Effects of Potential Partners' Costume and Physical Attractiveness on Sexuality and Partner Selection

Townsend, John Marshall; Levy, Gary D.

doi:10.1080/00223980.1990.10543232

Cited by 157 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The current studies results showing that male attractiveness can be enhanced experimentally by manipulating the perceived wealth and status of the male when being judged by the opposite-sex supports previous research findings ( DUNN and SEARLE 2010;HILL et al 1987;SHULER and MCCORD 2010;TOWNSEND and LEVY 1990). SHULER and MCCORD (2010) reported similar findings to DUNN and SEARLE (2010) by also experimentally manipulating the perceived level of status and resource acquisition of a male model by placing him next to cars of varying values in order to convey the illusion of ownership.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…The findings from the current study support previous research findings in which female judgement of male attractiveness has been enhanced using experimental manipulation of status cues such as clothing or prestige sports car ownership (DUNN and SEARLE 2010;HILL, NOCKS and GARDNER 1987;SHULER and MCCORD 2010;TOWNSEND and LEVY 1990). Female preference for wealth and status is not exclusively Western however, as status and economic resource cues have also been shown to predict male attractiveness across cultures (ESCASA et al 2010).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%

“…As referred to earlier, previous research has found that male attractiveness can be enhanced by manipulating perceived status through clothing worn (HILL et al 1987;TOWNSEND and LEVY 1990). The luxury apartment cues used in the current study are clearly an honest advertisement of wealth and status as it is very difficult to acquire or even rent an expensive apartment without first accumulating sufficient resources and status to be able to reside in such a property.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…These direct cues to male possession of resources and his level of social status, it would appear, evidentially influence a woman's perceptions of his ability to provide for her and her offspring in a long-term mating context which effects male physical attractiveness judgements. Enhanced male attractiveness has been shown previously by presenting male target models in contexts which lead to the perception that the target possesses wealth or a high social status by for example manipulating clothing or costume (HILL et al 1987;TOWNSEND and LEVY 1990). This enhancement of male but not female attractiveness by manipulating perceived male wealth and status has more recently been demonstrated by DUNN and SEARLE (2010), who found that when a male was presented in a prestige car, females judged that male to be significantly more attractive than when he was presented to them in an inexpensive easily accessible car.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

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Manipulated luxury-apartment ownership enhances opposite-sex attraction in females but not males

Dünn¹,

Hill²

2014

Journal of Evolutionary Psychology

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Abstract. Manipulated prestige car ownership has been shown previously to enhance male attractiveness. In the current study the illusion of status-linked property ownership was achieved by presenting a target male and female (matched for attractiveness) adopting a casual posture standing in either a 'high status' (luxury apartment) or a 'neutral status' (standard apartment) context. A between-subjects design was used with the photographic stimuli presented amongst other masking stimuli and rated for attractiveness by opposite-sex university undergraduate participants (N = 102) on a scale of 1-10. The male model was rated significantly more attractive when presented to females in the high status compared to the neutral status context and was also adjudged to be significantly more attractive than the female target superimposed on an identical background. There was no significant difference in the female target models attractiveness ratings given by males across the two contexts. These results were obtained despite no sex-differences being found when separate participants were asked to rate the plausibility of each target model owning or renting the luxury property they were depicted in. These findings add to a growing body of work high-lighting the importance of contextual, evolutionarily relevant status cues in male attractiveness judgements.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

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Manipulated luxury-apartment ownership enhances opposite-sex attraction in females but not males

Dünn¹,

Hill²

2014

Journal of Evolutionary Psychology

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“…Moreover, in laboratory experiments research subjects looking at static photographs on a computer screen report more romantic desire toward persons perceived to be dominant (26,27); a similar effect is found in research examining live interactions between two people (28). Data on nonhuman animals also suggest a consistent link between expansive nonverbal displays and attracting a mate.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 51%

Dominant, open nonverbal displays are attractive at zero-acquaintance

Vacharkulksemsuk

Reit

Khambatta

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Across two field studies of romantic attraction, we demonstrate that postural expansiveness makes humans more romantically appealing. In a field study (n = 144 speed-dates), we coded nonverbal behaviors associated with liking, love, and dominance. Postural expansivenessexpanding the body in physical space-was most predictive of attraction, with each one-unit increase in coded behavior from the video recordings nearly doubling a person's odds of getting a "yes" response from one's speed-dating partner. In a subsequent field experiment (n = 3,000), we tested the causality of postural expansion (vs. contraction) on attraction using a popular Global Positioning Systembased online-dating application. Mate-seekers rapidly flipped through photographs of potential sexual/date partners, selecting those they desired to meet for a date. Mate-seekers were significantly more likely to select partners displaying an expansive (vs. contractive) nonverbal posture. Mediation analyses demonstrate one plausible mechanism through which expansiveness is appealing: Expansiveness makes the dating candidate appear more dominant. In a dating world in which success sometimes is determined by a split-second decision rendered after a brief interaction or exposure to a static photograph, single persons have very little time to make a good impression. Our research suggests that a nonverbal dominance display increases a person's chances of being selected as a potential mate.attraction | postural expansiveness | mate selection | nonverbal behavior | romantic relationships

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Evolution and Consumer Psychology

Saad

2015

The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology

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The consumer realm offers a window into our evolved human nature. Many consumer choices, preferences, and behaviors are rooted in one of four key Darwinian clusters: (1) survival (e.g., gustatory penchant for highly caloric foods); (2) mating (e.g., employing products as sexual signals); (3) kin selection (e.g., the effects of genetic relatedness and genetic assuredness on gift giving); and (4) reciprocal altruism (gift‐giving rituals among nonkin). The evolutionary lens provides consumer researchers important benefits including the ability to identify novel research questions, and greater interdisciplinarity, methodological pluralism, theoretical parsimony, and consilience. Homo consumericus cannot be entirely understood without acknowledging the evolutionary forces that have forged our minds and bodies.

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Effects of Potential Partners' Costume and Physical Attractiveness on Sexuality and Partner Selection

Cited by 157 publications

References 22 publications

Manipulated luxury-apartment ownership enhances opposite-sex attraction in females but not males

Manipulated luxury-apartment ownership enhances opposite-sex attraction in females but not males

Dominant, open nonverbal displays are attractive at zero-acquaintance

Evolution and Consumer Psychology

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