Sexy smart
Lora Park, Ariana Young & Paul Eastwick
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Interpersonal attraction may be shaped by (a) one's psychological distance from a target (the subjective experience that a target is close to or far from the self) and (b) the perceived standing of a target on a trait relative to the self (as better or worse than the self). We propose that when evaluating a psychologically distant target, individuals may rely on abstract schemas (e.g., the desirability of a partner's traits) and prefer targets who possess more (vs. less) desirable qualities than themselves. However, when evaluating psychologically near targets, concrete contextual details of the environment (e.g., how a target's behavior affects self-evaluations in the moment) may determine individuals' attraction toward targets. Six studies revealed that when evaluating psychologically distant targets, men showed greater attraction toward women who displayed more (vs. less) intelligence than themselves. In contrast, when targets were psychologically near, men showed less attraction toward women who outsmarted them.
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Evidence for the Lipstick Effect at the Level of Automatic Visual Attention
Donald Sacco, Aaron Bermond & Steven Young
Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous research has demonstrated that women concerned with economic recessions (i.e., resource scarcity) display an increased explicit preference to purchase products capable of enhancing physical beauty (the lipstick effect). Such preference shifts are hypothesized to be the manifestation of a female mating adaptation to increase attractiveness to potential male partners, thereby increasing access to high quality male mates (i.e., those with resources to invest in potential offspring). The current study tested whether the lipstick effect operates at the level of automaticity (i.e., automatic visual attention). Female participants were randomly assigned to a recession prime (an article about a recent recession) or a control prime condition (an article about architecture). Participants then completed a reaction time (RT) task (i.e., dot-probe task) that assessed automatic attentional bias toward beauty and nonbeauty products. The results demonstrated that women in the recession prime condition demonstrated a stronger automatic visual attentional bias for beauty relative to control products; control prime participants displayed a marginally stronger automatic attentional bias for control products. These findings provide additional evidence that the lipstick effect may be a female adaptation by demonstrating its operation at the level of automatic visual attention.
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The Double Standard at Sexual Debut: Gender, Sexual Behavior and Early Adolescent Peer Acceptance
Derek Kreager et al.
Pennsylvania State University Working Paper, August 2015
Abstract:
A sexual double standard in early adolescence has important implications for sexual development and gender inequality. This study uses longitudinal social network data (N= 921; 11-16 years of age) to test if gender moderates associations between early adolescent sexual behaviors and peer acceptance. Consistent with a sexual double standard, early adolescent girls reporting sex had statistically significant decreases in peer acceptance over time, whereas early adolescent boys reporting the same behavior had significant increases in peer acceptance. This pattern was observed net of respondents' own perceived friendships, further suggesting that the social responses to sex vary by gender of the sexual actor. However, findings for "making out" showed the opposite pattern, such that girls reporting this behavior had increases in peer acceptance and boys reporting the same behavior had decreases in peer acceptance over time. Results thus suggest that peers enforce traditional sexual scripts for both "heavy" and "light" sexual behaviors during early adolescence.
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Matia Okubo et al.
Evolutionary Psychology, September 2015
Abstract:
While smiling enhances women's facial attractiveness, the findings are inconclusive for men. The present study investigated the effect of smiling on male facial attractiveness for short- and long-term prospective partners using East Asian and European samples. In Experiment 1 (N = 218), where female participants rated male facial attractiveness, the facilitative effect of smiling was present when judging long-term partners but absent for short-term partners. This pattern was observed for East Asians as well as for Europeans. Experiment 2 (N = 71) demonstrated that smiling male faces engendered an impression suitable for long-term partnership (e.g., high ratings of trustworthiness) while neutral faces produced an impression suitable for short-term partnership (e.g., high ratings of masculinity). We discuss these results in terms of opposing evolutionary strategies in mate choice: heritable benefit versus paternal investment.
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Jennifer Stevens Aubrey & Siobhan Smith
Mass Communication and Society, forthcoming
Abstract:
The "hookup culture" is prevalent, both in the media (Garcia, Reiber, Massey, & Merriwether, 2012) and on college campuses (Paul, McManus, & Hayes, 2000). The purpose of the present study was to examine the longitudinal relations between sexually oriented media exposure and emerging adults' endorsement of the hookup culture (EHC). To study this issue, a panel study of first-year college students was conducted. Participants completed a questionnaire on their media habits and EHC at the beginning of their first year of college and again at the end of the year. Among male first-year students, Time-1 exposure to both sexually oriented television and magazines predicted Time-2 EHC. Among female first-year students, sexually oriented media exposure was not related to EHC. Findings are discussed in light of gender differences in scripts-based theories of sexual development (e.g., Gagnon & Simon, 1973; Huesmann, 1997).
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The relationship of female physical attractiveness to body fatness
Guanlin Wang et al.
PeerJ, August 2015
Abstract:
Aspects of the female body may be attractive because they signal evolutionary fitness. Greater body fatness might reflect greater potential to survive famines, but individuals carrying larger fat stores may have poor health and lower fertility in non-famine conditions. A mathematical statistical model using epidemiological data linking fatness to fitness traits, predicted a peaked relationship between fatness and attractiveness (maximum at body mass index (BMI) = 22.8 to 24.8 depending on ethnicity and assumptions). Participants from three Caucasian populations (Austria, Lithuania and the UK), three Asian populations (China, Iran and Mauritius) and four African populations (Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and Senegal) rated attractiveness of a series of female images varying in fatness (BMI) and waist to hip ratio (WHR). There was an inverse linear relationship between physical attractiveness and body fatness or BMI in all populations. Lower body fat was more attractive, down to at least BMI = 19. There was no peak in the relationship over the range we studied in any population. WHR was a significant independent but less important factor, which was more important (greater r2) in African populations. Predictions based on the fitness model were not supported. Raters appeared to use body fat percentage (BF%) and BMI as markers of age. The covariance of BF% and BMI with age indicates that the role of body fatness alone, as a marker of attractiveness, has been overestimated.
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Relationship Involvement Among Young Adults: Are Asian American Men an Exceptional Case?
Kelly Stamper Balistreri, Kara Joyner & Grace Kao
Population Research and Policy Review, October 2015, Pages 709-732
Abstract:
Asian American men and women have been largely neglected in previous studies of romantic relationship formation and status. Using data from the first and fourth waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), we examine romantic and sexual involvement among young adults, most of whom were between the ages of 25 and 32 (N = 11,555). Drawing from explanations that focus on structural and cultural elements as well as racial hierarchies, we examine the factors that promote and impede involvement in romantic/sexual relationships. We use logistic regression to model current involvement of men and women separately and find, with the exception of Filipino men, Asian men are significantly less likely than white men to be currently involved with a romantic partner, even after controlling for a wide array of characteristics. Our results suggest that the racial hierarchy framework best explains lower likelihood of involvement among Asian American men.