The present study examined the relation of attractiveness (as judged from the face) and likeability of the person (as judged from the voice) to a specific social skill—the ability to send nonverbal cues of emotion. It was found that facial attractiveness and vocal likeability increased sending accuracy of facial and vocal cues respectively, particularly for pleasant affects. The greater accuracy of facially attractive senders tended to be especially emphasized for posed (as compared to spontaneous) expressions, indicating that their superiority reflected a controllable skill. The need for further research in the tradition of “what is (vocally) likeable is good” was noted.     

言语吸引力影响因素探索：物理属性和社会特征

语音吸引力是个体吸引力的重要组成部分。为探索言语吸引力影响因素,以汉语词汇为材料,设计实验分析语音基频、共振峰等物理属性以及词义、声音受喜欢程度和语音性别等社会属性对语音吸引力的影响。结果表明：分析物理属性,基频、共振峰等并未能预测语音吸引力;分析社会属性,较之词语意义,声音本身具有的吸引力水平对言语吸引力评价影响更大;而男性和女性对两种性别言语吸引力评价差异不显著。言语吸引力评价在男性和女性间具有一致性：＂好声音＂比＂会说话＂更加容易被认为具有吸引力。     

The effects of physical and vocal attractiveness on impression formation of politicians

In order to investigate the nature of the combination of varying levels of vocal and physical attractiveness on the perception of hypothetical political candidates, 90 adults rated photographs of target politicians on scales for the dimensions of competency, trustworthiness, qualification, and leadership ability. It was hypothesized and confirmed that the halo effect (higher ratings for highly attractive targets) elicited by physical attractiveness is stronger and more robust than the halo effect elicited by vocal attractiveness; however vocal attractiveness did impact the perception of the candidates by lowering the ratings associated with candidates that were presented as highly attractive but possessing an unattractive voice. This work was sponsored by the Jean D. Smith Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. We are grateful to Donald Bucolo for helpful comments.     

The effects of physical and vocal attractiveness on impression formation of politicians

In order to investigate the nature of the combination of varying levels of vocal and physical attractiveness on the perception of hypothetical political candidates, 90 adults rated photographs of target politicians on scales for the dimensions of competency, trustworthiness, qualification, and leadership ability. It was hypothesized and confirmed that the halo effect (higher ratings for highly attractive targets) elicited by physical attractiveness is stronger and more robust than the halo effect elicited by vocal attractiveness; however vocal attractiveness did impact the perception of the candidates by lowering the ratings associated with candidates that were presented as highly attractive but possessing an unattractive voice. This work was sponsored by the Jean D. Smith Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. We are grateful to Donald Bucolo for helpful comments.     

Mechanism underlying the self-enhancement effect of voice attractiveness evaluation: self-positivity bias and familiarity effect

The aim of the present study was to determine whether the self-enhancement effect of voice attractiveness evaluation is due to general self-positivity bias and/or the familiarity effect. The participants were asked to rate the attractiveness of their own voice, a friend's voice and strangers' voices. In addition, a self-reference valence (SR-valence) task was adopted in the experiment. Significant self-enhancement effects in voice attractiveness ratings were demonstrated, regardless of whether the participants recognized their self-voice or not. However, the friend-enhancement effect was found in only those participants who successfully recognized their friend's voice. Moreover, a significant correlation was found between self-positivity bias in the SR-valence task and the self-enhancement effect (but not the friend-enhancement effect). Our findings suggest that both the familiarity effect and self-positivity bias account for the vocal self-enhancement effect, and the influence of self-positivity bias could be implicit. The present study thus provides empirical evidence to clarify the potential explanations for the self-enhancement of voice attractiveness assessment.     

A formal analysis of ratings of physical attractiveness: Successive contrast and simultaneous assimilation

Photographs of faces were presented in a series, either singly or in pairs, for ratings of physical attractiveness. In Experiment 1, faces were presented singly, and both the range and relative frequencies of physical attractiveness (on baseline scaling) were manipulated experimentally. The same face elicited higher ratings when less attractive faces predominated in the experimental series, successive contrast. Increasing the number of available categories resulted in higher ratings but did not reduce the amount of successive contrast. Both range and skewing effects were in accordance with a range-frequency model that permits the subjective range to vary with number of categories. In Experiment 2, faces were presented in pairs. The same face now elicited lower ratings when presented simultaneously with a less attractive face, simultaneous assimilation. Successive contrast was again observed between pairs and was greater for 5- than for 101-point rating scales. A model that uses the judgments resulting from a range-frequency compromise as the stimulus values for integration within pairs provides the best account of how both contrast and assimilation occur within the same experimental session. Alternative interpretations of the observed contrast and assimilation were discussed.     

