Physical Attractiveness

Question 0

How does physical attractiveness affect the brain

Answer 0

The part of the brain that is activated in response to beautiful faces is also activated in response to beautiful faces is also activated in response to rewarding behaviours.

We see attractive people as a variety of other positive traits

Question 1

Why is physical attractiveness an important determinant of interpersonal attraction

Answer 1

We like things that are aesthetically pleasing as it is more desirable which leads to positive affect. We like to look at things we find visually appealing.

Question 2

There are systematic differences in bodily features between men and women what is the term for this

Answer 2

Sexual dimorphism

Question 3

What are the main physical differences between men and women

Answer 3

Males have an increased amount of body hair
Males are taller than females by about 8-10%
Males weigh between 20%-40% more than females
After puberty, female figures is curvy tending towards an hour glass shape.
Men have a V shaped outline with wider muscular bodies

Question 4

Do these physical differences have anything to do with survival value

Answer 4

These differences appear to have little to do with survival value, suggesting that these characteristics may have been sexually, rather than naturally selected

Question 5

How might these differences have evolved through the process of sexual selection. What did Barber argue

Answer 5

Barber argues that physical differences between males and females have been magnified through competition with rivals or through attraction of mates

Question 6

Body sexual signals…

Answer 6

Are used to attract potential mates of the opposite sex or to intimidate rivals of the same sex

Question 7

What support is there for intra-sexual selection

Answer 7

Males who were bigger and heavier is more likely to survive over smaller rivals when fighting for access to females. This may have led to increases in height and weight

Question 8

What support is there for intra-sexual selection

Answer 8

Taller men Poland are more likely to have children than shorter men

Question 9

What support is there for inter-sexual selection

Answer 9

Barber found that women judge men with beards to be more attractive than clean shaven men and they prefer men with muscular upper bodies, suggesting female choice may play a part

Question 10

What do men find attractive in potential female partners

Answer 10

Cunningham explored the importance of different facial features in men’s views of female beauty. Using photos of 50 women and varying the size of features including eyes, nose, chin…

Men were most attracted to women with large eyes, small noses, child like features, prominent cheekbones, dilated pupils and large smile

Question 11

How are women’s figures described

Answer 11

Ideal body shape, women are judged as most attractive when their figure fits an hour glass shape of large breasts and slim waists

Sigh found that a waist-hip ratio deemed attractive female body shape across a range of different cultures

Question 12

How might these preferences have been sexually selected

Answer 12

Many features that make a women attractive to men are those associated with youth.

Question 13

What is youth strongly linked with

Answer 13

Youth is strongly linked with fertility and fertility declines after the age of 35. Men who preferred women with youthful features were likely to have had greater reproductive success in the past.

Question 14

Men preferred to mate with a women with a WHR of about .7 …

Answer 14

May have been more successful in reproductive terms, as this body shape is highly correlated with fertility and reproductive health

Question 15

Clothing can serve as a subtle sexual signal, what are the studies to support this

Answer 15

Elliott and Nesta- men found women more attractive and sexually desirable if they were wearing red compare with blue

Gueguen- men sit closer to women in red, tip them more in restaurants, and are more likely to offer them a car ride. Consistent with the common association of the colour red with female sexual arousal.

Question 16

How do women fabricate their beauty

Answer 16

Women tend to alter their appearance by making themselves seem younger and thus higher in reproductive value. Cosmetic surgery provides a unique mating strategy by creating the illusion you are a better mate

Question 17

What did Fink and Prager find about fabricated beauty

Answer 17

10 women underwent 3 consecutive facial rejuvenation procedures, Botox and fillers.

Digital facial images were taken before and after each subsequent treatment and presented to 150 participants who judged the images for age health and attractiveness. Each procedure was associated with a significant reduction in perceived age and an increase in health and men preferred women who had the procedure done.

Question 18

What do women find attractive in potential male partners

Answer 18

In males the ideal WHR is around .85 - .9 wide shoulders to narrowing hips. Cunningham et al found that women prefer rugged men with masculine features including a strong jaw, small eyes, rigid eyebrows

Question 19

What did Waynforth et al find

Answer 19

Showed Women photos of 45 men with varying facial features and found no overall preferences for highly masculine features

Question 20

What did Penton-voak et Al find about sexual selection

Answer 20

When women were asked about their current mate preferences those who were interested in short term relationships found highly masculine faces attractive. Research has also showed that male attractiveness differs during the fertile time of the menstruation cycle, fe,a
Es prefer rugged men during fertile period and more feminine looking faces during less fertile times

Question 21

What did Cappelle and Fink find in their study

Answer 21

High masculine dancers were judged higher on attractiveness when ovulation occurred

Question 22

Further support for search for good genes driving mate choice from scent studies. What did Gangstad and Thornhill find

Answer 22

Men were t-shirts for 2 nights without using scented products and returned them to experimenter. Women rated attractiveness of smell of t-shirts. Women close to ovulation revealed a preference for the scent of the men who were low in fluctuating asymmetry

Women have evolved to seek out genes of symmetrical features

Question 23

How might these preferences have been sexually selected?

Answer 23

The features that signify attractiveness in men’s faces are those associated with maturity and social dominance. Female preferences for these types of features may evolved as older men generally possessed more resources, which aided the survival of offspring.

Masculine features are associated with higher testosterone levels, so a preference for masculine features may have been linked with a mate who was good at defending the resources needed to maintain a family unit.

Question 24

Maner et al found…

Answer 24

Psychologists looked at attractive and unattractive faces while wearing an eye-tracking device.

Participants on average fixated on attractive members of the opposite sex. This effect was particularly pronounced in individuals high in sociosexually(casual sex)

Participants who described themselves as intrasexually vigilant directed attention to attractive same sex faces when primed with jealous thoughts

Question 25

People focus attention on social targets who are…

Answer 25

Relevant to their temporarily active and chronically active goals

Question 26

Ratings of beauty - one reason for the consistency in what is seen as attractive is that people prefer faces that are average as opposed to distinct

Answer 26

Langlois and Rogman found that people find composite photos more attractive than individual faces that make up the composite

Composite photos are symmetrical and unblemished

Question 27

What are the common ideas about beauty

Answer 27

They suggest that it is of little importance in attraction

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Never judge a book by its cover
Beauty is only skin deep

All of these imply that physical appearance does not matter and is not used as a basis to judge or evaluate another person

Question 28

Langlois et al in an 11 meta analysis of 919 research studies that examined physical attractiveness

Answer 28

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, considerable agreement within and between different cultures as to who is attractive and who is not, suggests there is a shared understanding of physical beauty rather than beauty being defined individually

Question 29

Langlois et al - never judge a book by its cover

Answer 29

Adults and children rated as good looking were judged more positively by other people and treated better if they behaved badly. Physically attractive children generally showed more positive behaviours and nicer personality traits than children deemed as unattractive

Question 30

Langlois et al

Answer 30

60 12 month olds interacted with a stranger who were attractive or unattractive mask, the infants showed more positive affective tone less withdrawl and more playful with the stranger in a attractive condition

When playing with an attractive doll, infants played longer compared to an unattractive doll

Infants prefer beautiful faces suggesting this is hardwired