The effects of age and gender on perceived facial attractiveness: A reply to McLellan and McKelvie.

Comments on B. McLellan and S. J. McKelvie's study (see record 1993-45212-001) investigating the effects of age and gender on attractiveness of photographs of faces. The results of this study are challenged in the context of sociobiological theory for the following reasons: (1) the implicit assumption that facial attractiveness can be used as an indicator of human mate choice is questionable; (2) age categories of Ss choosing photographs of faces were too broad to test the validity of a sociobiological hypothesis; and (3) results were not accurately interpreted. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Effects of age and gender on perceived facial attractiveness": Reply.

Responds to comments by R. H. Bradshaw et al (see record 1995-01642-001) on B. McLellan and S. J. McKelvie's study (see record 1993-45212-001) investigating the effects of age and gender on attractiveness of photographs of faces. Although the major result of this study was a negative relationship between age and perceived attractiveness, the authors conclude that sociobiological theory received qualified support, with 4 out of 6 revised predictions confirmed. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Symmetry and perceived facial attractiveness: A monozygotic co-twin comparison.

Symmetry is a major correlate of physical attractiveness across species, including humans. Investigating the nature of this relationship has been difficult, however, for several reasons, including the facts that variance in symmetry is attributable to more than one source and is often correlated with other variables related to attractiveness. This study assessed the role of facial symmetry in relation to perceptions of facial attractiveness. Some of the natural covariates of symmetry were controlled for by comparing the symmetry and attractiveness differentials between monozygotic co-twins, who are genetically, but not developmentally, identical. The more symmetric twin of a pair was consistently rated as more attractive, and the magnitude of the difference between twins in perceived attractiveness was directly related to the magnitude of the difference in symmetry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of certain counselor behaviors on perceived expertness and attractiveness.

Examined the effects and the relative contribution of 3 counselor behaviors (nonverbal behavior, jargon, and attire) on perceived expertness and attractiveness. In a factorial design, 120 undergraduates observed an interview with a counselor performing in 1 of 8 combinations of responsive or unresponsive nonverbal behavior, professional or layman's jargon, and formal or casual attire. Ss rated the perceived expertness and attractiveness of the counselor using the Counselor Rating Form. ANOVAs revealed that all 3 independent variables significantly affected the 2 rated dimensions. Nonverbal behavior accounted for most of the variance and differentially affected ratings of expertness and attractiveness, while jargon and attire were much inferior in their relative contribution to Ss' perceptions. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of sexual dimorphism on facial attractiveness

Testosterone-dependent secondary sexual characteristics in males may signal immunological competence and are sexually selected for in several species. In humans, oestrogen-dependent characteristics of the female body correlate with health and reproductive fitness and are found attractive. Enhancing the sexual dimorphism of human faces should raise attractiveness by enhancing sex-hormone-related cues to youth and fertility in females, and to dominance and immunocompetence in males. Here we report the results of asking subjects to choose the most attractive faces from continua that enhanced or diminished differences between the average shape of female and male faces. As predicted, subjects preferred feminized to average shapes of a female face. This preference applied across UK and Japanese populations but was stronger for within-population judgements, which indicates that attractiveness cues are learned. Subjects preferred feminized to average or masculinized shapes of a male face. Enhancing masculine facial characteristics increased both perceived dominance and negative attributions (for example, coldness or dishonesty) relevant to relationships and paternal investment. These results indicate a selection pressure that limits sexual dimorphism and encourages neoteny in humans.     

Effects of gender, age and diagnosis on perceived parental care and protection in adolescents

To assess whether perceived parental care and protection varied according to age and gender of the child and whether they were associated with psychiatric diagnoses, these constructs were measured with the Parental Bonding Instrument in a cohort of non-referred adolescents (n = 762), in a clinically referred cohort (n = 1299), and in a group of adolescents from the referred cohort (n = 365) for whom DSM-III diagnoses were available. Significant differences in parental care and protection according to clinical status, age, gender and diagnosis were found. However, perceived parental affectionless control was not associated with emotional disorders in adolescents, contrary to reports in adult subjects, but with clinical status.     

