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.

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.

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A simetria facial foi investigada como fator de atratividade em quatro experimentos. Fotos frontais em preto e branco de faces de homens e mulheres foram manipuladas por computação gráfica para gerar faces simétricas. No Exp. I as faces simétricas foram geradas a partir da reflexão das metades laterais, direita e esquerda, de cada face. Essas faces simétricas e suas respectivas faces naturais foram apresentadas a sujeitos para julgar o quão atrativa elas eram. Os resultados mostraram que faces assimétricas (naturais) foram julgadas como mais atrativas que as simétricas. No Exp. II utilizaram-se as mesmas faces simétricas e naturais do Exp. I, porém, excluindo-se os elementos externos da face por meio de uma moldura elíptica. Essas faces foram apresentadas aos pares e pediu-se para os participantes escolher a mais atrativa, além de julgar seu grau de atratividade. Os resultados mostraram que nenhuma foto simétrica foi julgada como mais atrativa que sua respectiva face natural, bem como as faces naturais foram mais escolhidas que as simétricas. A exclusão dos elementos externos das faces não contribuiu para aumentar o grau de atratividade das mesmas. No Exp. III as faces simétricas foram geradas por técnica de morphing a partir da imagem da face original e a sua respectiva imagem refletida. A apresentação e julgamentos das faces seguiram o modelo do Exp. II. Os resultados mostraram que nenhuma face simétrica obteve escore de atratividade maior que as naturais, mas com relação às escolhas, para faces masculinas houve maior número de escolhas para as faces simétricas. No Exp. IV foram utilizadas as mesmas faces simétricas e naturais do Exp. III, excluindo-se os elementos faciais externos. Os resultados indicaram maior escores de atratividade, bem como um maior número de escolhas das faces simétricas. Comparadas ao Exp. III houve um aumento nos escores de atratividade para as faces simétricas e uma diminuição dos escores para as faces naturais. Conclui-se que a simetria não deve ser considerada como um fator isolado na análise da atratividade facial; relações entre outros elementos podem contribuir para tornar uma face mais atrativa. / The facial symmetry was investigated as attractiveness factor in four experiments. Front pictures in black and white of men\'s and women?s faces were manipulated by graphic computation to create symmetrical faces. In Exp. I, the symmetrical faces were created starting from the lateral half right and left reflection, of each face. Those symmetrical faces and their respective natural faces were presented to people that had to judge how attractive they were. The results showed that asymmetrical faces (natural) were judged as more attractive than the symmetrical ones. In Exp. II, we used the same symmetrical and natural faces of Exp. I, however, being excluded face?s external elements through an elliptic frame. These faces were presented in pairs and we asked for the participants to choose the most attractive, besides judging the attractiveness degree. The results showed that no symmetrical picture was judged as more attractive than its respective natural face, as well as the natural faces were more chosen than the symmetrical ones. The exclusion of the external elements of the faces didn\'t contribute to increase the attractiveness degree of themselves. In Exp. III, the symmetrical faces were created by morphing technique starting from the original face image and its respective reflected image. The presentation and judgments of the faces followed the model of Exp. II. The results showed that no symmetrical face obtained score of larger attractiveness than the natural ones, but regarding the choices, for masculine faces there was larger number of choices for the symmetrical faces. In Exp. IV we used the same symmetrical and natural faces of Exp. III, being excluded the external facial elements. The results indicated larger attractiveness scores, as well as a larger number of choices fore the symmetrical faces. Comparing Exp. IV with Exp. III, we had an increase in the attractiveness scores for the symmetrical faces and a decrease of the scores for the natural faces. We concluded that the symmetry should not be considered as an isolated factor in the facial attractiveness analysis; the relationships among other elements can contribute to turn a more attractive face.

