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The Interplay Between Economic Status and Attractiveness, and the Importance of Attire in Mate Choice Judgments

Desirable characteristics of “opposite sex others,” such as physical attractiveness and economic status, can influence how individuals are judged, and this is different for men and women. However, under various social contexts where cues of higher or lower economic status is suggested, sex differenc...

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Autores principales: Gouda-Vossos, Amany, Brooks, Robert C., Dixson, Barnaby J. W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6437035/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30949084
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00462
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author Gouda-Vossos, Amany
Brooks, Robert C.
Dixson, Barnaby J. W.
author_facet Gouda-Vossos, Amany
Brooks, Robert C.
Dixson, Barnaby J. W.
author_sort Gouda-Vossos, Amany
collection PubMed
description Desirable characteristics of “opposite sex others,” such as physical attractiveness and economic status, can influence how individuals are judged, and this is different for men and women. However, under various social contexts where cues of higher or lower economic status is suggested, sex differences in judgments related to mate choice have not been fully explored. In two studies, ratings of economic status and attractiveness were quantified for male and female targets that were presented under various social contexts. Study 1 assessed judgments (n = 1,359) of images of nine male and nine female targets in different sized groups containing only opposite-sex others (i.e., group size). While we found no significant effects of group size on male and female attractiveness, target female economic status increased when surrounded by two or more men. An ad hoc analysis controlling for the attire of the targets (business or casual) found that the association between target female economic status and group size occurred when females were in business attire. Study 2 investigates this effect further by presenting images of 12 males and 12 females, in higher and lower status attire (i.e., business and casual clothing) and measured judgments of attractiveness and economic status among women and men (n = 1,038). Consistent with the results of Study 1, female economic status was only affected when women were in business attire. However, female economic status decreased when in the presence of other men in business attire. There were no sex differences in judgments of economic status when judging stimuli in casual attire. Additionally, negative associations between attractiveness and economic status were found for males presented in casual attire. We discuss these results in the light of evolutionary sexual conflict theory by demonstrating how the asymmetrical importance of status between men and women can influence mate choice judgments.
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spelling pubmed-64370352019-04-04 The Interplay Between Economic Status and Attractiveness, and the Importance of Attire in Mate Choice Judgments Gouda-Vossos, Amany Brooks, Robert C. Dixson, Barnaby J. W. Front Psychol Psychology Desirable characteristics of “opposite sex others,” such as physical attractiveness and economic status, can influence how individuals are judged, and this is different for men and women. However, under various social contexts where cues of higher or lower economic status is suggested, sex differences in judgments related to mate choice have not been fully explored. In two studies, ratings of economic status and attractiveness were quantified for male and female targets that were presented under various social contexts. Study 1 assessed judgments (n = 1,359) of images of nine male and nine female targets in different sized groups containing only opposite-sex others (i.e., group size). While we found no significant effects of group size on male and female attractiveness, target female economic status increased when surrounded by two or more men. An ad hoc analysis controlling for the attire of the targets (business or casual) found that the association between target female economic status and group size occurred when females were in business attire. Study 2 investigates this effect further by presenting images of 12 males and 12 females, in higher and lower status attire (i.e., business and casual clothing) and measured judgments of attractiveness and economic status among women and men (n = 1,038). Consistent with the results of Study 1, female economic status was only affected when women were in business attire. However, female economic status decreased when in the presence of other men in business attire. There were no sex differences in judgments of economic status when judging stimuli in casual attire. Additionally, negative associations between attractiveness and economic status were found for males presented in casual attire. We discuss these results in the light of evolutionary sexual conflict theory by demonstrating how the asymmetrical importance of status between men and women can influence mate choice judgments. Frontiers Media S.A. 2019-03-21 /pmc/articles/PMC6437035/ /pubmed/30949084 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00462 Text en Copyright © 2019 Gouda-Vossos, Brooks and Dixson. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Gouda-Vossos, Amany
Brooks, Robert C.
Dixson, Barnaby J. W.
The Interplay Between Economic Status and Attractiveness, and the Importance of Attire in Mate Choice Judgments
title The Interplay Between Economic Status and Attractiveness, and the Importance of Attire in Mate Choice Judgments
title_full The Interplay Between Economic Status and Attractiveness, and the Importance of Attire in Mate Choice Judgments
title_fullStr The Interplay Between Economic Status and Attractiveness, and the Importance of Attire in Mate Choice Judgments
title_full_unstemmed The Interplay Between Economic Status and Attractiveness, and the Importance of Attire in Mate Choice Judgments
title_short The Interplay Between Economic Status and Attractiveness, and the Importance of Attire in Mate Choice Judgments
title_sort interplay between economic status and attractiveness, and the importance of attire in mate choice judgments
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6437035/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30949084
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00462
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