Exam 1 Flashcards
Sexual Communication:
The process which people send and receive messages to generate meaning about sex-related topics within contexts, cultures , media
Verbal and nonverbal
Mediated and face-to-face (interpersonal, small group)
Dynamic
Speed Dating Studies
Half of all speed daters know if they’re going to say yes to their partner in the first 3 seconds!
By the time the bell rings to start speed dating, most people have already made up their minds.
Both sexes care a lot about looks, but other physical attributes are important because of what they communicate to us.
On some level, we’re asking ourselves if they look right, sound right, smell right, and act right.
Natural/Sexual Selection
Darwin (1859) first to propose that not only survival of the fittest (natural selection), but also sexual selection caused evolutionary change
Intersexual Selection
Intrasexual Selection
Intersexual Selection
Selection processing occurring ACROSS sexes
Females may be more selective & discriminating in mating choices
Choose mates that will give strongest offspring
Prefer mates with high parental investment
Intrasexual Selection
Competition within the sexes
Male competing with other males to win the favor of females
Social hierarchies
Intelligence
Facial Averageness
How closely the face’s size and shape match the average
Blending faces
Building composites from many faces
Blended faces are rated as more
appealing than the average of
individual faces assessed
The more you blend, the more
appealing the face
Rhodes study 1
Blended Asian faces Caucasian faces Asian & Caucasian Participants rated A/C combo as most attractive
Rhodes study 2
Used pictures of actual Eurasians
Same results
Why do we like composites
Familiarity Hypothesis
Familiarity = comfort
The average of many faces = comfort
Reproductive cues
Atypical features may signal
genetic problems
Facial Averageness - Caveat
Adding specific, non-average characteristics
Perrett & Fife (1994)
Had men and women rank 60 women’s faces for attractiveness
Three faces
Composite of 60 women’s faces
Composite of the 15 most attractive women’s faces
Composite of all 60, plus mods to cheeks and facial width
Rater’s order of attractiveness is same as above
Facial Symmetry:
How well both sides of the face match.
Symmetry plays a role in attraction
Suggests health and developmental stability
Thornhill et al (2006)
Measured 400 men and women on facial symmetry:
Chin length
Jaws
Lip width
Eye width
Height
On average, those with more symmetrical faces had better health records
Fewer, shorter infections
Fewer antibiotic
We appear pre-disposed to look for symmetry
Theory 1: Communicates a person’s reproductive potential
Theory 2: Communicates a person’s potential genetic contributions to offspring
Theory 3: Thwarts familiarity (high asymmetry is seen as abnormal, weird, or even dangerous)