Pessoas que apresentam grandes deformidades dentofaciais podem ter prejuízos sociais, pessoais e emocionais. A cirurgia ortognática é utilizada para correções dessas deformidades, que consequentemente afeta as aparências das faces dos pacientes. Este estudo teve como objetivos: 1) Avaliar amostras de faces da população de Ribeirão Preto, SP e as faces prototípicas provenientes delas, consideradas sem deformidades; 2) Analisar atratividade facial de dez pacientes submetidos a cirurgias ortognáticas nas fases pré e pós-cirúrgicas; ao relacionar suas atratividades aos parâmetros físicos alterados pela cirurgia; e também avaliar as consequências na qualidade de vida, ansiedade e auto-estima destes pacientes. As análises faciais foram frontais e obedeceram aos critérios preconizados na literatura de meios, terços e quintos faciais. A coleta de dados com os pacientes foi feita no CEDEFACE (Centro de Pesquisa e Tratamento das Deformidades Buco-Faciais). Foram obtidas fotografias nas fases pré e pós-cirúrgicas; momentos em que também foram aplicadas escalas de qualidade de vida (WHOQOL bref), de ansiedade (IDATE e Escala Analógica de Humor) e autoestima (Escala de Autoestima de Rosenberg). Dois experimentos foram realizados. Um com as fotos das faces pré e pós-cirúrgicas a fim de avaliar a atratividade facial dos pacientes antes e depois das cirurgias e outro para comparar a atratividade facial dos pacientes com a atratividade de faces prototípicas relativas ao sexo e etnia correspondentes. Nesses experimentos os julgamentos de atratividade foram provenientes de uma amostra de 40 participantes leigos. Os resultados apontaram que: 1) As análises do banco de faces e protótipos apresentaram parâmetros físicos faciais diferentes daqueles apontados na literatura, principalmente na análise dos terços e quintos; 2) A cirurgia ortognática contribuiu para o aumento da atratividade dos pacientes, embora estes ainda considerados menos atrativos que as faces prototípicas. Também foram notadas melhoria na condição psicológica por meio do Whoqol bref e diminuição da ansiedade por meio da Escala Analógica de Humor. Tais resultados apontam para a importância de estudos sobre parâmetros físicos faciais relacionados à melhoria de sua estética e que a cirurgia ortognática para o tratamento de deformidades dentofaciais pode trazer benefícios estéticos e emocionais àqueles que a procuram. / People with salient dentofacial deformities can have social, personal and emotional injury. The orthognathic surgery is used to correct these deformities, and consequently, it affects the facial appearances of the patients. The general aims of this study were: 1) Evaluate samples of faces from a population of Ribeirão Preto, SP and their prototypical faces considered as without deformities; 2) Analyze the facial attractiveness of ten patients before and after being submitted to orthognathic surgery; searching the relationship between the attractiveness and physical parameters modified on the faces by the surgery; and also assessing the effects of this surgery on the quality of life, the anxiety and the self-esteem of these patients. The facial analyses were frontal and from the halves, the thirds and the fifths of the faces. The pictures of faces before and after the orthognathic surgery were from voluntary patients from CEDEFACE (Centro de Pesquisa e Tratamento das Deformidades Buco-Faciais) at Araraquara, SP. Before and after the surgery, these patients also had their quality of life (by WHOQOL bref scale), the anxiety (by IDATE and Escala Analógica de Humor) and the selfesteem (by Escala de Auto-Estima de Rosenberg) evaluated. There were two experiments. From an experiment, forty volunteers judged the attractiveness of the faces pictured before and after the surgery. From the other experiment, the volunteers compared the attractiveness of the patient faces with the attractiveness of the prototypical faces, respectively to their sex and race. The results showed that: 1) The facial analyses of the faces from population sample of Ribeirão Preto, SP, and their prototypical faces indicated physical parameters that differ from the literature, mainly for the facial analyses of the thirds and the fifths 2) The orthognathic surgery contributed to increase the facial attractiveness of the patients, although they were still considered less attractive than the prototypical faces. Improvement in psychological condition, assessed by the Whoqol bref, and anxiety decrement, assessed by the Escala Analógica de Humor, were noticed. These results pointed out the importance to study facial analyses related to the aesthetic improvement, and that the orthognathic surgery to treat dentofacial deformities can bring aesthetic and emotional benefits to the patients.

