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This lecture explores the concept of universal face preferences, the importance of agreement in attractiveness judgments, and the evidence provided by developmental approaches and cross-cultural comparisons. It discusses how facial characteristics considered attractive are not necessarily universally judged as such, but are generally agreed upon by people on average.
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Lecture 2: Evidence for universal face preferences What is a universal face preference? Why is agreement important? What do developmental approaches to attractiveness research tell us about agreement? 4. What do cross-cultural comparisons of face preferences tell us about agreement?
1. What is a universal face preference? Facial characteristics that are generally considered attractive are referred to by many researchers as ones for which there is a universal preference
1. What is a universal face preference? The term universal is a little misleading: Doesn’t necessarily mean everyone judges faces with these traits attractive Does mean people on average judge faces with these traits as attractive
1. What is a universal face preference? In other words: Universal face preferences refer to characteristics that people on average agree are attractive
2. Why is agreement important? Why is the issue of universality in attractiveness judgements (i.e. agreement) important for studying facial attractiveness? What does it tell us?
2. Why is agreement important? Most studies of facial attractiveness that involve people rating faces for attractiveness report a statistic (typically Cronbach’s alpha) which is a measure of how much agreement (sometimes referred to as concordance) there is in the attractiveness ratings
2. Why is agreement important? Early studies of facial attractiveness found that there was very high agreement about what faces are judged attractive and what face are judged unattractive (indicated by a high Cronbach’s alpha) **High agreement tells us that attractiveness judgements are NOT arbitrary**
2. Why is agreement important? Many researchers interpreted this as evidence that beauty isn’t in the eye of the beholder………….. …..but in the face of the beheld! [reading: Langlois et al., 2000]
2. Why is agreement important? It has been suggested that this high agreement may reflect media promulgated attractive ideals (Hogg & Graham, 1989) What the f@%* does that mean?
2. Why is agreement important? It means that the media (TV, magazines etc) dictate to us what types of faces are attractive (socio-cultural view) When the media tells us ‘butch’ men are attractive we act accordingly In other words, face preferences are like fashion (one season ponchos are hot, the next they aren’t)
2. Why is agreement important? Does high agreement about facial attractiveness simply reflect socio-cultural, media-led ideals? If yes: A. babies shouldn’t be swayed by these (no experience of the media) B. people from diverse cultures should have different preferences
3. Developmental studies Even though very young babies have impoverished vision they can still process faces (Slater & Kirby, 1998) What baby sees What you see
3. Developmental studies Very young babies prefer to look at face configurations rather than non-faces (see Slater & Kirby, 1998) Non-faces face scrambled blank
3. Developmental studies Babies (<6 days old) prefer to look at faces that adults consider attractive (Slater & Kirby, 1998) This effect is true for child faces, adult faces, female faces, male faces, White faces and Afro-American faces (see Slater and Kirby 1998 for review)
3. Developmental studies Although babies prefer to look at (adult agreed on) attractive faces, it’s not known what facial traits drive this effect Babies don’t like symmetry (the mothers do) [Rhodes et al., 2002, Perception] Babies might like average faces (adults do) [Rhodes et al: No / DeHaan et al. 2000: Yes]
3. Developmental studies: Conclusions That babies and adults prefer attractive faces suggests that attractiveness judgements are not just due to media promulgated attractive ideals [because babies haven’t seen much of the media it’s unlikely to have shaped their preferences!]
3. Developmental studies: a common misconception That babies and adults agree about what faces are attractive should not necessarily be interpreted as evidence that attractiveness preferences are innate Babies very quickly learn to process faces and this may underpin their face preferences (Slater and Kirby, 1998)
2. Why is agreement important? Does high agreement about facial attractiveness simply reflect socio-cultural, media-led ideals? If yes: babies shouldn’t be swayed by these (no experience of the media) and people from diverse cultures should have different preferences
4. Cross-cultural comparison Perrett et al. 1999 (Evolution and Human Behaviour) Research Question: Are symmetric faces attractive in western cultures?
4. Cross-cultural comparison Rhodes et al. 2001a Research Question: Do East Asian judges also consider symmetry attractive?
4. Cross-cultural comparison Original (i.e. asym) Manipulating symmetry in faces: Good method (Perrett et al. 1999) Remapped symmetric shape This method maintain a natural appearance and only alters face shape
4. Cross-cultural comparison Manipulating symmetry in faces: Flawed method (split face down vertical axis, mirror-flip halves and rejoin) L-L chimeras This method only alters face shape but gives the faces unnatural proportions (e.g. wide-set eyes) - see Perrett et al. 1999 for a discussion of this
4. Cross-cultural comparison People from diverse cultures agree that symmetric faces are more attractive than asymmetric ones Perrett et al. (1999) - in western culture Rhodes et al. (2001a) - in east asian culture What about average faces?
warp BUILDING PROTOTYPE FACES IN SHAPE AND COLOUR + +
4. Cross-cultural comparison 3 face average [low att] 10 face average [high att] Manipulating facial averageness: Methods [note increasing averageness increases symmetry - we’ll return to this issue in lecture 4]
4. Cross-cultural comparison Perrett et al. (1999) - in western culture Rhodes et al. (2001a) - in east asian culture People from diverse cultures agree that average faces are more attractive than distinctive ones
4. Cross-cultural comparison Because East Asian and Western cultures have different media ideals of attractiveness this is evidence that attractiveness judgements are not just due to media promulgated attractive ideals
4. Cross-cultural comparison Perrett et al. (1994) - averageness and high attractiveness Perrett et al. (1998) - shape femininity [We’ll revisit these studies in Lectures 6 and 7] Other studies that have demonstrated agreement on face preferences within a cross-cultural framework:
CONCLUSIONS Both developmental studies and cross-cultural comparisons of face preferences suggest that high agreement among individuals about what faces are attractive and unattractive is not just due to media promulgated attractive ideals (i.e. doesn’t just reflect socio-cultural factors)
CONCLUSIONS If not solely due to socio-cultural factors (i.e. the media), why do people agree about what faces are attractive and what faces are unattractive? Most common explanation adopted in attractiveness research is that this high agreement reflects the fact that attractiveness has a biological basis
Biological based preferences Although most researchers agree that attractiveness has a biological basis there is enormous debate about the nature of the biological basis Perceptual bias account (receiver bias) Evolutionary advantage view (mate choice theory, good genes theory)
NEXT WEEK Perceptual bias account of symmetry preferences This view posits that symmetry preferences are a by-product of the ease with which the visual system processes symmetric stimuli of any kind.
Lecture 4 Evolutionary advantage account of symmetry preferences By contrast with the perceptual bias view, the evolutionary advantage view posits that facial symmetry signals qualities such as health that are desirable in mates (and are therefore attractive).
L2: Key themes High agreement about attractiveness indicates faces preferences are not arbitrary judgements High agreement among people of diverse ages and cultures suggest this agreement is not due to socio-cultural factors but occurs because attractiveness has a biological basis
