Attractiveness is a phenomenon that is highly prioritised in society and has a variety of implications on the health, mental health, occupational, judicial and economic spheres. The media is known to have an impact on how certain norms, expectations and beliefs in society are formed, including, but not limited to, the creation of beauty ideals. Despite this importance, little research has been done on how men have come to perceive the attractiveness of women as a consequence of daily exposure to the media and photoshopped images of women. This study therefore attempts to address this gap in research by studying the impact that media and the use of photoshopping might have on males' perception of female attractiveness. A mixed-method approach was followed. Accordingly, both qualitative and quantitative data was collected during this study. The quantitative data entailed a comparison of heart rate, breathing rate, heart rate variability and viewing time for 24 participants between non-photoshopped and photoshopped images. The qualitative section comprised eye tracking data and a questionnaire for 25 male participants on the topic of media, photoshopping, features of attractiveness and what impact these three constructs might have on each other. The results indicate that on a physiological level there are limited and sporadic changes in how men view, and respond to, photoshopped images of women. Despite this finding, most participants report that on a psychological level media and photoshopping has an impact on their perceptions of beauty and their experience of interpersonal attraction. / Mini Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Psychology / MA / Unrestricted

Human face is a complex semantic organ, which among others reflects also human individuality due to the high variance of facial morphologies. This study examines the relationship between psychological characteristics and social status. Moreover, we have analyzed variability in facial form and its relation to a particular social rank. The study was performed on a set of photographs containing 55 pictures of men in a management position. These photographs were evaluated by 47 male (average age - 22 years) and 77 female (average age 21,6 years) respondents. The data were analyzed by means of classical methods of statistical testing as well as geometric morphometrics methods. This study tests whether there is a relation between three psychological characteristics - dominance, attractiveness, trustworthiness - and social status. The effect of perceived dominance and attractiveness on social status were not significant. Nevertheless, we found statistically significant relationship between perceived trustworthiness and social rank. We were not able to detect morphological facial structures, which would distinguish the heads of department from the chief executive directors. However the parametric tests discovered statistically significant differences between the facial morphology of a trustworthy and...