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.     

Auditory Model Enhances Relative-Timing Learning

In recent experiments (Q. Lai, C. H. Shea, & M. Little, 2000; C. H. Shea, G. Wulf, J. Park, & B. Gaunt, 2001), auditory models were found to be effective in enhancing relative-timing performance and learning in constant practice conditions. In the present experiment, the authors examined (a) whether an auditory model also enhances relative-timing learning in blocked and random practice conditions and (b) whether experience with the auditory model enhances participants' ability to produce the response by using different effector sequences. Participants (N = 48) were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 acquisition conditions in which an auditory model was or was not present and the practice schedule was blocked or random. In the acquisition phase, all participants alternately pressed 2 keys on a keyboard in an attempt to match 5 goal intervals. In the auditory model conditions, a sequence of tones was played before each acquisition trial. The tones represented the correct timing sequence for that trial. One retention and 3 effector-transfer tests without feedback were administered about 24 hr after the completion of acquisition. The results indicated that the auditory model enhanced relative-timing performance and learning independently of practice schedule. In addition, the auditory model enhanced relative timing on the effector-transfer tests, but absolute-timing performance and learning were not affected by the auditory model. Thus, relative timing was found to be effector independent but absolute timing was not.     

Society for Personality Assessment — Which Way to Go?

As a result of a mandate by the membership, the Society for Personality Assessment has emerged as an old association with a new name. The decision on this issue was made by the membership at the same time that the question of its future affiliation was voted upon. Approximately two-thirds of the membership expressed the desire to have our group affiliate in some manner with the American Psychological Association. However, the exact manner was not specified in the referendum. At the last meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Society for Personality Assessment, there was a division of opinion as to whether joining as a division or as a section of an already existing division was the better move. The two most articulate exponents, Drs. Little and Farberow, were asked to prepare the position paper below in order to give the membership some information about the issues involved. On a subsequent occasion the members will be asked to take a formal position on this issue. If anyone, after reading the material below, wishes to comment further, I would be happy to publish his views in subsequent issues of the Journal.

Walter G. Klopfer Executive Editor     

Modeling Time-Dependent Association in Longitudinal Data: A Lag as Moderator Approach

We describe a straightforward, yet novel, approach to examine time-dependent association between variables. The approach relies on a measurement-lag research design in conjunction with statistical interaction models. We base arguments in favor of this approach on the potential for better understanding the associations between variables by describing how the association changes with time. We introduce a number of different functional forms for describing these lag-moderated associations, each with a different substantive meaning. Finally, we use empirical data to demonstrate methods for exploring functional forms and model fitting based on this approach.     

Do assortative preferences contribute to assortative mating for adiposity?

Assortative mating for adiposity, whereby levels of adiposity in romantic partners tend to be positively correlated, has implications for population health due to the combined effects of partners' levels of adiposity on fertility and/or offspring health. Although assortative preferences for cues of adiposity, whereby leaner people are inherently more attracted to leaner individuals, have been proposed as a factor in assortative mating for adiposity, there have been no direct tests of this issue. Because of this, and because of recent work suggesting that facial cues of adiposity convey information about others' health that may be particularly important for mate preferences, we tested the contribution of assortative preferences for facial cues of adiposity to assortative mating for adiposity (assessed from body mass index, BMI) in a sample of romantic couples. Romantic partners' BMIs were positively correlated and this correlation was not due to the effects of age or relationship duration. However, although men and women with leaner partners showed stronger preferences for cues of low levels of adiposity, controlling for these preferences did not weaken the correlation between partners' BMIs. Indeed, own BMI and preferences were uncorrelated. These results suggest that assortative preferences for facial cues of adiposity contribute little (if at all) to assortative mating for adiposity.     

Men's strategic preferences for femininity in female faces

Several evolutionarily relevant sources of individual differences in face preference have been documented for women. Here, we examine three such sources of individual variation in men's preference for female facial femininity: term of relationship, partnership status and self‐perceived attractiveness. We show that men prefer more feminine female faces when rating for a short‐term relationship and when they have a partner (Study 1). These variables were found to interact in a follow‐up study (Study 2). Men who thought themselves attractive also preferred more feminized female faces for short‐term relationships than men who thought themselves less attractive (Study 1 and Study 2). In women, similar findings for masculine preferences in male faces have been interpreted as adaptive. In men, such preferences potentially reflect that attractive males are able to compete for high‐quality female partners in short‐term contexts. When a man has secured a mate, the potential cost of being discovered may increase his choosiness regarding short‐term partners relative to unpartnered men, who can better increase their short‐term mating success by relaxing their standards. Such potentially strategic preferences imply that men also face trade‐offs when choosing relatively masculine or feminine faced partners. In line with a trade‐off, women with feminine faces were seen as more likely to be unfaithful and more likely to pursue short‐term relationships (Study 3), suggesting that risk of cuckoldry is one factor that may limit men's preferences for femininity in women and could additionally lead to preferences for femininity in short‐term mates.     

Employee Attachment: Implications for Supervisor Trustworthiness and Trust

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of adult attachment on perceptions of trustworthiness and trust in one’s supervisor. Specifically, we cast trustworthiness perceptions as the cognitive mechanisms by which attachment influences trust, which then influenced work outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

Data on attachment, trustworthiness, and trust were obtained from employees, and performance ratings were provided by the employees’ direct supervisor (n = 353, 157 supervisors).

Findings

Secure and counterdependent attachment had a significant impact on trustworthiness perceptions, and secure attachment was also significantly related to trust, even in the presence of trustworthiness perceptions. Overdependent attachment had no significant influence on trustworthiness or trust perceptions.

Implications

Adult attachment influences one’s regulatory processes in interpersonal relationships and will certainly influence trust in one’s supervisor. Understanding the process by which attachment influences trust in one’s supervisor via trustworthiness perceptions provides a more comprehensive picture of how trust develops. This study provides evidence that adult attachment influences trustworthiness and trust simultaneously, which may be helpful in the selection process but also in managing the interpersonal aspect of the employee–supervisor relationship.

Originality/value

Though trust has been linked to attachment in the literature, no research has examined adult attachment and its influence on trustworthiness perceptions. Our paper provides an examination of attachment and its role in a comprehensive model of interpersonal trust. In addition, we examine attachments influence on trustworthiness and trust beyond the influence of propensity to trust, a commonly studied dispositional variable in the trust literature.