Nonverbal behavior and perceived counselor attractiveness and persuasiveness.

Investigated the perception of counselor attractiveness and persuasiveness through the expression of nonverbal behavior. Ss were 20 male and 20 female psychology undergraduates. 2 male and female counselors were trained to portray "affiliative" manner and "unaffiliative" manner. In a repeated measures design, Ss saw 4 different counselors and then rated them on scales measuring perceived attractiveness and persuasiveness. Results indicate that counselors in the affiliative manner condition were perceived as significantly more attractive and persuasive than counselors in the unaffiliative condition. Ss attributed greater attractiveness and persuasiveness to the same nonverbal cues encoded into the roles. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The neural response to facial attractiveness.

What are the neural correlates of attractiveness? Using functional MRI (fMRI), the authors addressed this question in the specific context of the apprehension of faces. When subjects judged facial beauty explicitly, neural activity in a widely distributed network involving the ventral occipital, anterior insular, dorsal posterior parietal, inferior dorsolateral, and medial prefrontal cortices correlated parametrically with the degree of facial attractiveness. When subjects were not attending explicitly to attractiveness, but rather were judging facial identity, the ventral occipital region remained responsive to facial beauty. The authors propose that this region, which includes the fusiform face area (FFA), the lateral occipital cortex (LOC), and medially adjacent regions, is activated automatically by beauty and may serve as a neural trigger for pervasive effects of attractiveness in social interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of age and gender on discrete and reciprocal aiming movements.

Using a cross-sectional design, this study determined the time course of aging effects on rapid discrete and reciprocal aiming movements in men and women. A total of 80 men and 61 women in good health were classified into six age groups (25, 35, 45, 55, 65, and 75 years). The discrete task required participants to make one discrete aiming movement, whereas the reciprocal task required a series of back-and-forth movements. Results indicated for both aiming tasks that greater age was strongly associated with slower movement times. The significant interaction between age and task indicated that the discrete task showed much larger aging effects (54%) than the reciprocal task (25%). This finding is tentatively interpreted in terms of a reduced efficiency of "on-line" control processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability of females' facial attractiveness during childhood.

96 male university students rated the attractiveness of 13 females, using yearbook photographs taken in Grades 1, 4, 7, or 10. A mixed-model ANOVA indicated that the targets differed from one another in attractiveness averaged over time but that substantial intraindividual changes occurred as well. The stability of ratings of attractiveness suggests that the social effects of attractiveness may have long-term influences on one's life. The "beautiful-is-good" stereotype might cause unattractive people to be avoided, causing them to develop negative self-concepts and preventing them from receiving the feedback necessary to develop social skills. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of expert and referent influence, physical attractiveness, and gender on perceptions of counselor attributes.

Investigated the predictions of social influence theory with respect to Ss' perceptions of counselors' professional and personal attributes and Ss' evaluations of the counselors. Expert and referent power bases and influence attempts were crossed with levels of counselor physical attractiveness together with S and counselor gender in a counseling analog. 64 male and 64 female undergraduates viewed 1 of 8 videotaped simulated counseling interviews and completed rating forms assessing their perceptions and evaluations. Analyses supported social influence theory in that (a) expert conditions produced higher ratings of professional attributes than did referent conditions, (b) referent conditions produced higher ratings of personal attributes than did expert conditions, (c) congruent conditions (power base and influence attempt) produced higher ratings than did incongruent conditions on all measures, and (d) physical attractiveness mediated the effects of congruence for personal but not for professional attributes. No gender differences were present. Implications for the social influence process are discussed. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of gender and age on psychologists' reporting of child sexual abuse.

Psychologists evaluated the seriousness of a child sexual abuse incident in written vignettes, and they responded as to whether or not they would report the incident to protective services personnel. Data analysis revealed a significant main effect for the child's age as well as a significant 3-way interaction among the child's age, the gender of the alleged perpetrator, and the respondent's gender. Both female and male respondents viewed a perpetrator of their own gender with a young victim of either gender as the most serious scenario. In this sample, a significantly higher percentage of female respondents claimed to have failed to report an instance of suspected sexual abuse in actual clinical practice than the male respondents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal effects of experimenter attractiveness, attire, and gender.

