PS4029/30 Perspectives on social attributions

1. PS4029/30 Perspectives on social attributions Lecture 6

2. Lecture 6: Averageness & attractiveness Evidence that averageness influences attractiveness Evolutionary advantage view of averageness preferences Perceptual bias account 4. Evidence against averageness accounts of attraction

3. Galton & Averagenesss Sir Francis Galton (early 1800’s left) made composite ‘criminal’ faces to try and identify the ‘criminal type’ His colleagues remarked these composite images were “singularly beautiful”

4. Averageness & attractiveness The more faces that contribute to an average face (i.e. the more average it becomes), the more attractive it is judged 3 face average unattractive 10 face average attractive Langlois & Roggman, 1990

5. Infants prefer average faces That babies and adults prefer average faces suggests that averageness preferences have a biological basis DeHaan et al.

6. Are average faces only attractive because they are symmetric? Average faces tend towards high symmetry - the attractiveness of average faces may reflect preferences for symmetry Valentine et al. (2004) investigated if increasing the averageness of profile face views increased their attractiveness (i.e. increased averageness independent of symmetry) Increasing averageness of profiles DID increase attractiveness (even though no change in symmetry)

7. 2. Evolutionary advantage view of averageness preferences Thornhill & Gangestad (1993) noted that genetic heterozygosity may cause an average appearance and is conducive with good health Average faces may be attractive because they signal health Consistent with this, Rhodes et al. (2001) found that women with average faces had fewer past health problems than those with distinctive faces

8. 3. Perceptual bias view of averageness preferences Average faces may be preferred as a by-product of the visual system Average faces are (by definition) prototypical and will therefore be very similar to mental representations used to process faces This similarity to mental prototypes will cause unfamiliar average faces to be perceived as familiar

9. Neural Networks & Perceptual Bias • Computer programs trained on stimuli for recognition • Show that recognition training can create preference (recognition) for average Enquist & Arak, 1994, Nature Training Set Johnstone, 1994, Nature =

10. 3. Perceptual bias view of averageness preferences Halberstadt & Rhodes (2000) - Evidence for a perceptual bias account of averageness preferences For both faces and watches the correlation between averageness and attractiveness disappeared when the effects of familiarity were controlled As familiarity mediated preferences for average faces and watches, Halberstadt and Rhodes concluded that averageness preferences do not have an evolutionary basis

11. 3. Perceptual adaptation and face preferences Rhodes et al (2003) - recent visual experience causes the mental representation of faces to shift, influencing preferences Viewing faces with a certain trait (e.g. wide-spaced features) Increases subsequent preferences for novel faces with that trait This may allow rapid on-line recalibration of perceptions of familiarity (and therefore preferences)

12. 4. Evidence against averageness accounts of attraction Perrett et al (1994) showed that very attractive faces are not average Average of 60 Average of Most attractive Hyper-attractive What dimension might cause this? MASC-FEM

13. Lecture 6: Key themes Average faces are more attractive than non-average faces (even to infants, implying a biological basis) Although averageness preferences could be either due to bias in the visual system or because averageness signals health, more evidence for perceptual bias account Although average faces are more attractive than non-average faces, very attractive faces deviate systematically from an average configuration

14. Next week (Lecture 7) Although average faces are typically attractive, highly attractive faces appear to deviate from an average shape. Increasing feminine characteristics in both male and female faces increases their attractiveness (but moves the face shape away from average). This lecture will discuss the effects of sexual dimorphism on facial attractiveness and how these relate to the evolutionary advantage and perceptual bias views of face preferences. The role of personality attributions in femininity preferences will also be discussed.