Este projeto teve por objetivo investigar se existem diferenças nos julgamentos de atratividade de faces masculinizadas e feminilizadas entre mulheres durante a etapa folicular tardia e na etapa luteal (fases do ciclo menstrual) e se estas se correlacionam às alterações dos níveis hormonais. Foram incluídas 30 mulheres voluntárias, na faixa etária de 18 a 42 anos com ciclos menstruais regulares, com duração entre 24 e 33 dias, sem uso de anticoncepcional hormonal (AH). Foram utilizados para a avaliação da atratividade facial dois protótipos faciais: um de uma face feminina e outro de face masculina. De cada um desses protótipos foram confeccionadas mais quatro faces, cujos traços de duas foram masculinizados e das outras duas foram feminilizados em diferentes graus. Foram realizadas duas sessões experimentais para cada participante. A primeira sessão foi na etapa folicular tardia do ciclo menstrual e a segunda na etapa luteal do ciclo. Em cada sessão, a participante era instruída a ordenar decrescentemente as faces conforme o quão atraente cada uma lhe parecerá. Em seguida a participante classificava as faces em três grupos: Amigo, Inimigo e Amante. Posteriormente foi colhida a amostra de sangue para posteriores análises dos níveis hormonais. Ou seja, tanto na etapa folicular tardia quanto na luteal, as participantes avaliaram as imagens das faces e doaram uma amostra de sangue. As frequências foram comparadas e verificou-se que para as faces masculinas masculinizadas e a face neutra foram consideradas as mais atraentes na fase folicular tardia e na fase lútea. Na fase folicular tardia, para as faces masculinas, quanto mais masculinizadas elas forem, maior sua pontuação no grupo Amante. Na fase lútea, a face original masculina e todas as faces masculinas masculinizadas foram mais frequentemente classificadas ao grupo Amante, mas a face 50% masculinizada teve um aumento na qualificação de Inimigo. E finalmente, não foi verificada uma correlação entre os níveis hormonais e a preferência por faces mais masculinizadas ou feminilizada. Não foi evidenciada uma mudança significativa na preferência do julgamento das faces; observando-se que existe sempre uma preferência por faces mais masculinizadas para faces masculinas, e preferência por faces mais feminilizadas para faces femininas, independente das fases do ciclo menstrual. / This project aimed to investigate whether there are differences in attractiveness judgments of masculinized and feminized faces by women during the late follicular and the luteal phases (phases of the menstrual cycle) and whether these judgments correlate with hormonal level changes. Thirty women with age between 18 and 42 years old, with regular menstrual cycles lasting between 24 and 33 days, and without use of hormonal contraceptive (AH) were volunteers in this study. Stimuli were images of a female and a male prototypical faces that by computer morphing technique generated other faces with exaggeration of the gender traits by 25% and 50%. Two experimental sessions, the first in the late follicular phase and the second in the luteal phase, were conducted for each participant to judge the attractiveness of the faces, sorting them from the highest to lowest attractive. Finishing this task, the participant classified the faces into three groups: \"Friend\", \"Enemy\" or \"Lover.\" After each session in both menstrual phases blood sample of the participant was collected for further hormone level analysis. The masculinized male face and the original male face were chosen as more attractive in the follicular phase and the late luteal phase. Besides, in the late follicular phase, the more masculinized are the male faces, the higher is their score into the \"Lover\" group. In the luteal phase, also all masculinized and the original male faces were classified more frequently into the Lover group, but also the 50% masculinized male face was more frequently classified into the Enemy group. And finally, there was no correlation between hormone levels and preference for more masculinized or more feminized faces. Then, there is no evidence that hormonal levels change the face preferences. There was always a preference for masculinized faces to male faces, and preference for feminized faces for female faces, regardless of the menstrual cycle phases.

The purpose of this study was to determine if male and female communicators utilize different styles of persuasion with an attractive versus an unattractive female target. Forty undergraduate students were asked to persuade a female confederate in either an attractive condition or an unattractive condition to eat M&M's. Perceptions of attractiveness and personality assessments were checked by a post-experimental questionnaire. Influence attempts were rated and categorized by the use of the Social Interaction Scoring System. Individual responses were then factor analyzed to identify profiles of persuasive communication. These behavioral profiles were then statistically compared across experimental conditions by analyses of variance. No significant differences were found for sex or experimental condition. The subjects did, however, perceive the confederate as significantly more attractive when in the attractive condition than when in the unattractive condition. Further, while the confederate was perceived as more curious and perceptive when in the attractive condition, she was perceived as more indifferent and insensitive when in the unattractive condition. From the results of this study, it -was concluded that people do not necessarily alter their persuasive technique according to the attractiveness of the target person. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed, and suggestions for further research are given.

