Psych Central News
Prospective Fling Brings Facial Features Front & Center
UK psychologists investigated if the expected length of a relationship would influence a man’s preference for different women’s faces. The work by Drs. Anthony Little and Benedict Jones from the University of Glasgow is published in the British Journal of Psychology.
The study investigated whether considering partners for long-term or short-term relationships would affect men’s preference for different women’s faces.
One of the experiments was conducted online with 393 heterosexual men. From this group 207 stated they had a current partner.
Participants were shown 10 paired images of pictures of women and in each pair of composite images one had been further transformed to possess masculine traits and the other feminine traits.
The men were asked to rate which of each pair they found most attractive, indicating the most attractive for short-term relationships and long-term relationships.
The results showed that men in relationships were more likely to find women with feminine faces most attractive when they were looking for a short-term relationship.
Anthony explained: “It’s interesting that these findings are comparable to previous research that indicates women’s preference for masculine male faces are higher if they were judging for short-term relationships. Our findings point to a similar preference in men. When they already have a partner, men find more feminine women more attractive for short-term relationships.”
Anthony suggested several possible explanations; perhaps some men are inclined to take a long-term partner while still attempting to cheat with other, more feminine, women.
“Or maybe once a long-term partner is secured,” he said, “the potential cost of being discovered may increase a man’s choosiness regarding short-term partners relative to unpartnered men.
“In another part of the study we also showed that men who think themselves attractive have stronger preferences for femininity than those who think themselves less attractive.
Again, Anthony said, this effect appears similar to an effect seen in women, whereby attractive women are choosier in their preferences for men. Across the two studies attractive men were found to be more discriminating in their preferences for a woman’s facial femininity.
Source: British Psychological Society
Negative Motivational Techniques Do Not Help Obese People
Moreover, scientists say this approach may backfire by undermining a person’s belief that he or she is capable of losing weight.
“Hundreds of anti-obesity media campaigns are emerging in this country. What is really surprising and concerning is that these are really not being systematically assessed or evaluated,” said Rebecca Puhl, Ph.D., director of research at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. “That is why we did this study.”
Stigmatizing health campaigns in other issues, such as tuberculosis or smoking, have been shown to impede treatment efforts.
The researchers compared negative vs. neutral national public health campaigns, including full-page ads, web pages, logos, or billboards.
Stigmatizing campaigns included those publicly criticized for blaming and shaming overweight adults and children. The neutral campaigns discussed healthy behaviors such as making better food or exercise choices.
In the study, 1,083 people of normal weight or above were randomly assigned to view either stigmatizing or neutral campaigns and were then asked questions about whether the campaigns motivated them to want to improve their health, and whether they felt they could make the health behavior changes promoted by the campaigns.
Participants rated the stigmatizing campaigns and neutral campaigns as equally motivating for weight loss. But when asked whether the campaigns promoted a clear plan of action or feelings that one could lose weight if he or she put their mind to it, participants found the stigmatizing messages less effective.
“Research shows that when people are made to feel stigmatized or ashamed of excess weight, this leads to a range of different health consequences that can ultimately reinforce obesity,” Puhl added. These can include binge eating and avoidance of exercise, as well as depression and anxiety. “We have the challenge of finding ways to grab the public attention without using shame or stigma.”
“This corroborates with good science what those of us in the field have long thought: that negative approaches to urge people to lose weight do not work,” said Patrick O’Neil, Ph.D., director of the Weight Management Center at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, S.C., who was not involved with the study.
Obese people are already the targets of a variety of prejudices and discrimination, O’Neil noted. “If that were to have an effect, it would have done so by now.”
Source: Health Behavioral News Service
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