Physically attractive faces attract us physically

Kramer, Robin S. S., Mulgrew, Jerrica, Anderson, Nicola C. , Vasilyev, Daniil, Kingstone, Alan, Reynolds, Michael G. and Ward, Robert (2020) Physically attractive faces attract us physically. Cognition, 198 . p. 104193. ISSN 0010-0277

Full content URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104193

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Physically attractive faces attract us physically
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Abstract

When interacting with other humans, facial expressions provide valuable information for approach or avoid decisions. Here, we consider facial attractiveness as another important dimension upon which approach-avoidance behaviours may be based. In Experiments 1–3, we measured participants' responses to attractive and unattractive women's faces in an approach-avoidance paradigm in which there was no explicit instruction to evaluate facial attractiveness or any other stimulus attribute. Attractive faces were selected more often, a bias that may be sensitive to response outcomes and was reduced when the faces were inverted. Experiment 4 explored an entirely implicit measure of approach, with participants passively viewing single faces while standing on a force platform. We found greater lean towards attractive faces, with this pattern being most obvious in male participants. Taken together, these results demonstrate that attractiveness activates approach-avoidance tendencies, even in the absence of any task demand.

Keywords:Facial attractiveness, Approach-avoidance, Touchscreen, Force platform, Postural lean
Subjects:C Biological Sciences > C800 Psychology
C Biological Sciences > C850 Cognitive Psychology
C Biological Sciences > C830 Experimental Psychology
Divisions:College of Social Science > School of Psychology
ID Code:40045
Deposited On:03 Feb 2020 11:10

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