The role of femininity and averageness of voice pitch in aesthetic judgments of women's voices

Although averageness is preferred in auditory stimuli (eg music) and non-face objects (eg wristwatches), exaggerated feminine characteristics are preferred to averageness in female faces. To establish whether or not men prefer femininity in female voices to average characteristics, we conducted a correlational study (study 1) to assess the relationship between voice pitch and attractiveness ratings. We found a positive linear relationship between voice pitch and attractiveness ratings. In study 2 we manipulated pitch in women's voices with low (lower than average), average, and high (higher than average) starting pitches and gauged men's preferences. Men preferred women's voices with raised pitch for all levels of starting pitch. These findings suggest that men prefer high voice pitch to average voice pitch in women's voices.     

Connectedness: A Review of the Literature With Implications for Counseling,Assessment, and Research

In this article, the authors review the current conceptual and empirical literature from a variety of disciplines dealing with the construct of connectedness. A working definition of connectedness is provided along with a discussion of its multidimensional nature and major characteristics. Its relationship with a variety of other variables is also presented. Particular attention is given to gender and cultural considerations in the experience and operationalization of connectedness. Recommendations for counseling, assessment, and research related to connectedness are provided.     

Accuracy in assessment of self-reported stress and a measure of health from static facial information

The human face is important for social communication and in attractiveness judgements. Previous studies indicate that several facial traits may be related to mental and physical health and there is some evidence that individuals are able to judge past health on the basis of facial appearance. The current study builds on this prior work, examining the relationship between static facial appearance and self-reported stress and health. Specifically, we examined (1) within and between individual stress (Study 1) by photographing the same participants at two times, once in a relatively stress free and once in a stressful time, and (2) between individual health (Studies 2A and 2B) by examining self-reported past number of colds as a measure of immune function. All studies demonstrated that individuals could judge the stress and physical health of others from static facial appearance alone at rates greater than chance. Such accuracy may reflect selection pressures to identify stress free and healthy social partners.     

The Mainline Sidelined: The Sociology of Religion Unbound

This paper examines an expanding focus in the content of what members of SSSR study and show how this change is reflected in the publications in the journal. I offer four factors that might effect what we study: changes in the world, changes in who we are, changes in funding sources, and changes in the theoretical frames. I discuss the “cultural turn” as new theoretical frame, which has had important implications for the study of religion. 1 then return to the question of changes in the world. I end with my expectation that we will see greater yet inclusiveness in the future.     

Correlated male preferences for femininity in female faces and voices

Sexually dimorphic physical traits are important for mate choice and mate preference in many species, including humans. Several previous studies have observed that women's preferences for physical cues of male masculinity in different domains (e.g., visual and vocal) are correlated. These correlations demonstrate systematic, rather than arbitrary, variation in women's preferences for masculine men and are consistent with the proposal that sexually dimorphic cues in different domains reflect a common underlying aspect of male quality. Here we present evidence for a similar correlation between men's preferences for different cues of femininity in women; although men generally preferred feminized to masculinized versions of both women's faces and voices, the strength of men's preferences for feminized versions of female faces was positively and significantly correlated with the strength of their preferences for feminized versions of women's voices. In a second study, this correlation occurred when men judged women's attractiveness as long-term, but not short-term, mates, which is consistent with previous research. Collectively, these findings (1) present novel evidence for systematic variation in men's preferences for feminine women, (2) present converging evidence for concordant preferences for sexually dimorphic traits in different domains, and (3) complement findings of correlations between women's facial and vocal femininity.     

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.     

Adaptation reinforces preferences for correlates of attractive facial cues

It is generally thought that experience with faces recalibrates preferences to match the population average for recently encountered exemplars. Here, however, we demonstrate that viewing faces biases recalibration of preferences towards characteristics that are common to the more attractive faces that were encountered, rather than characteristics of the unbiased population average. Furthermore, this bias in recalibration of preferences was abolished when participants’ attention was directed away from the attractive faces, suggesting it is a consequence of the tendency to look longer and more often at attractive faces than at relatively unattractive faces. These findings suggest a perceptual mechanism that may reinforce directional selection for nonaverage attractive facial characteristics and their correlates, rather than driving stabilizing selection for average traits.     

A modulatory effect of male voice pitch on long-term memory in women: evidence of adaptation for mate choice?

From a functionalist perspective, human memory should be attuned to information of adaptive value for one’s survival and reproductive fitness. While evidence of sensitivity to survival-related information is growing, specific links between memory and information that could impact upon reproductive fitness have remained elusive. Here, in two experiments, we showed that memory in women is sensitive to male voice pitch, a sexually dimorphic cue important for mate choice because it not only serves as an indicator of genetic quality, but may also signal behavioural traits undesirable in a long-term partner. In Experiment 1, we report that women’s visual object memory is significantly enhanced when an object’s name is spoken during encoding in a masculinised (i.e., lower-pitch) versus feminised (i.e., higher-pitch) male voice, but that no analogous effect occurs when women listen to other women’s voices. Experiment 2 replicated this pattern of results, additionally showing that lowering and raising male voice pitch enhanced and impaired women’s memory, respectively, relative to a baseline (i.e., unmanipulated) voice condition. The modulatory effect of sexual dimorphism cues in the male voice may reveal a mate-choice adaptation within women’s memory, sculpted by evolution in response to the dilemma posed by the double-edged qualities of male masculinity.     

Spillover between mothers' postdivorce relationships: The mediating role of parenting stress

This study examined the differences and associations between divorced mothers' relationships with their ex‐partners and with their children, and investigated whether this association is mediated by mothers' experience of parenting stress. A questionnaire was completed by 117 divorced single mothers and 64 remarried mothers. Results show that the single mothers and the remarried mothers did not differ on postdivorce family relationship quality or on their experience of parenting stress. Furthermore, divorced mothers' relationship with their ex‐partners was found to be associated with the quality of the mother–child relationship, but not when controlling for mothers' experience of parenting stress. The results show that maternal parenting stress mediates the association between conflicts between ex‐partners and the quality of the mother–child relationship.     

Accuracy in discrimination of self-reported cooperators using static facial information

People readily ascribe personality traits to others and believe that faces hold important guides to character. Here we examined the relationship between static facial appearance and self-reported cooperation/defection using the prisoner’s dilemma (N = 193). Study 1 combined face images of those self-reporting they would be most and least likely to cooperate. The composites of cooperators were seen as more cooperative than non-cooperators. Study 2 demonstrated accuracy with ratings of individual faces. Masculinity of face shape was negatively related to self-reported cooperation for men, but not women. Further, ratings of smile intensity were positively, but not significantly, related to self-reported cooperation. Overall, individuals appear able judge the potential of others to cooperate from static facial appearance alone at rates greater than chance.