TY - JOUR

T1 - Physically attractive faces attract us physically

AU - Kramer, Robin S. S.

AU - Mulgrew, Jerrica

AU - Anderson, Nicola C.

AU - Vasilyev, Daniil

AU - Kingstone, Alan

AU - Reynolds, Michael G.

AU - Ward, Robert

PY - 2020/5/31

Y1 - 2020/5/31

N2 - When interacting with other humans, facial expressions provide valuable information for approach or avoid decisions. Here, we consider facial attractiveness as another important dimension upon which approach-avoidance behaviours may be based. In Experiments 1-3, we measured participants’ responses to attractive and unattractive women’s faces in an approach-avoidance paradigm in which there was no explicit instruction to evaluate facial attractiveness or any other stimulus attribute. Attractive faces were selected more often, a bias that may be sensitive to response outcomes and was reduced when the faces were inverted. Experiment 4 explored an entirely implicit measure of approach, with participants passively viewing single faces while standing on a force platform. We found greater lean towards attractive faces, with this pattern being most obvious in male participants. Taken together, these results demonstrate that attractiveness activates approach-avoidance tendencies, even in the absence of any task demand.

AB - When interacting with other humans, facial expressions provide valuable information for approach or avoid decisions. Here, we consider facial attractiveness as another important dimension upon which approach-avoidance behaviours may be based. In Experiments 1-3, we measured participants’ responses to attractive and unattractive women’s faces in an approach-avoidance paradigm in which there was no explicit instruction to evaluate facial attractiveness or any other stimulus attribute. Attractive faces were selected more often, a bias that may be sensitive to response outcomes and was reduced when the faces were inverted. Experiment 4 explored an entirely implicit measure of approach, with participants passively viewing single faces while standing on a force platform. We found greater lean towards attractive faces, with this pattern being most obvious in male participants. Taken together, these results demonstrate that attractiveness activates approach-avoidance tendencies, even in the absence of any task demand.

U2 - 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104193

DO - 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104193

M3 - Article

VL - 198

JO - Cognition

JF - Cognition

SN - 0010-0277

M1 - 104193

ER -