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SHIFTING THE PROTOTYPE: EXPERIENCE WITH FACES INFLUENCES AFFECTIVE AND ATTRACTIVENESS PREFERENCES
Connor P Principe1, Judith H Langlois
1The University of Texas at Austin.
Social Cognition
|December 11, 2012
Summary
Facial attractiveness preferences are shaped by experience, not innate beauty detectors. Exposure to morphed faces altered perceptions, demonstrating domain-general learning influences our aesthetic judgments of faces.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Debate exists on whether facial attractiveness preferences are innate (domain-specific) or learned (domain-general).
- Previous research suggests a specialized module for beauty detection versus learning-based mechanisms that average stimuli.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of experience and domain-general learning in shaping facial attractiveness preferences.
- To test if cognitive and perceptual mechanisms sensitive to experience underlie preferences for attractive faces.
Main Methods:
- Participants were familiarized with human, chimpanzee, or human-chimp morphed faces.
- Study 1 measured zygomaticus major activity (a correlate of positive affect).
- Study 2 used explicit attractiveness ratings to assess preferences.
Main Results:
- Familiarization with human-chimp morphs led to increased zygomaticus major activity towards faces with chimpanzee features.
- Participants rated faces with some chimpanzee morphing as more attractive after familiarization.
- Experience shifted attractiveness preferences away from the population average.
Conclusions:
- Facial attractiveness preferences are malleable and influenced by experience.
- Domain-general learning mechanisms, rather than innate beauty detectors, better explain these preferences.
- This suggests cognitive mechanisms sensitive to learned stimuli play a crucial role in aesthetic judgments of faces.
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