papers Flashcards
Dutton, D. G., & Aron, A. P. (1974). Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety.
(method & goal)
study involved several experiments where male participants encountered an attractive female interviewer under conditions of either high anxiety (fear-arousing suspension bridge) or low anxiety (non-fear-arousing bridge). Participants were asked to fill out questionnaires that included the Thematic Apperception Test to measure sexual imagery. Additionally, the willingness of participants to initiate contact with the interviewer after the experiment served as a behavioural measure of attraction.
Goal of the Study:
investigate the hypothesis that an attractive female is perceived as more attractive by males who encounter her while they are experiencing a strong emotion, such as fear, compared to males not experiencing such strong emotion.
Dutton, D. G., & Aron, A. P. (1974). Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety.
(results)
Results:
Participants on the fear-arousing bridge showed significantly greater sexual imagery in their stories and were more likely to attempt post-experimental contact with the female interviewer compared to those on the non-fear-arousing bridge.
No significant differences were observed for subjects contacted by a male interviewer, suggesting the effect was specific to the presence of an attractive female.
Meston, C. M. (2003). Love at First Fright: Partner Salience Moderates Roller-Coaster-Induced Excitation Transfer
(method & goal)
Participants: 165 males + 135 females at amusement parks.
Procedure:
-Participants, either waiting to begin or having just finished a roller-coaster ride, were shown a photograph of an average attractive opposite-gendered individual
-asked to rate attractiveness and dating desirability.
-They also rated their seatmate’s attractiveness.
Goal of the Study:
To examine how residual arousal from a roller-coaster ride affects perceptions of sexual attraction towards a photographed individual and towards a seatmate, considering the presence of a romantic partner.
Meston, C. M. (2003). Love at First Fright: Partner Salience Moderates Roller-Coaster-Induced Excitation Transfer
(results)
Results:
For individuals riding with a nonromantic partner, ratings of attractiveness and dating desirability for the photographed individual were higher after the ride.
For those riding with a romantic partner, there were no significant differences in attractiveness or dating desirability ratings post-ride.
The presence of a romantic partner moderated the effects of excitation transfer on perceived attraction, supporting the study’s hypotheses.
Buss, D. M., Larsen, R. J., Westen, D., & Semmelroth, J. (1992). Sex differences in jealousy:
(method & goal)
Method Used:
Participants: 202 undergraduate students.
Procedure:
-Participants were asked to consider serious romantic relationship they had/have/want to have.
-presented with dilemmas asking which would upset them more: their partner forming a deep emotional attachment to someone else or their partner enjoying passionate sexual intercourse with someone else.
-Participants to circle one option
Goal of the Study:
test the hypothesis that men and women differ in their responses to sexual versus emotional infidelity, based on evolutionary perspectives.
Buss, D. M., Larsen, R. J., Westen, D., & Semmelroth, J. (1992). Sex differences in jealousy:
(results)
Results:
-significant sex difference was found in responses to the dilemmas. -majority of men (60%) reported greater distress over their partner’s potential sexual infidelity
-majority of women (83%) reported they would experience greater distress over a partner’s emotional attachment to a rival.
Davis, J. P., Jansari, A., & Lander, K. (2013). I never forget a face!
(method & goal)
Method Used:
- Super-recognisers in police force + public were investigated through tests: Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) + Before They Were Famous Test.
Goal of the Study:
-explore the abilities and implications of super-recognisers, individuals who possess an extraordinary ability to recognise faces they have only seen fleetingly.
Davis, J. P., Jansari, A., & Lander, K. (2013). I never forget a face!
(results)
-Super-recognisers significantly outperform average individuals in recognising faces, scoring far above the norm on tests designed to assess face recognition ability.
-Police officers (super-recognisers) demonstrated remarkable abilities in identifying suspects from CCTV footage,
- less than 2% of the population might be classified as super-recognisers based on the CFMT,
-indicating a possible specialised neural pathway for face processing.
Jenkins, R., White, D., Van Montfort, X., & Burton, A. M. (2011). Variability in photos of the same face. Cognition,
(method & goal)
Method Used:
-ambient images of faces from the internet to examine within-person variability in appearance.
-Multiple photographs of the same individuals were collected and used in various experiments to test the perception of identity, likeness, and attractiveness among both familiar and unfamiliar viewers.
Goal of the Study:
-challenge the assumption that a photograph is a stable and consistent indicator of an individual’s appearance by highlighting and measuring within-person variability in facial photographs.
-explore how familiarity affects this variability’s perception and assess its implications for face recognition and social judgments such as attractiveness.
Jenkins, R., White, D., Van Montfort, X., & Burton, A. M. (2011). Variability in photos of the same face. Cognition,
(results)
Experiments 1 & 2: Demonstrated a significant within-person variability in appearance. Unfamiliar viewers often perceived multiple photographs of the same person as being different individuals, whereas familiar viewers did not make this mistake.
Experiment 3: Showed that photographs of an individual vary in how well they are perceived to capture that person’s likeness, with this perception being highly sensitive to the viewer’s familiarity with the individual. Higher likeness ratings were correlated with higher familiarity.
Experiment 4: Within-person variability in attractiveness ratings was found to be significant, sometimes exceeding the variability between different individuals. The study suggested that the attractiveness judgment could be influenced by the choice of photograph.
