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Previous research on non-facial features demonstrated that masculinity and femininity correlated highly with perceived competence and warmth, respectively. Several studies focused on dimorphic facial cues and found an association between masculine faces and competence. However, there’s no study exploring the association between facial dimorphism and social judgment both using explicit and implicit experimental paradigms, i.e. Triad Classification Task, Implicit Associate Task. This study examined the association of masculinity/femininity and competence/warmth via explicit and implicit measures in three experiments. The results showed that participants saw feminine/masculine faces as more consistent with warmth/competence for both male and female faces. Besides, it was found that the above associations were more obvious in female participants. The current studies extended research of effects of dimorphic facial cue in social judgment and provided direct evidence linking facial masculinity with perceived competence, and facial femininity with perceived warmth.

With the development of science and technology, the phenomenon of smartphone addiction has become very common. However, smartphone addiction has adverse consequences. To date, few studies have examined psychological crises and smartphone use motives during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic according to age. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the influences of different types of smartphone use motives on smartphone addiction and explore the moderating effect of age on adolescents and adults. A total of 1346 participants (600 adults and 746 adolescents) completed questionnaires on their motives for smartphone use and smartphone addiction. Results indicated significant positive correlations between smartphone use motives and smartphone addiction. In the moderation model, mood regulation, social relations, pastime, and conformity significantly and directly predicted smartphone addiction; however, perceived enjoyment did not. Age played a moderating role in the prediction of smartphone addiction. Teenagers and adults have different motives for smartphone use, and different motives have different effects on adolescents and adults. Adolescents have higher coping motivation and conformity motivation than adults, and for adolescents, perceived pleasure motivation has a significant impact on smartphone addiction. For adults, perceived pleasure and social relationship motivation have a significant impact on smartphone addiction. Therefore, interventions for smartphone addiction can be developed by investigating the motives of use among different people, and age should be considered when developing interventions for smartphone addiction.

The face is an important source of information in social interactions. Prior studies exploring the mechanism of face perception were consistent with either dominance or integration theory. Studies have shown that both sexually dimorphic features and background cues play essential roles in the formation of impressions and the perception of facial attractiveness. In this study, we conducted two experiments to examine 539 participants’ appraisal of attractiveness, warmth, and competence of the target faces of masculine and feminine men and women dressed in red, blue, or white. The results showed that: (1) feminized male/female faces were considered to have a higher degree of attractiveness, warmth, and competence, (2) people rated feminine faces wearing red higher in terms of attractiveness perception, while there was no significant effect of red on attractiveness perception of masculine faces, (3) when evaluating the warmth of targets, the promotion effect of red was found for feminine faces but not for masculine faces. This study, conducted in a pathogen disgust environment, provides direct evidence to support the integration theory over the dominance theory. Feminized red preference found in this study matches Chinese collectivism and the red cultural heritage, which has an important value for people's daily impression management and consumption decisions.

Past research on women’s preferences for male facial masculinity in Western cultures has produced inconsistent results. Some inconsistency may be related to the use of different facial stimulus manipulations (e.g., between-sex sexual dimorphic facial manipulation or within-sex sexual dimorphic facial manipulation) that do not perfectly avoid non-facial cues, and pregnancy status may also influence women’s face preferences. We therefore recruited pregnant and nonpregnant Chinese women and manipulated the sexual dimorphism of male facial stimuli to explore the influences of manipulation methods, non-facial cues, and pregnancy status on face preferences. Results showed that: (1) in contrast with a general masculinity preference observed in Western cultures, both pregnant and nonpregnant Chinese women preferred feminized and neutral male faces generally; (2) pregnant women’s preference for feminized male faces was stable across manipulation methods, while nonpregnant women preferred feminized male faces except under between-sex sexual dimorphism manipulation; and (3) manipulation methods, rather than non-facial cues, influenced participants’ face preferences. Specifically, women showed the strongest preferences for femininity when face stimuli were manipulated by within-sex sexual dimorphic facial manipulation, followed by unmanipulated faces and between-sex sexual dimorphic facial manipulation. This effect was stronger for nonpregnant women in the unmanipulated condition and for pregnant women in the between-sex sexual dimorphic facial manipulation. This research provides empirical evidence of women’s preferences for sexual dimorphism in male faces in a non-Western culture, as well as the effects of facial manipulation methods, pregnancy status, and the interactions between these factors.