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Seductive eyes: attractiveness and direct gaze increase desire for associated objects
Madelijn Strick1, Rob W Holland, Ad van Knippenberg
1Department of Social Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands. m.strick@bsi.ru.nl
Cognition
|July 3, 2007
Summary
Direct gaze from attractive faces enhances object appeal. Associating objects with attractive faces showing direct eye contact led to more positive evaluations and increased desire, confirming gaze cueing effects in neuroscience.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Social Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Observing attractive faces with direct gaze is more rewarding than with averted gaze.
- Gaze cueing influences affective responses and evaluations.
- Previous research suggests gaze direction impacts reward processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if associating novel objects with attractive faces displaying direct gaze enhances object evaluations.
- To determine the effect of gaze direction (direct vs. averted) of attractive and unattractive faces on object evaluation.
- To examine the relationship between automatic evaluations and self-reported desire for conditioned objects.
Main Methods:
- A conditioning paradigm was used to associate novel objects with different facial stimuli.
- Stimuli included attractive/unattractive female faces with direct/averted gaze.
- An affective priming task measured automatic object evaluations, followed by self-report measures of desire.
Main Results:
- Objects paired with attractive faces with direct gaze received more positive automatic evaluations.
- Attractive faces with direct gaze enhanced object evaluations more than attractive faces with averted gaze.
- Unattractive faces did not significantly influence object evaluations, regardless of gaze direction.
- Self-reported desire for objects correlated with affective priming results.
Conclusions:
- Associating objects with attractive faces displaying direct gaze enhances their positive evaluation.
- Direct gaze acts as a potent cue, amplifying positive affect transfer from attractive faces to objects.
- Findings support the role of gaze cueing in modulating affective responses and consumer behavior.
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