Women’s facial redness increases their perceived attractiveness : mediation through perceived healthiness
Abstract
In the present research, we investigated whether the red-attraction relation that has been observed for men viewing women may also be observed with regard to women’s facial redness. We manipulated facial redness by slightly increasing or decreasing the redness on the faces of baseline pictures of target women, and then had men judge the attractiveness of the women. We also examined healthiness perceptions as a mediator of the redness-attraction relation, along with several other candidate mediator variables. A series of experiments showed that increased redness led to increased ratings of attractiveness, and decreased redness led to decreased ratings of attractiveness. Perceived healthiness was documented as a mediator of the influence of female facial redness on male perceptions of attractiveness, and this mediation was independent of other candidate mediator variables. The findings highlight the importance of attending to facial coloration as an attraction-relevant cue and point to interesting areas for subsequent research.
Citation
Pazda , A D , Thorstenson , C A , Elliot , A J & Perrett , D I 2016 , ' Women’s facial redness increases their perceived attractiveness : mediation through perceived healthiness ' , Perception , vol. 45 , no. 7 , pp. 739-754 . https://doi.org/10.1177/0301006616633386
Publication
Perception
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0301-0066Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright The Authors 2016. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0301006616633386
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