People use facial appearance to infer the social attributes of others. A primary indicator of facial attractiveness is prototypicality (the proximity of an object to its categorical central tendency); faces and objects closer to the central tendency are judged as more attractive. Perceptual fluency theory suggests that cognitive processing speed directly generates positive affect. This dissertation examined the relationships among attractiveness, prototypicality, and affective response in faces and non-face objects across adult and 8-year-old participants using a reaction time (RT) paradigm. RT predicted positive affect and disgust responses to facial stimuli. Of particular note are the series of complementary findings suggesting that reaction to unattractive faces may be both quantitatively (i.e., longer RT latencies) and qualitatively (i.e., judged to be less typical) different from high and medium attractive faces. These findings may help explain how appearance-based stereotypes are formed and maintained. / text

Pessoas que apresentam grandes deformidades dentofaciais podem ter prejuízos sociais, pessoais e emocionais. A cirurgia ortognática é utilizada para correções dessas deformidades, que consequentemente afeta as aparências das faces dos pacientes. Este estudo teve como objetivos: 1) Avaliar amostras de faces da população de Ribeirão Preto, SP e as faces prototípicas provenientes delas, consideradas sem deformidades; 2) Analisar atratividade facial de dez pacientes submetidos a cirurgias ortognáticas nas fases pré e pós-cirúrgicas; ao relacionar suas atratividades aos parâmetros físicos alterados pela cirurgia; e também avaliar as consequências na qualidade de vida, ansiedade e auto-estima destes pacientes. As análises faciais foram frontais e obedeceram aos critérios preconizados na literatura de meios, terços e quintos faciais. A coleta de dados com os pacientes foi feita no CEDEFACE (Centro de Pesquisa e Tratamento das Deformidades Buco-Faciais). Foram obtidas fotografias nas fases pré e pós-cirúrgicas; momentos em que também foram aplicadas escalas de qualidade de vida (WHOQOL bref), de ansiedade (IDATE e Escala Analógica de Humor) e autoestima (Escala de Autoestima de Rosenberg). Dois experimentos foram realizados. Um com as fotos das faces pré e pós-cirúrgicas a fim de avaliar a atratividade facial dos pacientes antes e depois das cirurgias e outro para comparar a atratividade facial dos pacientes com a atratividade de faces prototípicas relativas ao sexo e etnia correspondentes. Nesses experimentos os julgamentos de atratividade foram provenientes de uma amostra de 40 participantes leigos. Os resultados apontaram que: 1) As análises do banco de faces e protótipos apresentaram parâmetros físicos faciais diferentes daqueles apontados na literatura, principalmente na análise dos terços e quintos; 2) A cirurgia ortognática contribuiu para o aumento da atratividade dos pacientes, embora estes ainda considerados menos atrativos que as faces prototípicas. Também foram notadas melhoria na condição psicológica por meio do Whoqol bref e diminuição da ansiedade por meio da Escala Analógica de Humor. Tais resultados apontam para a importância de estudos sobre parâmetros físicos faciais relacionados à melhoria de sua estética e que a cirurgia ortognática para o tratamento de deformidades dentofaciais pode trazer benefícios estéticos e emocionais àqueles que a procuram. / People with salient dentofacial deformities can have social, personal and emotional injury. The orthognathic surgery is used to correct these deformities, and consequently, it affects the facial appearances of the patients. The general aims of this study were: 1) Evaluate samples of faces from a population of Ribeirão Preto, SP and their prototypical faces considered as without deformities; 2) Analyze the facial attractiveness of ten patients before and after being submitted to orthognathic surgery; searching the relationship between the attractiveness and physical parameters modified on the faces by the surgery; and also assessing the effects of this surgery on the quality of life, the anxiety and the self-esteem of these patients. The facial analyses were frontal and from the halves, the thirds and the fifths of the faces. The pictures of faces before and after the orthognathic surgery were from voluntary patients from CEDEFACE (Centro de Pesquisa e Tratamento das Deformidades Buco-Faciais) at Araraquara, SP. Before and after the surgery, these patients also had their quality of life (by WHOQOL bref scale), the anxiety (by IDATE and Escala Analógica de Humor) and the selfesteem (by Escala de Auto-Estima de Rosenberg) evaluated. There were two experiments. From an experiment, forty volunteers judged the attractiveness of the faces pictured before and after the surgery. From the other experiment, the volunteers compared the attractiveness of the patient faces with the attractiveness of the prototypical faces, respectively to their sex and race. The results showed that: 1) The facial analyses of the faces from population sample of Ribeirão Preto, SP, and their prototypical faces indicated physical parameters that differ from the literature, mainly for the facial analyses of the thirds and the fifths 2) The orthognathic surgery contributed to increase the facial attractiveness of the patients, although they were still considered less attractive than the prototypical faces. Improvement in psychological condition, assessed by the Whoqol bref, and anxiety decrement, assessed by the Escala Analógica de Humor, were noticed. These results pointed out the importance to study facial analyses related to the aesthetic improvement, and that the orthognathic surgery to treat dentofacial deformities can bring aesthetic and emotional benefits to the patients.