TY - JOUR
T1 - A dual-process account of female facial attractiveness preferences
T2 - Sexual and nonsexual routes
AU - Franklin, Robert G.
AU - Adams, Reginald B.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Michael Stevenson for helpful comments. This research was supported in part by a University Graduate Fellowship to RGF, Jr., and a National Science Foundation research Grant (0544533) to RBA, Jr.
PY - 2009/9
Y1 - 2009/9
N2 - The current study conceptualizes facial attractiveness as a dual-process judgment, combining sexual and aesthetic value. We hypothesized that holistic face processing is more integral to perceiving aesthetic preference and feature-based processing is more integral to sexual preference. In order to manipulate holistic versus feature-based processing, we used a variation of the composite face paradigm. Previous work indicates that slightly shifting the top from the bottom half of a face disrupts holistic processing and enhances feature-based processing. In the present study, while nonsexual judgments best explained facial attraction in whole-face images, a reversal occurred for split-face images such that sexual judgments best explained facial attraction, but only for mate-relevant faces (i.e., other-sex). These findings indicate that disrupting holistic processing can decouple sexual from nonsexual judgments of facial attraction, thereby establishing the presence of a dual-process.
AB - The current study conceptualizes facial attractiveness as a dual-process judgment, combining sexual and aesthetic value. We hypothesized that holistic face processing is more integral to perceiving aesthetic preference and feature-based processing is more integral to sexual preference. In order to manipulate holistic versus feature-based processing, we used a variation of the composite face paradigm. Previous work indicates that slightly shifting the top from the bottom half of a face disrupts holistic processing and enhances feature-based processing. In the present study, while nonsexual judgments best explained facial attraction in whole-face images, a reversal occurred for split-face images such that sexual judgments best explained facial attraction, but only for mate-relevant faces (i.e., other-sex). These findings indicate that disrupting holistic processing can decouple sexual from nonsexual judgments of facial attraction, thereby establishing the presence of a dual-process.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.06.014
DO - 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.06.014
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:68049113382
SN - 0022-1031
VL - 45
SP - 1156
EP - 1159
JO - Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
JF - Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
IS - 5
ER -