Why cheaters often claim “it didn’t mean anything”, and why perceptions of what constitutes cheating vary from person to person. Also, changing faces: how women’s faces change shape over the menstrual cycle.
Foster, J. D., & Misra, T. A. (in press). It did not mean anything (about me): Cognitive dissonance theory and the cognitive and affective consequences of romantic infidelity. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Read summary
Kruger, D. J., Fisher, M. L. E., R. S., Chopik, W. J., Fitzgerald, C. J., & Stout, S. L. (2013). Was that cheating? Perceptions vary by sex, attachment anxiety, and behavior. Evolutionary Psychology, 11(1), 159-171. Read summary
Oberzaucher, E., Katina, S., Schmehl, S. F., Holzleitner, I. J., & Grammer, K. (2012). The myth of hidden ovulation: Shape and texture changes in the face during the menstrual cycle. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 10(4), 163-175. Read summary
Saturday, September 01, 2012
This month, why seeing red might have less to do with anger than attraction. We also discover if opposites attract when it comes to bodyweig...
This month, why seeing red might have less to do with anger than attraction. We also discover if opposites attract when it comes to bodyweight, and find out how the way you walk is tied to your hormones.
It's that time of the month again! A composite photograph of women at ovulation (a) and later in the cycle when their fertility is lower (b), taken from a paper by Cora Bobst, which is out this month.
The articles covered in the show:
Elliot, A. J., Tracy, J. L., Pazda, A. D., & Beall, A. T. (in press). Red enhances women's attractiveness to men: First evidence suggesting universality. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.Read summary
Schwarz, S., & Singer, M. (in press). Romantic red revisited: Red enhances men's attraction to young, but not menopausal women. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.Read summary
Faries, M. D., & Bartholomew, J. B. (in press). The role of body fat in female attractiveness. Evolution and Human Behavior.Read summary
Burke, T. J., Randall, A. K., Corkery, S. A., Young, V. J., & Butler, E. A. (in press). ‘‘You’re going to eat that?’’ Relationship processes and conflict among mixed-weight couples. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.Read summary
Bobst, C., & Lobmaier, J. S. (in press). Men's preference for the ovulating female is triggered by subtle face shape differences. Hormones and Behavior.Read summary
Fink, B., Hugill, N., & Lange, B. P. (2012). Women’s body movements are a potential cue to ovulation. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(6), 759-763. Read summary
Monday, January 23, 2012
An experiment that shows we really do like what we see. Also, how voices can cycle from attractive to unattractive and back again, and why y...
An experiment that shows we really do like what we see. Also, how voices can cycle from attractive to unattractive and back again, and why you’re more likely to remember a fish if you see it next to an attractive man’s face. Yep, that's not a typo...
According to research by Kevin Allan, you are unlikely to forget this fish.
The articles covered in the show:
Re, D. E., Coetzee, V., Xiao, D., Buls, D., Tiddeman, B. P., Boothroyd, L. G., et al. (2011). Viewing heavy bodies enhances preferences for facial adiposity. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 9(4), 295-308. Read summary
Allan, K., Jones, B. C., DeBruine, L. M., & Smith, D. S. (in press). Evidence of adaptation for mate choice within women's memory. Evolution and Human Behavior.Read summary
Pipitone, R. N., & Gallup, G. G. (in press). The unique impact of menstruation on the female voice: implications for the evolution of menstrual cycle cues. Ethology.Read summary
Monday, November 28, 2011
How beauty is contributing to the worldwide population explosion, why men turn into idiots when a woman steps into the room, and why Meg Rya...
How beauty is contributing to the worldwide population explosion, why men turn into idiots when a woman steps into the room, and why Meg Ryan was right: how frequently do women fake orgasm and why do they do it?
From Miriam Law-Smith's study, composite faces of 18 women with lowest ‘ideal number of children’ (left) and 18 women with highest ‘ideal number of children’ (right).
The articles covered in the show:
Law Smith, M. J., Deady, D. K., Moore, F. R., Jones, B. C., Cornwell, R. E., Stirrat, M., et al. (in press). Maternal tendencies in women are associated with oestrogen levels and facial femininity. Hormones and Behavior. Read summary
Nauts, S., Metzmacher, M., Verwijmeren, T., Rommeswinkel, V., & Karremans, J. C. (in press). The mere anticipation of an interaction with a woman can impair men’s cognitive performance. Archives of Sexual Behavior.Read summary
Kaighobadi, F., Shackelford, T. K., & Weekes-Shackelford, V. A. (in press). Do women pretend orgasm to retain a mate? Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summary
Monday, March 08, 2010
I speak to Tyler Stillman of Florida State University about whether we can identify violent criminals just by looking at their faces. We als...
I speak to Tyler Stillman of Florida State University about whether we can identify violent criminals just by looking at their faces. We also find out whether electoral candidates who appear more powerful or trustworthy can expect more votes, and how a woman's menstrual cycle can affect her preferences for hairy men.
Schwarzenegger's masculine looks probably did him no harm when it came to running for governor of California.
The articles covered in the show:
Rantala, M. J., Pölkki, M., & Rantala, L. M. (2010). Preference for human male body hair changes across the menstrual cycle and menopause. Behavioral Ecology, 21(2), 419-423. Read summary
Stillman, T. F., Maner, J. K., & Baumeister, R. F. (In press). A thin slice of violence: distinguishing violent from nonviolent sex offenders at a glance. Evolution and Human Behavior.Read summary
Rule, N. O., Arnbady, N., Adams, R. B., Ozono, H., Nakashima, S., Yoshikawa, S., et al. (2010). Polling the Face: Prediction and Consensus Across Cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98(1), 1-15. Read summary
I talked this month about Francis Galton, pioneer physiognomist and creator of composite portraiture. That's when you combine two or more facial photos into a single image. His photography skills are pretty amazing when you consider that he was working 125 years ago and was able to come up with some convincing results.
Francis Galton's composites of violent criminals. The images on the top are the real criminals, and the ones on the bottom are composites.
The image above shows images of Gordon Brown (a), that have been composited using Galton's method (b) and the modern method (c). In Galton's method, the images are rotated and scaled so that the eyes lie on top of each other before being combined. In the modern, computerised method, the locations of over 150 points are averaged before the images are combined. This gives a much clearer image. Galton's more primitive method could explain why he failed to find a 'criminal type', or it could just be because criminals don't look that different to everybody else.
Physiognomy is currently undergoing a resurgence, although most researchers study whether attractiveness, or personality traits such as trustworthiness, can be detected from faces. Perhaps because physiognomy is so closely associated with Galton, who founded eugenics and held typically 19th century views on race, attempts to extend study into areas such as criminality are often met with some resistance.
This is the archive for the Psychology of Attractiveness Podcast, a science show covering the most interesting and cutting edge research on the psychology of attraction and relationships. The podcast was active between 2009 and 2019. All episodes remain available.
The podcast was produced by Dr Robert Burriss, a psychologist who has held research posts at universities in the UK, USA, and Switzerland.