面孔参照或观察者参照：性别二态线索、面孔吸引力与表情对正视面孔偏好的影响

本研究探讨了性别二态线索、面孔吸引力和表情对正视面孔偏好的影响。实验1基于面孔参照,被试普遍偏好正视面孔;相对男性化/厌恶和生气/低吸引力的面孔,被试更偏好女性化/高兴和中性/高吸引力的正视面孔;实验2基于观察者参照,总体并未表现出正视偏好;对低吸引力/中性表情/男性化面孔更偏好斜视面孔。     

Voice and interpersonal attraction

The present study examined the effects of voice and physical appearance on inter-personal attraction. Furthermore, the attributes of voice that enhance interpersonal attraction were investigated. In the first study the subjects were 25 female students from one university and the target persons were four male students from another university. The subjects rated attractiveness of voice and physical appearance, and the overall interpersonal attraction of the target persons. The attractiveness of voice and physical appearance had independent effects on interpersonal attraction. In the second study the subjects were 62 students (20 males, 42 females) from one university and the target persons were 16 students from another university (eight of each sex). The results of the first study were replicated. Bright, generous voices, low vocal pitch and a small range of vocal pitch increased interpersonal attraction.     

Physical Attractiveness of Face and Voice: Effects of Positivity,Dominance, and Sex1

We investigated the joint and interacting effects of affect, sex, and nonverbal channel (face and voice) on the perception of physical attractiveness. In both studies we found that positive affects were rated as more attractive than negative affects, regardless of the channel (face, or voice). We also found that dominant affects were rated as more attractive when displayed in the face whereas submissive affects were rated as more attractive when displayed in the voice.     

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.     

Beyond Personality Impressions: Effects of Physical and Vocal Attractiveness on False Consensus, Social Comparison, Affiliation, and Assumed and Perceived Similarity

ABSTRACT We examined the effects of target persons' physical and vocal attractiveness on judges' responses to five measures: false consensus (the belief that the target shares one's behavior), choice of targets as comparison others, affiliation with targets, assumed similarity (similarity between self-ratings and ratings assigned to targets), and perceived similarity (direct questions about similarity). Higher physical attractiveness and higher vocal attractiveness were both related to higher scores on all variables. The effect of one type of attractiveness was more pronounced for higher levels of the other type of attractiveness. The joint effect of the two types of attractiveness was best described as synergistic, i.e., only targets high on both types of attractiveness elicited higher scores on the dependent variables. The effect of physical attractiveness on most dependent variables was more pronounced for subjects who were themselves physically attractive. The synergistic effect (the advantage of targets high on both types of attractiveness) was more pronounced for judges high in self-monitoring. The contribution of the study to the literature on attractiveness stereotypes is discussed.     

Beauty Is More than "Name" Deep: The Effect of Women's First Names on Ratings of Physical Attractiveness and Personality Attributes

This study investigated the effects of first names on ratings of physical attractiveness and personality attributes. Pictures of female targets varying in physical attractiveness (low, medium, high) were assigned a desirable, neutral, or undesirable first name. In a control group, targets were presented without a first name. Both physical attractiveness ratings and ratings of personality attributes were influenced by targets' physical attractiveness irrespective of the assigned first name.     

When dynamic, the head and face alone can express pride

Prior research suggested that pride is recognized only when a head and facial expression (e.g., tilted head with a slight smile) is combined with a postural expression (e.g., expanded body and arm gestures). However, these studies used static photographs. In the present research, participants labeled the emotion conveyed by four dynamic cues to pride, presented as video clips: head and face alone, body posture alone, voice alone, and an expression in which head and face, body posture, and voice were presented simultaneously. Participants attributed pride to the head and face alone, even when postural or vocal information was absent. Pride can be conveyed without body posture or voice.     

