Menstrual cycle, pregnancy and oral contraceptive use alter attraction to apparent health in faces

Jones, Benedict C.; Perrett, David I.; Little, Anthony C.; Boothroyd, Lynda G.; Cornwell, R. Elisabeth; Feinberg, David R.; Tiddeman, Bernard; Whiten, S; Pitman, Robert M.; Hillier, Stephen G.; Burt, D. M.; Stirrat, Michael; Smith, Miriam J.; Moore, Fhionna R.

doi:10.1098/rspb.2004.2962

Cited by 187 publications

(149 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…This paradigm has been used to assess face preferences in many previous studies (e.g. Jones et al 2005Jones et al , 2006DeBruine et al in press). For participants in the laboratory sample, each pair of composite faces was presented twice (totalling eight trials).…”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Using well-established methods for manufacturing composite faces that have been used in many previous studies of face perception (e.g. Perrett et al 2002;DeBruine et al 2005;Jones et al 2005), we averaged the shape, colour and texture information from full-face photographs of six males and six females randomly selected from the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF) image set (Lundqvist & Litton 1998) to produce male and female composites (see Tiddeman et al (2001) for technical details of this method). This was done separately for each expression (disgusted and happy) using the same 12 identities.…”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence for adaptive design in human gaze preference

et al. 2007

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Many studies have investigated the physical cues that influence face preferences. By contrast, relatively few studies have investigated the effects of facial cues to the direction and valence of others' social interest (i.e. gaze direction and facial expressions) on face preferences. Here we found that participants demonstrated stronger preferences for direct gaze when judging the attractiveness of happy faces than that of disgusted faces, and that this effect of expression on the strength of attraction to direct gaze was particularly pronounced for judgements of opposite-sex faces (study 1). By contrast, no such opposite-sex bias in preferences for direct gaze was observed when participants judged the same faces for likeability (study 2). Collectively, these findings for a context-sensitive opposite-sex bias in preferences for perceiver-directed smiles, but not perceiver-directed disgust, suggest gaze preference functions, at least in part, to facilitate efficient allocation of mating effort, and evince adaptive design in the perceptual mechanisms that underpin face preferences.

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Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for adaptive design in human gaze preference

et al. 2007

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“…Technical details of the averaging procedure we used to manufacture these prototypes are given in Tiddeman et al (2001). These methods have been used to generate face stimuli in many previous studies (eg Conway et al 2008aConway et al , 2008bConway et al , 2009DeBruine et al 2006;Jones et al 2004Jones et al , 2005Jones et al , 2006Perrett et al 2002).…”

Section: Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating Gaze Direction and Sexual Dimorphism of Face Shape When Perceiving the Dominance of Others

et al. 2009

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IntroductionThe majority of studies of facial attractiveness have emphasised the importance of physical characteristics, such as sexual dimorphism of face shape, symmetry and averageness (see Fink and Penton-Voak 2002 and Rhodes 2006 for reviews). More recent studies, however, have demonstrated that facial attractiveness is influenced by interactions between relatively invariant physical cues in faces and more changeable social signals, such as gaze direction (Conway et al 2008a(Conway et al , 2008bJones et al 2006;Kampe et al 2001). For example, Jones et al (2006) found that preferences for attractive colour and texture cues were stronger when judging the attractiveness of faces that were smiling at the viewer than when judging faces that were looking at the viewer with a neutral expression or that were looking away from the viewer. Additionally, neurobiological evidence suggests that direct gaze increases the reward value of attractive faces (ie the extent to which viewing attractive faces causes activity in brain regions associated with processing rewards), but not of relatively unattractive faces (Kampe et al 2001). Other recent studies have shown that perceiver-directed smiles are considered more attractive from opposite-sex individuals than own-sex individuals (Conway et al 2008a) and from healthy-looking, attractive individuals than relatively unhealthy-looking, unattractive individuals (Conway et al 2008b). While these studies demonstrate interactions between gaze direction and physical characteristics in faces when perceiving the attractiveness of others, it is not known whether similar interactions occur for other types of social attribution, such as dominance.Perceptions Abstract. Although gaze direction and face shape have each been shown to affect perceptions of the dominance of others, the question whether gaze direction and face shape have independent main effects on perceptions of dominance, and whether these effects interact, has not yet been studied. To investigate this issue, we compared dominance ratings of faces with masculinised shapes and direct gaze, masculinised shapes and averted gaze, feminised shapes and direct gaze, and feminised shapes and averted gaze. While faces with direct gaze were generally rated as more dominant than those with averted gaze, this effect of gaze direction was greater when judging faces with masculinised shapes than when judging faces with feminised shapes. Additionally, faces with masculinised shapes were rated as more dominant than those with feminised shapes when faces were presented with direct gaze, but not when faces were presented with averted gaze. Collectively, these findings reveal an interaction between the effects of gaze direction and sexually dimorphic facial cues on judgments of the dominance of others, presenting novel evidence for the existence of complex integrative processes that underpin social perception of faces. Integrating information from face shape and gaze cues may increase the efficiency with which we perceive the dominance of others.

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“…Although people generally demonstrate strong preferences for faces they perceive to be healthy (GRAMMER and THORNHILL 1994;HENDERSON and ANGLIN 2003;KALICK et al 1998;RHODES et al 2001), disease avoidance mechanisms appear to contribute to individual differences in the strength of preferences for such faces. For example, preferences for faces with high apparent health are stronger during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, when progesterone level is raised, than during the late follicular phase, when progesterone level is relatively low (JONES et al 2005). As high progesterone levels are associated with pregnancy (GILBERT 2000), increased aversion to unhealthy faces when progesterone level is raised may be a mechanism that compensates for maternal immunosuppression and protects the developing foetus (JONES et al 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived vulnerability to disease is positively related to the strength of preferences for apparent health in faces

Welling¹,

Conway²,

DeBruine³

et al. 2007

Journal of Evolutionary Psychology

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Abstract:People who are particularly vulnerable to disease may reduce their likelihood of contracting illnesses during social interactions by having particularly strong aversions to individuals who appear ill. Consistent with this proposal, here we show that men and women who perceive themselves to be particularly vulnerable to disease have stronger preferences for apparent health in dynamic faces than individuals who perceive themselves to be relatively less vulnerable to disease. This relationship was independent of possible effects of general disgust sensitivity. Furthermore, perceived vulnerability to disease was not related to preferences for other facial cues that are attractive but do not necessarily signal an individual's current health (i.e. perceiver-directed smiles). Our findings complement previous studies implicating perceived vulnerability to disease in attitudes to out-group individuals and those with physical abnormalities by implicating perceived vulnerability to disease as a factor in face preferences. Collectively, our findings reveal a relatively domain-specific association between perceived vulnerability to disease and the strength of aversions to facial cues associated with illness. Additionally, they are further evidence that variation in attractiveness judgments is not arbitrary, but rather reflects potentially adaptive individual differences in face preferences.

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Menstrual cycle, pregnancy and oral contraceptive use alter attraction to apparent health in faces

Cited by 187 publications

References 24 publications

Evidence for adaptive design in human gaze preference

Evidence for adaptive design in human gaze preference

Integrating Gaze Direction and Sexual Dimorphism of Face Shape When Perceiving the Dominance of Others

Perceived vulnerability to disease is positively related to the strength of preferences for apparent health in faces

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