Investigated the effects of experimenter physical attractiveness and attire in same- and mixed-sex dyads. Six male and 6 female experimenters interacted with 30 male and 30 female undergraduate Ss. Each experimenter saw 1 male and 1 female while well-dressed and 1 male and 1 female while casually dressed. A vocabulary test and a photo-rating task were administered to Ss by experimenters in each meeting. Later, Ss completed the Adjective Check List (ACL) to indicate how they perceived the experimenter. Results show that experimenters in opposite-sex dyads received higher positivity ratings on the ACL; these ratings were also differentially affected by experimenters' sex and physical attractiveness, although no main effect for experimenter physical attractiveness was significant. Findings suggest the need for a more integrated, multivariable approach to interpersonal behavior. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of facial expression variations on ratings of infants' physical attractiveness.

A potentially important influence on how an adult responds to an infant is the infant's physical attractiveness. To assess whether an infant's physical attractiveness can reliably be judged despite variations in an infant's facial expression, 115 college students rated the "cuteness" of a set of photographs of infants. The set contained 3 photographs varying in facial expression of each of 24 infants. Results indicate that although photographs depicting more positive facial expressions received higher cuteness ratings, cuteness ratings varied less within individual infants than across infants. General facial configuration was more important than facial expression in determining adults' perceptions of infants' cuteness. It is concluded that physical attractiveness appears to be a reliably measurable variable of individual difference as early as infancy. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of physical attractiveness on attribution of responsibility.

Previous research has shown that a stereotype favorable to physically attractive individuals seems to exist. The present study examined how this "what is beautiful is good" stereotype influences observers' attributions of responsibility to target persons. Ss were 72 male and 72 female high school students. A significant interaction was found between physical attractiveness and the outcome of the event. Physically attractive women were seen as more responsible for a good outcome than unattractive women, while unattractive females were seen as more responsible for a bad outcome than attractive females. Results are interpreted within a framework of balance theory. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuroanatomical correlates of the assessment of facial attractiveness

In a randomized prospective trial, closed reduction and plaster application was compared with Kapandji pinning. Closed reduction and plaster cast application was performed in 50 patients, Kapandji pinning in 48 patients. According to the Cooney score, good and excellent results were found in 74% of patients in the closed reduction and plaster cast group compared with 75% of patients in the Kapandji-pinning group. In terms of maintenance of reduction and functional outcome at 1-year follow-up, no statistically significant differences were found between the two groups. We conclude, therefore, that both techniques can be applied to extra-articular fractures of the distal radius according to the characteristics of the forearm and the surgeon's or the patient's need.     

Effects of children's physical attractiveness on teachers' evaluations.

After viewing the photograph of a physically attractive or unattractive child and a vignette depicting a misbehavior possibly committed by the child, 144 female elementary school teachers evaluated the pupil for blame, personality, and punishment before and after reading a report card characterizing the child as a good, satisfactory, or poor student. Though attractive children generally received more desirable personality ratings than unattractive children, a misbehavior was deemed less undesirable if attributed to unattractive rather than attractive children. Furthermore, unattractive girls were blamed less frequently and received more lenient recommendations for punishment than did unattractive boys. Implications for the physical attractiveness stereotyping hypothesis are discussed as well as explanations for the differential evaluations based on the child's sex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of patient age and gender on clinical decisions.

Examined the effect of patient age and gender on clinical decisions of 209 licensed clinical psychologists. Ss read vignettes describing a patient with symptoms of depression. Age and gender of the patient were varied in a between-Ss design. Ss made decisions regarding the diagnosis, treatment mode, treatment setting, and prognosis. Ss were also asked to list information that was influential in their decision regarding treatment setting. Age had a significant effect on diagnostic and treatment decisions, whereas the sex of the patient affected only diagnostic decision. As predicted, the age and sex of the patient had an impact on the information clinicians focused on in making their decisions. Discussion focuses on the theoretical rationale and implications of these findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)