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Facial-Attractiveness Choices Are Predicted by Divisive Normalization.
1Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London.
Psychological Science
|August 28, 2016
Summary
People’s perceptions of attractiveness are influenced by the context of choices. Introducing less attractive options increases preference for target individuals, demonstrating divisive normalization in social evaluations.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Social psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Context-dependent perception influences decision-making.
- Divisive normalization is a computational model explaining how the brain processes stimulus intensity relative to other stimuli.
- Previous research primarily applied divisive normalization to value-based decisions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether divisive normalization influences social evaluations, specifically facial attractiveness.
- To test the prediction that preference increases with the range of options.
- To explore the applicability of divisive normalization beyond value-based decisions.
Main Methods:
- Participants evaluated facial attractiveness in the presence of distractors.
- The attractiveness range of presented faces was manipulated by varying distractor attractiveness.
- Normalization models were used to analyze context-dependent preferences.
Main Results:
- A less attractive distractor significantly increased the preference for a target face.
- This effect indicates that divisive normalization influences social evaluations of attractiveness.
- Similar results were observed when manipulating facial averageness, suggesting broader application.
Conclusions:
- Divisive normalization plays a role in social perception and decision-making.
- The findings extend the application of divisive normalization to social evaluations.
- This research has implications for understanding social decisions in real-world contexts like advertising and dating.
Keywords:
attractivenessdecision makingdivisive normalizationface perceptionfacial distinctivenessphysical appearancesensory adaptationsocial perceptionMore Related Videos
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