Why do people have cosmetic surgery, and how do cosmetic surgery advertisements make women feel about themselves and behave towards their partners? I also speak to Dr. Sylvie Borau of the Toulouse Business School about her new research on how sexy advertisements trigger women's competitive urges.

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Read the transcript!
Why Undergo Cosmetic Surgery?

How do sexy swimwear advertisements affect women's competitive urges? Mike Monoghan/Flickr

The articles covered in the show:

Ashikali, E.-M., Dittmar, H., & Ayers, S. (2017). The impact of cosmetic surgery advertising on Swiss women's body image and attitudes toward cosmetic surgery. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 76(1), 13-21. Read summary

Atari, M., Barbaro, N., Sela, Y., Shackelford, T. K., & Chegeni, R. (in press). Consideration of cosmetic surgery as part of women's benefit-provisioning mate retention strategy. Frontiers in Psychology. Read summary

Borau, S., & Bonnefon, J.-F. (in press). The imaginary intrasexual competition: Advertisements featuring provocative female models trigger women to engage in indirect aggression. Journal of Business Ethics. Read summary

Does being attractive always help? We discover the social advantages that come with being slightly less than supermodel material. Also, do attractive people have attractive brothers and sisters, and where are all the female comedians? Do women prefer hearing jokes to telling them?

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Same-sex siblings, like the Kardashian sisters, tend to be similar in attractiveness. But what about opposite-sex siblings?

If you find the section on humour interesting, you might like this episode in which I interview Norm Li about his humour research.

The articles covered in the show:

Agthe, M., Spörrle, M., & Maner, J. K. (2011). Does being attractive always help? Positive and negative effects of attractiveness on social decision making. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(8), 1042-1054. Read summary

Garver-Apgar, C. E., Eaton, M. A., Tybur, J. M., & Emery Thompson, M. (in press). Evidence of intralocus sexual conflict: physically and hormonally masculine individuals have more attractive brothers relative to sisters. Evolution and Human Behavior. Read summary

Wilbur, C. J., & Campbell, L. (2011). Humor in romantic contexts: Do men participate and women evaluate? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(7), 918-929. Read summary

Is it possible to tell whether someone is gay, straight or bi just by looking at them? We also find out once and for all which colour of clothing is the best for boosting beauty, and discover the surprising truth about attractiveness and self-esteem.

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The articles covered in the show:

Freeman, J. B., Johnson, K. L., Ambady, N., & Rule, N. O. (In press). Sexual orientation perception involves gendered facial cues. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Read summary

Roberts, S. C., Owen, R. C., & Havlíček, J. (2010). Distinguishing between perceiver and wearer effects in clothing color-associated attributions. Evolutionary Psychology, 8(3), 350-364. Read article

Mares, S. H. W., de Leeuw, R. N. H., Scholte, R. H. J., & Engels, R. C. M. E. (2010). Facial attractiveness and self-esteem in adolescence. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 39(5), 627-637. Read summary

Why it can sometimes be good to have bad self esteem. We also find out how secret relationships can affect your health, and discover how waitresses can maximise their tips.

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Do women spend more time on their appearance when ovulating because they feel worse about themselves? New research by Sarah Hill and Kristina Durante suggests so. Freestocks.org

The articles covered in the show:

Hill, S. E., & Durante, K. M. (In press). Do women feel worse to look their best? Testing the relationship between self-esteem and fertility status across the menstrual cycle. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Read summary

Lynn, M. (2009). Determinants and consequences of female attractiveness and sexiness: realistic tests with restaurant waitresses. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38(5), 737-745. Read summary

Lehmiller, J. L. (2009). Secret romantic relationships: consequences for personal and relational well-being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1452-1466. Read summary