Although more than 2500 articles published since 1970 deal with facial attractiveness, few have addressed whether characteristics of the beholder might influence such judgments. The present study considers whether misattribution and/or distraction contribute to a hypothesized change in males' ratings of female facial attractiveness when state anxiety is increased. Results obtained were consistent with distraction theory but were also interpretable through an alternative misattribution explanation. Participant relationship status was also found to be a significant predictor of attractiveness ratings and suggested the possibility that relationship status might interact with state anxiety to uniquely influence males’ attractiveness ratings for female faces. Implications and applications of these findings are discussed for clinical, social, and developmental psychology and recommendations given for future research into this and related phenomena.

Equitable romantic relationships are relationships in which partners perceive that they are giving benefits to their partner that equal the benefits they receive from their partner (e.g., Walster, Traupmann, & Walster, 1978), and such relationships promote commitment (Rusbult, 1980). But do equity considerations influence observers’ impressions of a romantic couple? In the present study, I tested this possibility by examining observers’ impressions of romantic partners who were mismatched in physical attractiveness (i.e., one partner will be more physically attractive than the other). In this situation, heterosexual observers instinctually categorize the opposite-sex member of the couple as a potential mate and the same-sex member of the couple as a competitor for the potential mate’s affection (e.g., Buss & Dedden, 1990; Fisher & Cox, 2009). Furthermore, observers also conclude that a potential mate who is more attractive than his or her current partner (i.e., the competitor) is not committed to his or her current relationship (Stinson & Reddoch, unpublished data). Thus, when evaluating a romantic couple, I hypothesize that observers’ will demonstrate mating-motivated biased perceptions of potential mates and competitors when the mate is more attractive than the competitor, because such more-attractive potential mates will be perceived as romantically “available.” Participants viewed photos of dating couples who matched in attractiveness, or viewed photos of dating couples where the mate was more attractive or less attractive than the competitor. Participants then rated the potential mates’ and competitors’ status-resources (SR; Fletcher et al., 1999). Results supported my theory of mating-motivated person-perception: Observers derogated the SRs of competitors who were paired with a more attractive (and romantically available) potential mate. / Graduate / 0623 / 0451 / c.joordens@gmail.com

Destination attractiveness is a subjective concept that has raised discussions among academics and researchers within the field of tourism. Attractiveness has been studied from different approaches, and due to the importance of tourism in contemporary societies, it has also been studied within different disciplines of knowledge, without achieving an agreement on its definition, measure and creation. This thesis is an attempt to contribute to these discussions through the analysis of the case of Malaga, Spain, a city with a long and strong relation to tourism, but which for particular reasons and context, had to develop its tourism sector almost from the scratch over the course of recent decades, before becoming one of the most important urban cultural destinations in Spain. This thesis will explore the factors that influenced the creation of Malaga’s attractiveness and the strategies that supported this evolution.

In this thesis, I aim to answer the following questions: (1) is there a relationship between the gender of the nominator and the beauty of the ministers that he or she selected, and (2) do nominators select more attractive ministers of the opposite sex. I compare and contrast the physical beauty of ministers of three cabinets nominated by a male prime minister and three cabinets nominated by a female prime minister. My descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analysis, in which I control for the age of the nominator, the physical attractiveness of the nominator, the professional experience of the nominator, the age of the minister and the margin of victory of the nominator`s party, reveal interesting results. I find that both male and female prime ministers nominate better-looking women, and that this tendency is even stronger and slightly more pronounced for female nominators than it is for male nominators.

