Women's Facial Redness Increases Their Perceived Attractiveness: Mediation Through Perceived Healthiness

Perception
Adam D PazdaDavid I Perrett

Abstract

In the present research, we investigated whether the red-attraction relation that has been observed for men viewing women may also be observed with regard to women's facial redness. We manipulated facial redness by slightly increasing or decreasing the redness on the faces of baseline pictures of target women, and then had men judge the attractiveness of the women. We also examined healthiness perceptions as a mediator of the redness-attraction relation, along with several other candidate mediator variables. A series of experiments showed that increased redness led to increased ratings of attractiveness, and decreased redness led to decreased ratings of attractiveness. Perceived healthiness was documented as a mediator of the influence of female facial redness on male perceptions of attractiveness, and this mediation was independent of other candidate mediator variables. The findings highlight the importance of attending to facial coloration as an attraction-relevant cue and point to interesting areas for subsequent research.

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Citations

Nov 26, 2016·Perception·Christopher A ThorstensonDavid I Perrett
Mar 28, 2018·Perception·Bastian JaegerIlja van Beest
Jun 16, 2017·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Chihiro HiramatsuJames P Higham
May 24, 2017·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Hannah M Rowland, Robert P Burriss
Jul 1, 2017·Archives of Sexual Behavior·Marco Del Giudice
Apr 16, 2019·Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin·Christopher A ThorstensonAndrew J Elliot
Aug 25, 2017·I-Perception·Yuki KobayashiKazunori Morikawa
Jun 25, 2019·Cognition & Emotion·Christopher A ThorstensonStephanie Lichtenfeld
Dec 31, 2016·Cognition & Emotion·Steven G YoungAdam D Pazda
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Apr 3, 2019·Behavioral Sciences·Daniel B Yarosh
Feb 29, 2020·PloS One·Jessica L Yorzinski, Jacob Miller
Oct 27, 2020·Dermatologic Surgery : Official Publication for American Society for Dermatologic Surgery [et Al.]·Sachin M ShridharaniSara Sangha
Mar 30, 2021·PloS One·Jessica L YorzinskiWilliam Thompson
Apr 16, 2021·Cognition & Emotion·Christopher A Thorstenson, Adam D Pazda
Nov 13, 2021·Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology·Gabrielle BrodyNatasha A Mesinkovska

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Software Mentioned

Matlab
MEMORE
CIELAB
SPSS

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