Multiple Framing: Verbal,Facial, and Vocal Cues in Risky Choice

Verbal framing effects have been widely studied, but little is known about how people react to multiple framing cues in risk communication, where verbal messages are often accompanied by facial and vocal cues. We examined joint and differential effects of verbal, facial, and vocal framing on risk preference in hypothetical monetary and life–death situations. In the multiple framing condition with the factorial design (2 verbal frames × 2 vocal tones × 4 basic facial expressions × 2 task domains), each scenario was presented auditorily with a written message on a photo of the messenger's face. Compared with verbal framing effects resulting in preference reversal, multiple frames made risky choice more consistent and shifted risk preference without reversal. Moreover, a positive tone of voice increased risk‐seeking preference in women. When the valence of facial and vocal cues was incongruent with verbal frame, verbal framing effects were significant. In contrast, when the affect cues were congruent with verbal frame, framing effects disappeared. These results suggest that verbal framing is given higher priority when other affect cues are incongruent. Further analysis revealed that participants were more risk‐averse when positive affect cues (positive tone or facial expressions) were congruently paired with a positive verbal frame whereas participants were more risk‐seeking when positive affect cues were incongruent with the verbal frame. In contrast, for negative affect cues, congruency promoted risk‐seeking tendency whereas incongruency increased risk‐aversion. Overall, the results show that facial and vocal cues interact with verbal framing and significantly affect risk communication. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cross-gender perceptions of facial attributes and their relation to attractiveness: do we see them differently than they see us?

Examination of perceptions of human facial attributes revealed that individual attributes are similarly perceived by males and females. However, patterns of attribute interrelationships differ as a function of gender of the face. Undergraduate students (N = 280) rated pictures of 40 male or female Caucasians on 12 physical attributes (e.g., nose size, face width) and overall attractiveness. The four sets of attribute ratings (defined by rater gender and picture gender) were submitted to principal components analyses, and five-factor solutions were found for each condition (accounting for about 76% of the variance). Comparisons of the four component solutions using confirmatory factor procedures revealed that male and female raters share one factor structure when rating photographs of female faces and another factor structure when rating photographs of male faces. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the patterns of attribute interrelationships were not "perceptual units" in the perception of attractiveness, and that different "rules" are used to assess the attractiveness of male and female stimuli faces. The importance of these results for models of facial attractiveness and interfacial similarity judgements are discussed.     

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。     

Temporal shifts in eye gaze and facial expressions independently contribute to the perceived attractiveness of unfamiliar faces

ABSTRACT

We investigated whether attractiveness ratings of expressive faces would be affected by gaze shifts towards or away from the observer. In all experiments, effects of facial expression were found, with higher attractiveness ratings to positive over negative expressions, irrespective of effects of gaze-shifts. In the first experiment faces with gaze shifts away from the observer were preferred. However, when the dynamics of the gaze shift was disrupted, by adding an intermediate delay, the effect of direction of gaze shift disappeared. By manipulating the relative duration of each gaze direction during a gaze shift we found higher attractiveness ratings to faces with a longer duration of direct gaze, particularly in the initial exposure to a face. Our findings suggest that although the temporal dynamics of eye gaze and facial expressions influence the aesthetic evaluation of faces, these cues appear to act independently rather than in an integrated manner for social perception.     

Consensus at zero acquaintance: replication, behavioral cues, and stability.

That observers tend to agree in their ratings of a target even if they have never interacted with that target has been called consensus at zero acquaintance. The basic finding that consensus is highest for judgments concerning a target's degree of extraversion (EV) and somewhat weaker for judgments of conscientiousness is replicated. Several potential observable cues that might be used by judges when rating targets are examined. The finding that ratings of physical attractiveness correlate with judgments of EV is replicated. In Study 1, rapid body movements and smiling were also found to correlate with EV judgments. The level of consensus declined when initially unacquainted Ss interacted one-on-one (Study 2), but did not decline--and even increased--when Ss interacted in a group (Study 3). Ss judged as extraverted at zero acquaintance were also seen as extraverted after interacting with others.     

Sexual dimorphism of male face shape,partnership status and the temporal context of relationship sought modulate women's preferences for direct gaze

Most previous studies of face preferences have investigated the physical cues that influence face preferences. Far fewer studies have investigated the effects of cues to the direction of others' social interest (i.e. gaze direction) on face preferences. Here we found that unpartnered women demonstrated stronger preferences for direct gaze (indicating social interest) from feminine male faces than from masculine male faces when judging men's attractiveness for long‐term relationships, but not when judging men's attractiveness for short‐term relationships. Moreover, unpartnered women's preferences for direct gaze from feminine men were stronger for long‐term than short‐term relationships, but there was no comparable effect for judgements of masculine men. No such effects were evident among women with romantic partners, potentially reflecting different motivations underlying partnered and unpartnered women's judgements of men's attractiveness. Collectively these findings (1) complement previous findings whereby women demonstrated stronger preferences for feminine men as long‐term than short‐term partners, (2) demonstrate context‐sensitivity in the integration of physical and social cues in face preferences, and (3) suggest that gaze preferences may function, at least in part, to facilitate efficient allocation of mating effort.