The driving force of the tourism industry is represented by the attractions at destination. Travelers have no reason to visit destinations that have nothing to offer. Tourism research has demonstrated that attraction studies are necessary in the understanding of the elements that encourage people to travel. Achieving the goal of measuring destination attractiveness requires the understanding of its components and their relationships. There are two ways of examining attractiveness: by studying the attractions or by exploring the attractiveness perceptions of those who are attracted by them. As competition among tourism destinations increases and tourist funding decreases, it is of vital importance to understand how the inventory of existing attractions at destination relates to the perceptions that travelers have of those attractions. Tourism literature provides only a limited number of studies addressing destination attractiveness. Those studies focus exclusively on the measurement aspect of attractiveness and ignore the analysis of its components. The purpose of this study was to generate a new measurement tool for destination attractiveness and to examine the relationship between its elements. The principles of regional analysis, tourism planning, and tourism attraction research provided the foundation for a measurement and hypothesis testing model. This model is based on the assumption that tourism is a system, which is a function of supply and demand interaction. Four attraction dimensions - tourism services and facilities, cultural/historical, rural lodging, and outdoor recreation - were found to represent the attractiveness portfolio of the destination. According to the findings, no correlations were found between demand and supply importance of the four dimensions. Among demand representatives, market segments perceive and value attractions in different ways. The study explored the attractiveness evaluation of eight tourist regions and discovered correlations between demand and supply indicators. Additionally, it was established that the overall regional measures of demand and supply destination attractiveness explain the economic benefits of tourism in the same region. Among the contributions of this study is the development of a model that allows the simultaneous empirical assessment of demand and supply indicators of destination attractiveness. The findings of this study provided important implications for the development of robust tourism plans, promotional strategies, and resource allocation policies. / Ph. D.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Past studies are focused on measuring competitiveness factors that are significant to a destination, while lesser focus is provided to capturing specific tourists’ attractiveness factors. The purpose of this study was to explore Millennials’ perception of destination attractiveness (DA) and their propensity to visit a destination. The objectives of this research include 1) To explore the perceptions of the millennial tourist when deciding on visiting a destination, 2) To determine which destination attractiveness factors are significant to the millennial tourist, 3) To identify Millennials propensity to visit a destination and 4) To explore other preferences that affect propensity to visit a destination. To accomplish the purpose and objectives, millennial college students and recent graduates from multiple universities in the USA were surveyed. A total of 103 Millennials participated in the study. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis were used to analyze the data. The results of this study will contribute to the existing knowledge in the areas of Millennials’ propensity to visit a destination and their perception of destination attractiveness.

<p> Experiments have shown that manipulations of vocal fundamental frequency, a physical correlate of voice pitch, alter perceptions of vocal attractiveness. Individual experiments, however, have found different effects of pitch manipulations on attractiveness. One possible explanation for the disparate findings may be differences in the strength of pitch manipulations used between studies. The focus of this thesis is to determine psychophysical properties of vocal attractiveness based on pitch manipulations. Within the thesis, two experiments are described that were designed to find just-noticeable differences in vocal attractiveness based on pitch manipulations. The experiments were also designed to determine if there are limits for voice pitch preferences. Relevant background concepts to the thesis are described in Chapters 2-5, and a manuscript is presented in Chapter 6 that describes the methods and results of the experiment, and gives a discussion of the findings.</p> <p> In Chapter 2, the basic anatomy underlying vocal production is explained, including the anatomical structures involved in the source-filter model of vocal production.</p> <p> In Chapter 3, relevant acoustic properties of the voice are described, including fundamental frequency, harmonics, and formant frequencies.</p> <p> In Chapter 4, the basic anatomy involved in audition is explained, including how sound is propagated through the ear.</p> <p> In Chapter 5, a brief review of previous psychophysical research on pitch discrimination and perceived vocal traits is given.</p> <p> In Chapter 6, two experiments are described. Experiment 1 was designed to determine just-noticeable differences in voice pitch discrimination. Experiment 2 was designed to determine just-noticeable differences in voice attractiveness based on manipulations of voice pitch. Experiment 2 was also designed to assess potential limits to voice pitch preferences for supernormal stimuli. Just-noticeable differences in vocal attractiveness were larger than just-noticeable differences in pitch discrimination. Just-noticeable differences in attractiveness were larger in women's voices than men's. There was no limit in men's preferences for highpitched voices, however there was a limit for women's preferences for low-pitched voices below the natural male pitch range.</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

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This dissertation examines aspects of both the consumer (the "give") and the server (the "take") sides of restaurant tipping. On the consumer side, I address both why, and how much, people tip in restaurants. I also examine a policy issue related to the recent Supreme Court decision in United States v. Fior d'Italia. These issues are addressed via a combination of theoretical, empirical, and experimental analysis. On the server side, I use survey data collected from several restaurants to address the issue of labor market discrimination based on beauty. Specifically, do more attractive servers earn higher tips than less attractive servers? I argue that a tipping data set offers several advantages over data sets used in previous studies of the beauty wage gap. This dissertation was funded by a National Science Foundation Dissertation Enhancement Grant (NSF #427347). / Ph. D.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka om det förelåg någon skillnad mellan kvinnliga och manliga ingenjörsstudenter gällande uppfattningen av den valda organisationens och den Ideala arbetsgivarens image. Syftet var även att undersöka om det förelåg någon skillnad i studenternas uppfattning av image hos den valda organisationen jämfört med den Ideala arbetsgivaren. Imagen mättes utifrån fem dimensioner med hjälp av Employer Attractiveness Scale. En enkätundersökning gjordes med totalt 102 ingenjörsstudenter som deltagare. Studiens resultat visade ingen skillnad mellan kvinnor och män gällande employer attractiveness men det fanns skillnad mellan uppfattningen av den valda organisationens image och uppfattningen av den Ideala arbetsgivarens image, samt hur de fem dimensionerna skattades.