The present study assessed the effect of negative information on perception of attractiveness of smiling and nonsmiling targets by undergraduate men and women. Analysis indicated that smiling faces were rated more attractive than nonsmiling faces, consistent with previous research. There was a significant interaction of participants' sex and target description, in which women rated smiling faces less attractive after exposure to negative information about the target, but men rated smiling faces more attractive after exposure to negative information. Results are discussed in terms of an affective model of perception of people.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AgochaV. B.CooperM. L. (1999) Risk perceptions and safer-sex intentions: Does a partner's physical attractiveness undermine the use of risk-relevant information?Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 751–765.
2.
FerreeM. M.SmithE. R. (1979) A cognitive approach to social and individual stigma. Journal of Social Psychology, 109, 87–97.
3.
GuptaR.DerevenskyJ. L. (1998) Adolescent gambling behavior: A prevalence study and examination of the correlates associated with problem gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies, 14, 319–345.
4.
HönekoppJ. (2006) Once more: Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Relative contributions of private and shared taste to judgments of facial attractiveness. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 32, 199–209.
5.
HönekoppJ.BeckerB. J.OswaldF. L. (2006) The meaning and suitability of various effect sizes for structured rater×ratee designs. Psychological Methods, 11, 72–86.
6.
JussimL.NelsonT. E.ManisM.SoffinS. (1995) Prejudice, stereotypes, and labeling effects: Sources of bias in person perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 228–246.
7.
KatsikitisM.PilowskyI.InnesJ. M. (1997) Encoding and decoding of facial expression. The Journal of General Psychology, 124, 357–370.
8.
KownerR. (1998) Effects of social deviance labels on judgments of facial attractiveness: A comparison of labeling procedures using Japanese raters. International Journal of Psychology, 33, 1–16.
9.
LauS. (1982) The effect of smiling on person perception. Journal of Social Psychology, 117, 63–67.
10.
LuckerG. W.BeaneW. E.HelmreichR. L. (1981) The strength of the halo effect in physical attractiveness research. Journal of Psychology, 107, 69–75.
11.
OlsonI. R.MarshuetzC. (2005) Facial attractiveness is appraised in a glance. Emotion, 5, 498–502.
12.
OttaE.LiraB. B. P.DelevatiN. M.CesarO. P.PiresC. S. G. (1994) The effect of smiling and of head tilting on person perception. The Journal of Psychology, 128, 323–331.
13.
ReisH. T.WilsonI. M.MonestereC.BernsteinS.ClarkK.SeidlE.FrancoM.GioiosoE.FreemanL.RadoaneK. (1990) What is smiling is beautiful and good. European Journal of Social Psychology, 20, 259–267.
14.
SchulmanG. I.HoskinsM. (1986) Perceiving the male versus the female face. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 10, 141–154.
15.
TeigenK. H. (1998) Hazards mean luck: Counterfactual thinking in reports of dangerous situations and careless behavior. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 39, 235–248.
16.
van LeeuwenM. L.MacraeC. N. (2004) Is beautiful always good? Implicit benefits of facial attractiveness. Social Cognition, 22, 637–649.
17.
WintersK. C.BengstonP.DorrD.StinchfieldR. (1998) Prevalence and risk factors of problem gambling among college students. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 12, 127–135.
18.
YamauchiT. (2005) Labeling bias and categorical induction: Generative aspects of category information. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31, 538–553.
